On Nov. 7, Roupen Barsoumian passed away at his home in Queens, N.Y. He left behind a dear sister, Silva Barsoumian (also of New York), and countless friends and loved ones.

Roupen Barsoumian

Roupen was born on May 5, 1937, in Aleppo, Syria. He lost his parents at a young age, and was then cared for by his grandmother, Eliza Kahkedjian. A few years later, Roupen, along with his brother Hagop and sister Silva, were placed in a youth shelter run by the Armenian Relief Society. He enrolled at the newly founded school, Karen Yeppe. After completing his secondary education, Roupen spent a year teaching at the Armenian school in Kamishli.

After graduating from Haigazian College in Beirut, he continued his studies at the American University of Beirut, specializing in business accounting, after which he moved to New York in 1969. For some time, he owned and operated his own business that specialized in leather products. Later, he worked in transportation. In 1986, Roupen received the devastating news that his brother had been kidnapped in Beirut, during the Lebanese Civil War. Roupen would not see his brother again, and he carried that grief until the end.

Roupen’s lifelong commitment to serving the Armenian community led him to become one of the founders of the New York branch of Hamazkayin. He also brought his services to the Armenian Prelacy in New York, and was a cherished face in the Armenian intellectual circle of New York. Those who knew him remember his dedication to the Armenian language, and his dream that one day the Mesrobian orthography would be revived in Armenia.

Martha Aramian of Providence passed away on Jan. 11, 2014, in the loving embraces of her sisters S. Sue Aramian of New York and Margo A. Ragan of Pennsylvania, her niece Jocelyn, nephew Paul, her adored grandniece and grandnephews Emma Ragan, Luca and Bastian Micolucci, and treasured cousins Cheryl and Dianne Apkarian.

Aramian (R) with Samantha Power at the 2008 ANCA Eastern Banquet, where Aramian was bestowed the Vahan Cardashian award for her lifetime of community service.

Her passion, philanthropy, and perseverance led her to personally design, create, and finally deed to the city of Providence the Armenian Heritage Park, on the corner of Chalkstone and Douglas Avenues. The park is an homage to the Armenian community who fled the horrors of the genocide, overcame great obstacles in this new land, and established families who went on to became leaders in business, education, medicine, politics, credits to their society.

Martha compiled a history of those families, whose names are engraved on granite stones around the central monument, so that their stories will be forever memorialized.

Along with her sisters and the International YMCA, she established the Kazar and Nevart Aramian Child Care Center in Vanadzor, Armenia, where young Armenian children could have an educational and social experience. It immediately became clear that seniors needed a place to gather, too, so Martha added the Zevartaran, named in honor of her aunt Zevart. Three years ago, the Aramian Camp was dedicated, and was a place where these same children could go for summer camp programs.

Martha’s love for children included those she didn’t even know. She sponsored weeks of summer activity at Aramian Camp for Armenian children who were refugees from the Syrian civil conflict. Her desire was for them to have happy memories during this difficult time.

Martha believed the Armenian Church was the cornerstone of its people; therefore, she lent her support to all the Armenian churches in Providence in many different ways. She was a dedicated member of Sts. Vartanantz Church, giving generously of her wisdom, ideas, and creativity.

When there was a need, she gave financially as well, often anonymously. She was a supporter of the Armenian Martyr’s Memorial, the Homenetmen Scouts of the Church, the Armenian National Committee in Washington as well as in Providence, a sponsor of the film “Screamers” on the genocide, and many other events.

Martha thought of others before herself. She spearheaded the movement to rename Whipple Street to Aram G. Garabedian Way in honor of Aram’s contributions to the Armenian people. She was the driving force for placing a bronze plaque at the old ARF Mourad Club on Douglas Avenue, where the first generation of Armenian immigrants used to gather.

Martha was recognized for her generosity. She was awarded the Queen Zabel Award by the Armenian Prelacy, “Woman of the Year” by the Armenian Masonic Degree Team of Rhode Island, Pillar of the Prelacy, congratulatory citations from Senator Domenick Ruggierio, Mayor Scott Avedisian, and a Key to the City from then-Mayor Vincent “Buddy” Cianci.

