Business woman and daughter of Raleigh’s first Greek immigrant dies at 109

Pota Vurnakes Vallas was the daughter of the first Greek immigrant to settle in Raleigh. She was a pioneering entrepreneur and businesswoman. On Dec. 12, she died at 109.

Vallas was born in 1908 in Krissafa, Greece, a small village near Sparta, the eldest of 10 children, according to her obituary.

Vallas’ father, Gus Vurnakes, brought her to the United States in 1924. Vurnakes was Raleigh’s first Greek immigrant, according to Vallas’ obituary, and when he brought her to North Carolina, Vallas helped him at the California Fruit Store on Fayetteville Street.

Vallas was 16 and spoke no English, but she made ice cream and chocolates, delivered on a horse-drawn wagon to homes and businesses in Raleigh.

“She probably was the first Good Humor man in the U.S.,” joked Vallas' son, Ted.

The rest of Vallas’ family fled Greece and arrived in Raleigh in 1939, just before the beginning of the Axis occupation of Greece.

Her father stocked candy, sandwiches and Cokes at the California Fruit Store, and behind his soda fountain he employed a tall Greek immigrant in a spotless white uniform. He was already in his 30s, but after Pota turned 18, he offered her a ride one day in the snow.

“That's when he proposed to me,” Vallas said, pointing to George Vallas' picture in her living room, smiling as though her long-departed sweetheart had just stepped away for a moment. “He proposed to me first. He said, ‘I'm scared to go to your daddy.’”

In 1927, Vallas married George, just before the onset of the Great Depression. During the depression, the Vurnakes and Vallas families lost their homes, life savings and the California Fruit Store.

But Vallas didn’t give up. She applied to work for the Singer Sewing Company in 1931 “and quickly emerged as a talented salesperson and manager,” her obituary said.

During the same time, Vallas, her husband and other Greek families helped to establish a small Greek Orthodox church in downtown Raleigh. Vallas and her husband also purchased land and built a home on Lead Mine Road.

As Raleigh’s Greek population grew, Vallas and her husband donated land to construct the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church still standing today on the corner of Lead Mine Road and French Drive.

Vallas dreamed of opening her own business, and that dream came to fruition in 1944, when she traveled to Chicago and bought the distributorship of the National Sewing Machine Company, leading to the building of “one of North Carolina’s leading interior design firms.”

From there she sold dress patterns, which led to fabrics for home furnishings, and finally, her own decorating business on Hillsborough Street, among the first of its kind in Raleigh, With its big showroom window at the corner of Glenwood Avenue, the Vallas family managed 15,000 square feet, two floors stuffed with crystal, paintings, lamps, mirrors, bergères, sofas, chests, tables, consoles and carpets from Turkey, Iran and China.

“I can go home and close my eyes and see a whole room on my eyelids,” she told The News & Observer in 1997, while still managing the store at age 86.

“National Art Interiors became a landmark for the finest furniture and fabric companies, furnishing many of the finest homes and businesses in North Carolina including First Citizens Banks and Capital Broadcasting Company,” Vallas’ obituary said.

National Art Interiors furnished the Executive Mansion three times and filled Raleigh's finest homes with oriental rugs and mahogany cabinets.

Vallas worked at National Art Interiors with her daughters and other family members until she retired in 2002 at 94.

Vallas served on the Boards of First Citizens Bank and the North Carolina Community Foundation. She was a lifelong member of the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church and a member of Philoptochos. She was honored with the Saint Michael's Award, the highest recognition for a layperson, for her years of dedicated service by the Greek Orthodox Diocese of America.

In 2010, Vallas received a letter of birthday congratulations from President Obama, his last name encircled in an elaborate "O."

“My father always told me,” Vallas said at the time, her accent still strong, “God lives here. Here - not Greece. You dig a little hole and plant three seeds, you get five cabbages. That's what he told me.”

Vallas’ funeral was held on Dec. 16. She is buried in Montlawn Memorial Park.

“Among Pota's many gifts, perhaps her most significant was her ability to make everyone she encountered feel special and was much loved by all,” her obituary read. “With indomitable spirit and her ever-present smile, she embodied the phrase ‘Where there is a will, there is a way.’ With great energy and faith, she said, ‘Yes to life’ that was the driving force for her lifelong success.”

In lieu of flowers, the family asked that donations be made to Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, 5000 Leadmine Road., Raleigh, NC 27612, www.holytrinityraleigh.org or Transitions LifeCare, 250 Hospice Circle, Raleigh, NC 27607.

Josh Shaffer contributed reporting.

This story was originally published December 19, 2017 at 6:44 PM with the headline "Business woman and daughter of Raleigh’s first Greek immigrant dies at 109."