Most Quarterites called her "The Lady with the Cross," but her real
name
was Eloise Lopez Arollo Samakintos. She was born in
Columbia, South America, and eventually found her way to the French
Quarter. Rumor says her sister died accidentally
and Eloise blamed herself. For her penance, she assigned herself the
perpetual task of bearing a cross. Some time in the
60s, she gave up the large statue of St. Anthony she used to carry
in addition to the cross. Eloise was quite an eccentric, who once was
barred from St. Louis Cathedral for crawling on her knees from the rear
to the alter, as religious women still do in South
America. But Eloise took the custom out on the streets, crawling on her
knees down the cracked sidewalks of the Vieux Carre.
Eloise Lopez was married (date unknown) to a Mr. Samakintos. They married on the afternoon that they met. The marriage was doomed from the start, and ended almost as soon as it began. Her settlement included the building in which she lived. At one time, her husband operated a restaurant on the ground floor. Eloise had no electricity in her apartment and often went to the grocery store for kerosene.
Eloise lived on welfare, and looked forward to her monthly checks. When her postman noticed one of her checks still in the mailbox after several days, he contacted the police who paid a visit to the dilapidated building. The house was a long series of forlorn rooms, each locked and bolted against intruders. In the last room, with twelve dogs and three parrots, the police found the body of Eloise Lopez Arollo Samakintos. Three people attended her funeral: a lady flower vendor who remembered Eloise's love of flowers, the flower vendor's husband, and Eloise's next door neighbor. Her worn cross was placed on the coffin.
Photo by Mickey Demoruelle