Relatives and friends are invited to attend Martha’s funeral ceremony at 11 a.m. on Wed., Jan. 15 at Sts. Vartanantz Armenian Apostolic Church on 402 Broadway, Providence, with internment to follow at North Burial Ground. In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting donations be made in her honor to Sts. Vartanantz Church.

A New Yorker, Gregory Lima went to Tehran, Iran, in 1958 to start Kayhan International, which became, in its heyday, the leading English-language newspaper in the Middle East. He remained with Kayhan, first as editor, then as special correspondent and critic, through its demise in the revolution of 1978–79.

Gregory Lima

He was born in 1925 on his mother’s kitchen table in Brooklyn, the first of six children. His mother was a seamstress and a shop steward for the ILGWU. His father owned a fruit-and-vegetable store. They were immigrants from Sicily.

Though he lived his life in three continents, he came of age as a child of Depression-era New York.

His first job, delivering groceries for his father, “meant exploring all the cellars in the neighborhood, for deliveries were made from the cellar through a dumbwaiter system,” he wrote in his memoir, a work in progress. In those cellars he found the tenants’ abandoned books and began to build his eclectic library.

An early poem, “Ferry to Hoboken,” now lost, caught the eye of teachers and administrators at Edward Stitt Junior High School, and he was made editor of the school’s literary magazine, Laurel Leaf.

He went on to DeWitt Clinton High School, where he shared a circle with the poet Emile Capouya and the writer James Baldwin. He dropped out during his senior year to enlist in the U.S. Army.

From basic training in North Carolina and Cape Cod, to waiting for action in England, to the “seasick landing at Utah Beach in the Normandy invasion,” and as a soldier laying out telephone wire in France, Belgium, and Germany, his war was a time of exploration and discovery. Officers read soldiers’ outgoing mail to make sure they weren’t divulging sensitive information. Gregory was bemused to find that his letters to his mother – and to girls he met in Europe – were serving to improve the prose of those officers’ own correspondence.

After the war, he set out for college on the GI Bill, graduating with honors from Syracuse University and going on to do graduate work at the New School for Social Research. He continued his studies – and his adventures – at the University of Toulouse and in Heidelberg and Würzburg in Germany. In his little Volkswagen he explored the postwar continent.

Noticing that GIs returning home in droves would need civilian clothes, he started American Designs, and made good money selling suits and outsourcing the work to Asia. Hee kept writing, however, and soon he was called to Iran by the forward-looking publisher of one of the Persian-language dailies, Kayhan. The invitation came with a nice check, and he went.

The new daily, Kayhan International, was a success, read by Western-educated Iranians and the growing community of expatriates. Gregory said there were 70,000 Americans in Iran in the 1970s; in a series of articles about Iran’s minorities, he included one titled “The Yankees.”

He married a member of another minority, the Armenians, in 1962. An insatiable reader, he was knowledgeable about Armenian history and culture by the time he met her family. Karina Arzooian’s family embraced him as one of their own, and he treated her younger brother Razmik as his own son. Gregory and Karina soon had two sons of their own, Vincent and Eric.

He started a firm, International Communicators, that helped a range of companies establish their businesses in Iran.

He wrote The Revolutionizing of Iran (1973), a volume about the shah’s reforms, the so-called revolution from above. As part of those reforms, in lieu of mandatory military service, young Iranian men with an education could join the Literacy Corps, a campaign to spread literacy in Iranian villages. An article Gregory wrote about healthcare delivery in an Armenian village cluster in central Iran inspired the establishment of a parallel Medical Corps.

His second book, The Costumes of Armenian Women (1974), richly illustrated by the photographer Peter Carapetian, was sold out instantly.

Though he now spent less time at the paper, his feature stories remained a fixture of Kayhan International’s weekend edition. In them, he took readers along with him on his voyages of discovery – on an archeological dig in the Caspian region, to an arts festival in the city of Shiraz, and well beyond Iran’s borders to Japan, Australia, South Africa, and across the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf.

