Theodore A. Anastasopulos

Theodore A. Anastasopulos was born in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii in 1932. He was named after his paternal grandfather. His mother had made a vow that if she had a son, she would have him baptized at a monastery in Greece. The A. for Anargyros was added to his name after he was baptized in Greece in 1952 at that monastery. His cousins in Greece and the monastics call him Anargyros and this is the name he uses in taking Communion, while friends and relatives in Hawaii and the mainland call him Ted.

Ted and his sister Helen, went to English Standard Schools: Lincoln, Stevenson, and Roosevelt, after passing the English Proficiency Test. While at Stevenson Intermediate, both he and his sister worked in the pineapple fields. Because of the war, laborers were limited. When it was their turn to work, trucks would pick up the students from school. They usually went on the “Burma Road,” a mountainous road zigzagging through the pineapple fields in upper Wahiawa to their assignment. They would either hoe or pick pineapples. There were no harvesting machines, so they picked by hand and put the pineapples in a burlap bag which crossed over their shoulders. When the bag was full, it was emptied and they’d start again. High schoolers also went. There was a full page picture in the newspaper of them with hoes on their shoulders and a caption reading, “Helping the war effort.” No one was forced to work. Those that didn’t work, stayed in school or cut that day. Those who worked received a pay check at the end of the month.

While Ted was in elementary school, he remembers going into the Chrones chicken coop and eating raw eggs. No wonder Jim Chrones put a pad lock on the door! Ted liked birds and took the babies out of their nest, pet them and then replaced them. He was fond of white eyes and doves. As an adult, he raised Love birds.

Graduating from Roosevelt H.S., he went on to Menlo J.C. in Menlo Park, CA transferring to UC Berkeley. Not really knowing what to do with a major in American History, he decided to go to San Francisco Hotel and Restaurant School. Upon his return to Hawaii, he worked as a night clerk 11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. at the Moana Surfrider Hotel as a desk clerk. From there he went to the Halekulani and was promoted to Assistant Mgr. He worked there for five years and became manager of the Waiohai Hotel at Poipu, Kauai.

Changing careers he received a Master’s Degree in Education. He taught at Central Intermediate School and ended up at Roosevelt High School, his alma mater.

Ted liked to garden and learned how to replant orchids and anthuriums by watching his neighbor, Jim Chrones. When his family moved to Kailua in the 1980’s, he planted most of what is at their home today. Ted enjoys cooking, baking cookies and Vasilopita and Easter bread for the family. He makes Chutney for the Philoptochos and for the Greek Festival to sell and has done so for several decades.

He visited Greece several times as well as Mount Athos. He was fortunate to stay on Mount Athos for several months at a time. Later when monasteries were built on the U.S. mainland, he visited there as well: Holy Archangels in Kendalia, outside of San Antonio, Texas, The Life Giving Spring in California, and St. Anthony’s in Florence, Arizona. His Spiritual Father resides at St. Anthony’s so Ted has visited there many times.