Pendy Eliou

Pendy was born in Port Said, Egypt, in 1938. His parents had fallen in love with the Holy Land during their travels and moved to the Greek Colony in Jerusalem when his father’s work on the Suez Canal was done.  As many Greeks do, they built three houses in the Greek Colony because they had three kids, rented two of them out and lived in the third one.  Pendy began learning to chant as a small boy at the churches of St. Nicholas and the Holy Sepulcher.

 In 1948 the Jewish state of Israel was created.  The Greeks in Palestine were warned to leave and, at the same time, Pendy’s father died in emergency surgery.  They buried Pendy’s father and fled to Cyprus with only the clothes on their backs.  Eventually, they made their way back to the old city of Jerusalem and lived in the monastery of St. Constantine and Helen.

Because the Elious were Greek citizens, the Greek Consulate intervened and they were allowed to return home to the Greek colony.   Pendy’s mother had kept the titles to their houses and she navigated the complicated and often difficult legalities of paying “key money” to buy back their houses.  

Pendy attended the Terra Sancta boarding school in Nazareth, where he learned to speak, read and write in several languages. 

When he graduated from Terra Santa College, he taught school in Jaffa for four years and then worked for the Jerusalem YMCA as a Youth Director.   Throughout his working life, wherever he went, he worked for the YMCA. 

Pendy came to the United States in 1964 to further his education and began with a scholarship in to play soccer for York College in Nebraska.  Pendy got his masters in psychology from NDSU in Fargo and an MBA from George Williams College in Illinois. 

During that time he worked for the YMCAs in Fargo, North Dakota, and Beloit, Wisconsin.  

Pendy and Jeanne moved to St. Paul Minnesota in 1975 and joined St. George Greek Orthodox Church, where they made many wonderful and lasting friendships.   Pendy joined AHEPA in 1987 and, together with his brothers in AHEPA, worked on many projects to benefit St. George and the Greek community.

Pendy has always been very grateful to God for the many wonderful gifts he has been given in his life, and among these are his relationships with family and many, many “good friends.”