He stayed in Iran through the revolution of 1978–79 but left soon after the raid on the U.S. Embassy. Back in the country of his birth, he might have capitalized on his deep knowledge of Iran. Instead he returned to the New School to earn a master’s degree in international relations and to help him gain perspective on the upheaval he had witnessed. Years later, on his eightieth birthday, a friend from Iran gave him a glass sculpture on which he had etched the apt encomium, “The beautiful American.”

Now established in Patterson, New York, in the summer home his father had bought when his fruit-and-vegetable business was thriving, he started exploring the Hudson Valley. He described his findings in long letters to his elder son, who, with Gregory’s reluctantly granted permission, had chosen to stay behind in Iran for a few years.

Before long, though, Gregory’s mind was back in Europe and he was traveling to Albania – home of his good friend Nua Shala – and to Kosovo, Montenegro, and beyond. In 2012, he published two books on the Balkans: The Amerikani and Journey to Macedonia. The latter volume reproduced an influential report he had written after a 1998 trip, where he interviewed the Albanian political elite and members of the Kosovo Liberation Army.

He made his first trip to Armenia in 2005. For some years after that, he lived a few months a year in Yerevan, the capital, where he was able to spend time with his granddaughters Noor and Arev – and contributed feature stories on Armenian art and artists to his son’s newspaper, The Armenian Reporter.

Less than a month before his death, over Christmas, he spent a few happy days gathered with his wife, children, and grandchildren. They looked back on a joyful year, during which his son Eric became the proud father of a son, Milo, established a successful Invention Factory at the Cooper Union, and earned tenure as a professor of mechanical engineering there.

He said he was enjoying his life: Karina’s inspired cooking, their garden, their grandchildren, as well as his projects and works in progress.

Gregory died peacefully – a day after experiencing a massive stroke – in Danbury, Conn., in the company of his wife of 52 years, his sons, and his daughter-in-law. At the time, he was working on the sixth chapter of his memoir, The Way it Was.

His Eminence Archbishop Oshagan, Prelate, and the Religious and Executive Councils of the Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America announce with deep sorrow the passing of Archpriest Fr. Dr. Gorun Shrikian, who died early in the morning on Feb. 11, 2014, in Dearborn, Mich.

Rev. Father Gorun Shrikian

Visiting hours took place at St. Sarkis Armenian Apostolic Church in Dearborn, where Der Gorun served as pastor for more than 30 years. Interment was at Oakland Hills Memorial Garden Cemetery in Novi, Mich.

Heartfelt condolences are extended to Der Gorun’s immediate survivors, which include his three children, Anie, Dirouhie, and Movses; grandchildren; his brother, Archpriest Fr. Nareg Shrikian; and his sister Sosy Bidanian. His wife, Yeretzgin Arpine, predeceased him.

May his memory shine forever with our Lord and Savior, whom he served so faithfully.

* * *

Archpriest Fr. Gorun Shrikian (baptismal name Pailag) was born on Jan. 28, 1929, in the village of Yoghoon-Olouk, Musa Dagh, to Archpriest Movses and Yeretzgin Nectar Shrikian. In 1939, the Shrikian family, along with many of their compatriots, established an all-Armenian town in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon known as Anjar, where he completed his primary education.

In 1954, he married Arpine Makhoulian, and they were blessed with three children. After attending the Theological Seminary of the Catholicosate of Cilicia in Antelias, Lebanon, he was ordained a priest in 1956, and named Gorun. He continued his theological education at the Seminary for two years while assuming teaching responsibilities.

Der Gorun and his family came to the United States in 1959 where he served as pastor of St. Gregory the Illuminator Church in Granite City, Ill. In 1965, he was assigned to serve St. Sarkis Church in Dearborn. He served that parish for 33 years.

