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Lambros

Generation 5 · born in the United States

Helen Stam

Helen H. Lambros-Stam · known as Little Helen

Fifty years at the Diana

Born
16 Sep 1923, Fox Hospital, Oneonta, NY
Died
17 Jun 2020, Oneonta, NY

Harry (opens in a new tab) and Mary’s first child, born just before her father sailed for Greece to see his dying mother. To tell her from her older cousin Helen J. (opens in a new tab), the family called her “Little Helen”.

She graduated from Oneonta High School in 1941 and went to work at the Diana, first for her father and then alongside her brother George (opens in a new tab). She stayed more than fifty years, retiring when the restaurant was sold in 1991.

In the early 1950s, when her mother was severely depressed, Helen came home from work one lunchtime to check on her and was in time to save her life.

She married Sam Stam in 1954. They raised Sam’s son Tom (opens in a new tab) and had two children of their own, Nick (opens in a new tab) and Stephanie (opens in a new tab). After Sam retired they traveled to Greece and Florida. Widowed in 2001, she kept her big back yard open to her grandchildren for cookouts and games. At ten, her grandson Alex (opens in a new tab) wrote in a school essay: “She’s a good grandma … She lets any cousin come over.”

She played bridge, did the Sunday New York Times crossword, went to the movies and watched ballgames at Damaschke Field. Helen died at home at 96, after a long illness with Parkinson’s.

Marriage

  • Sam T. Stam (1916–2001)

    • Also known as Spyros Stamatopoulos
    • Married 17 May 1954, Greek Orthodox Church, Binghamton, NY
    • Son of Athanasios (Thomas) and Artemisia Stamatopoulos
    • Born 26 Apr 1916, Lawrence, Kansas
    • Died 19 Sep 2001, Oxford, NY

    Sam grew up in Kansas and was a star football player at Emporia State. In World War II he was a first sergeant with the Army’s 231st Engineer Company in the Aleutian Islands.

    After the war he lived in Los Angeles with his first wife, Ruth Handleman; they adopted a son, Tommy (opens in a new tab). Widowed, he came to Oneonta to visit his sister Mary and her husband Nick Farmakis, and moved there in 1953. He joined LaMonica Beverages as a salesman and retired as sales manager in 1985.

    He had a box seat on the first-base line at every Oneonta Yankees home game and was at every Hartwick home game his brother-in-law Nick (opens in a new tab) coached. He died after a long illness with Alzheimer’s and is buried in Plains Cemetery, Oneonta.

Children (3)

On record

School
Oneonta High School, class of 1941
Work
Diana Restaurant, early 1940s to 1991
In her memory
Helen Stam Scholarship, Oneonta Dollars for Scholars

Where the records disagree

  • The family history places her wedding in Oneonta; her obituary places it at the Greek Orthodox Church in Binghamton.
  • Sam’s obituary gives his death as 19 September 2001 at the Veterans’ Home in Oxford, New York; the family tree says 21 September in Oneonta.

Sources