Der Gorun continued his theological education at Concordia Seminary and received his Master of Arts in Religion (M.A.E.) degree in 1967. He then entered the doctoral program and successfully earned his Ph.D. His doctoral thesis, “Armenians under the Ottoman Empire and the American Mission’s Influence on their Intellectual and Social Renaissance,” was published three years ago.

Der Gorun was a prolific writer and developed educational materials for Armenian schools, Sunday schools, and adult education classes. He wrote many articles and books for the Prelacy, many of which are used to this day. His articles on timely topics appeared regularly in the Prelacy’s monthly publication, Outreach. He served as chairman of the Prelacy’s Religious Council and the Armenian Religious Education Council (AREC).

Der Gorun retired in 1998, becoming pastor emeritus of St. Sarkis Church. He continued writing and lecturing, and remained alert and actively involved to the end. He has left behind a rich and enduring heritage of scholarship and service.

By Jean Eckian / Paris

On Sat., Feb. 16, Sergio (Sarkis) Musceghian, the last survivor of the Armenian Genocide in Cerchiara (Calabria), Italy, died. He was 98 years old.

Sarkis was born on Nov. 4, 1916, and was taken in by Italian missionaries in Rhodes while walking on the streets of Constantinople when he was four years old.

In his eulogy, Cerchiara Mayor Antonio Carlomagno paid tribute to this man “of great dignity and moral rectitude.”

“The community of Cerchiara di Calabria had the pleasure and honor of meeting Sarkis during memorial moments of this great tragedy of the Armenian people, still waiting for justice in history and men. We were honored to meet with him and the history of his people. Sarkis, thank you,” said Carlomagno.

In the last years of his life, Sarkis devoted much of his time to discussing the fate of the Armenian people, especially during genocide commemorations on April 24. “I cannot miss an opportunity when we speak of the fate of my people,” he once said.

He lived in the village of Nor Arax (a “Villaggio Armeno”) in Bari with his wife Maryam and her daughter Vartuhi. In January 2013, Bari unveiled a khatchkar (cross-stone) in tribute to the victims of the Armenian Genocide.

The Armenian Catholic Eparchy of our Lady of Nareg in the Unites States and Canada, the Armenian Mekhitarist religious order, the Holy Cross Armenian Catholic Parish Council and faithful with heartfelt sorrow inform you that our beloved brother, Father Raphael Andonian, pastor of Holy Cross Armenian Catholic Church in Belmont, passed to eternal rest on Sunday April 6, 2014, in the morning. After battling cancer for seven months and fortified by the Sacraments of the Catholic Church, he peacefully commended his spirit into the hands of the Lord.

Fr. Raphael Andonian

The very reverend Fr. Raphael was born in Aleppo, Syria, on January 14, 1941. After his preliminary studies in his native country he arrived to St. Lazarus in Venice (Italy) on March 8, 1953 at the Mekhitarist monastery. He made his perpetual vows in 1962; hence, becoming member of the Mekhitarist Order on the feast of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He was ordained priest in 1965 at the completion of his philosophical and theological studies, at the Gregorian University in Rome.

His first mission assignment was to serve at the Samuel Mouradian College in Paris as vice-principal and later principal of the school. He also served as teacher, assistant director and director of Mourad-Raphaelian College in Venice. He served as chief financial officer of the Mekhitarist religious order of St. Lazzarus in Venice.

His last ministry was to shepherd the Armenian Catholic parish of Boston where he was totally devoted for the last 20 years of his life. His major accomplishment was relocating and building the new church and parish center of Holy Cross Armenian Catholic parish in Belmont.

Father Raphael contributed to the armenological Mekhitarist periodical, “Pazmaveb,” with numerous articles. He also translated several pastoral letters and encyclicals into Armenian: “Redeemer of Mankind” by Blessed John Paul II and both “God is Love” and “Gate of Faith” by Pope Benedict XVI.

Condolences will be received on Wednesday April 9 and Thursday April 10 from 5:00 to 8:00 PM at Holy Cross Armenian Catholic Church (200 Lexington St., Belmont, MA 02478.) Funeral Mass will be held on Friday April 11, 2014, at 6:00 PM at Holy Cross Armenian Catholic Church (200 Lexington St., Belmont, MA 02478.)

Respecting the wish of Fr. Raphael, his body will be transported to St. Lazarus, Mother Monastery of the Mekhitarist Order in Venice, where funeral and burial services will take place.

In lieu of flowers, expressions of sympathy may be made to Holy Cross Armenian Catholic Church. Your contributions will be dedicated to benefit the displaced Armenian families of Kessab.

Eternal rest, grant unto him O Lord: and let perpetual light shine upon him.

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BELMONT, Mass.—Like a utility player for his church, Very Rev. Father Raphael Andonian covered every base as pastor for two decades at Holy Cross Armenian Catholic Church in Belmont.

Father Raphael Andonian

It was the church and parish center he helped construct, the one he manifested and nurtured. His death April 6 sent a pall of grief throughout his parish.

Next year would have been the 50th anniversary of his ordination in Rome.

Whether you attended his church or didn’t, you were part of his religious family, popping into places like the VFW and the Armenian newspaper offices to lend a cheerful hello. Quite often, he would be that ray of sunshine on a dark, somber day.

What was it that someone once said about death and dying? It’s not the length of time that one lives but how that life was spent. With Father Raphael, it was a life worth living and sharing. He was 73 years young.

Our paths first crossed shortly upon his arrival here from Venice, a Mekhitarist Father entrusted to the care of a parish that was refined 30-plus years by the inimitable Father Luke Arakelian. We were an Armenian Catholic family living in Somerville and deep proponents of the faith.

It was Father Luke who sent me to Vienna to study with the priests—not to become a priest per se, only to be a better Armenian Catholic. His shoes would be filled by a young aspirant and Father Raphael withstood the challenge.

“We must invite him to dinner, get to know him,” my mother suggested.

As a correspondent for the Armenian press, it was a story waiting to hatch. He appreciated the sudden exposure and a relationship grew from it.

Over the years, he shed his grace upon my family, always there in time of need. He was there at my mother’s deathbed, holding on with the last gasp until he arrived to the nursing home from 40 miles away with the Sacrament of Extreme Unction or the last rites.

Somewhere in between those two decades were periodic stops at the house for dinner, a cup of coffee, or a simple poke through the door. Father Raphael catered to the elderly, much the same way he did with children, and everyone else. He was the master of his throne with no pretentions of grandeur.

Browsing through some copies of “Hye Undanik,” his church publication, you’d find that proverbial smile in the photos. The very last issue contains a piece he wrote called “The Hidden Doubt.”

It hit home!

“Often, I ask myself this question,” he wrote. “Why do people not live in harmony with each other? Why do they not see their future and imagine what is coming?”

He ends it with what appears to be a prophecy of death, given the cancer that ravaged his body during his final days on earth. “It is precisely in this afterlife that all the aspects and stages of human life achieve their full significance.”

Maybe it’s ironic that his funeral was planned for April 11, almost immediately following the Statehouse commemoration.

Had he been there Friday, he would have taken his righteous place among the clergy, offering prayers for our genocide victims and survivors alike. And then, like he always did, Father Raphael would have played the crowd, hand extended, a kind word ventured, a beloved hug.

He would have marveled at the presence of youth, whether they were from the Sisters’ Academy or another school. The Hye Undaniks had him embracing every youngster in sight, particularly during their First Communion when they officially became members of his church.

During a recent ARS trip to the Mediterranean, one of the stops was to the Island of San Lazzaro, a sanctuary for Mekhitarists promoting our language and culture for nearly 300 years. On this visit, I was surprised to find less than a dozen priests inhabiting the monastery.

“Do you know Father Raphael?” I asked one of the priestly tour guides. “We’re from the Boston area.”

The cleric stopped in his tracks. Had I mentioned Pope Benedict, the impact would not have been any greater.

Father Raphael made annual calls here, leaving his Belmont parish behind in the best interests of spirituality, keeping the books and preserving the faith that so nurtured the man. Suffice it to say, he lived the best of both worlds, here and Italy—but under one God.

And now, he’s returning home to Venice where his body will be interred, following services here. It was his final wish.

May he always rest in eternal peace.

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His Eminence Archbishop Oshagan and the Religious and Executive Councils announce with sorrow the passing of Onnic Marashian, a long-time servant of the Armenian Church. He was a Pillar of the Prelacy and was awarded the Prince of Cilicia insignia in recognition of his many years of service to the Armenian Church and the Eastern Prelacy. Onnic died on April 22, after a short illness.

Archbishop Mesrob Ashjian, of blessed memory, decorates Onnic Marashian with the Prince of Cilicia insignia, the highest civilian honor bestowed by the Holy See of Cilicia, in May 1996.

A National Funeral (Azkayin Taghoum) will take place at Sts. Vartanantz Church, 461 Bergen Boulevard, in Ridgefield, N.J., on Sat., April 26, with visiting from 10-11 a.m., and funeral services at 11 a.m., with the Prelate, Archbishop Oshagan, officiating. Interment will follow at George Washington Memorial Park in Paramus. A memorial luncheon will be offered at Sts. Vartanantz Church.

Onnic is survived by his wife, Vergine; his daughter Hera and her husband John Williams; son Mardic and his wife Carol; and five grandchildren. A son, Asbed, and daughter-in-law, Sosy, and a brother, Joseph, predeceased him.

Onnic Marashian served on the Prelacy’s Executive Council for many years beginning in 1979 and continuing on until 1999. During his tenure he served as the council’s secretary for a number of years and as its chairman from 1994-99. He served as a delegate to the World General Assembly in Antelias, Lebanon; was elected to the Central Executive in Antelias; and served as a delegate to the Prelacy’s National Representative Assembly. The Prince of Cilicia medal, the highest civilian award offered by the Holy See of Cilicia, was presented to him in May 1996.

Marashian was a well-known specialist in the energy industry and was employed for many years by the McGraw-Hill Company, where he served as editor-in-chief of the influential publication Platt’s Oilgram. Following his retirement, McGraw-Hill retained him as a consultant for many years. He is the author of numerous articles in his field of expertise, where he was an internationally recognized, respected, and honored colleague.

In lieu-of-flowers donations may be made to the Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America and to Sts. Vartanantz Armenian Apostolic Church.

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Sano Themia Halo, (1909-2014) one of the last survivors of the Pontic Greek Genocide in Ottoman Turkey, died peacefully at home in her sleep on April 28, 2014, just two weeks shy of her 105th birthday.

Although Ms. Halo came from a place in the world that was too small to be depicted on a map, as the subject of the memoir, Not Even My Name, she became known to Pontic Greeks worldwide, as the Yia Yia (grandmother) of all Pontians. To her family and friends she was a warm, sensitive, often humorous, and caring mother, grandmother, and great grandmother.

Sano Themia Halo (1909-2014)

The only known survivor of her family, Ms. Halo’s extraordinary memory brought to life the details of how the Pontic Greeks lived in mountain villages of the Black Sea region of Turkey in the early 20th Century, and her community’s devastating death march to exile in 1920. To help her survive, her mother left 10-year-old Themia, with a woman who promised to care for her, in a small hamlet in southern Turkey. After her mother’s death, young Themia was treated as a slave. With the loss of her family, community, and finally her name, changed to Sano by her cruel keeper, Sano ran away to Diyarbakir at age 12. There an Armenian family took her in. When they fled to Aleppo, Syria to avoid further massacres, they took young Sano with them as their daughter.

Sano’s future husband, Abraham, an Assyrian who had also fled Turkey and emigrated to the U.S. in 1905, had returned to Aleppo in 1925 to visit exiled cousins and to find a bride. To give Sano a chance at a free life in America, at just 15 years old, her Armenian family arranged Sano’s marriage to 45-year-old Abraham. On their marriage and arrival in New York City, Sano became mother to Farage, Abraham’s 10-year-old son from a previous marriage. Sano and Abraham raised 10 children of their own.

When asked if she wanted restitution from the Turkish government for the loss of her family and her home, Ms. Halo responded that she wanted an apology from the Turkish government. “We had everything to live for and they sent us to die on the roads,” she said.

In 2002, Ms. Halo was given the New York Governor’s Award for Excellence in Honor of Women’s History Month, Honoring Women of Courage and Vision, for making known to the American public for the first time, the history and tragic fate of the Pontic Greeks, a people who had made Asia Minor their home for almost 3,000 years, until their massacre, death marches to exile, and finally the Exchange of Populations in 1923 pursuant to the Treaty of Lausanne.

Although a resident of New York City since her arrival in 1925, neither Ms. Halo, nor most of the country, was aware that over 40,000 Pontic Greeks made their homes in Astoria, L.I., with further Pontian communities in Connecticut, Chicago, Canada and elsewhere.

In 2009, for her 100th Birthday, Greece awarded Ms. Halo and her daughter, Thea, honorary Greek citizenship. “Now everyone will know I am Greek,” Ms. Halo said, referring to a U.S. passport that depicted her place of origin as Turkey, without identifying her as a Greek.

In 1989, she made a pilgrimage with her daughter, Thea, back to Turkey to find her home. “Everyone treated me like family,” she said of the Turks they met along the way.” Although Ms. Halo’s story of loss of family, home, country, and finally even her language and her name was so tragic, she never held any animosity towards the Turkish people. She said they had lived side by side in peace. “They are people like any other people. They want to raise their families and prosper. You must place the blame where blame belongs,” she said, “with the Turkish government. Ataturk. He was the one. Not the only one. But he was the one.”

The Ottoman genocide of over three million of their Christian citizens: Greeks, Armenians, and Assyrians under the Young Turk and Kemalist regimes from 1913-1923 took the lives of 353,000 of the 700,000 Pontic Greeks, and a further 700,000 Greeks of Ottoman Turkey. It also took the lives of 275,000 Assyrians, more than half their population, and 1.5 million Armenians.

Ms. Halo had long opined, “If I could only write, I’d tell the world what happened.” Although her daughter Thea had made her career as a painter, after their trip to Turkey, Thea decided to be her mother’s voice. Not Even My Name was published by Picador, an imprint of St. Martin’s Press, in 2000.

Sano Halo is also featured in a number of documentaries, and has received numerous other honors and awards in the U.S., Canada, and in Greece. The Sano Themia Halo Pontian Heritage Foundation was established by her daughter Thea with the intention of building a living museum in Greece to help future generations know how the Pontic Greeks lived in the Pontic Mountains along the Black Sea.

In 1976 Ms. Halo moved to Monroe, N.Y. where she spent the last 37 years of her life. Above all, Ms. Halo was devoted to her family. She often said, “My family is my life.” She is survived by seven of her ten children, plus her many grand- and great-grandchildren, and one great-great grandchild.

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“My future is today. I’ll always have a camera around my neck, even when I’m buried. It’s been a productive career, one rich in satisfaction and joy.
Every day is still a fresh adventure.”

–Harry Koundakjian

 NEW YORK—Veteran photojournalist and retired Associated Press international photo editor Harry Koundakjian passed away on April 21. He was 83.

Harry Koundakjian

Koundakjian has been termed the father of photojournalism in the Middle East. He began his career in 1952 when he joined the Beirut-based French-language newspaper, L’Orient and its sister Arabic publication Jarida as the first press photographer in Lebanon.

At the same time Harry freelanced for Magazine and Ousbou el-Arabi weeklies of Beirut, where he had more than 300 cover picture-stories; for Time and Life magazines and The Associated Press; Paris Match, France-Soir , as well as Dalmas and Keystone photo agencies of France; Illustrated London News magazine, The Daily Mail, The Daily Express, The London Times, and The Guardian.

He joined The Associated Press in Beirut in 1966 and covered all Middle East events, from military coups d’état to royal weddings and deaths, earthquakes in Turkey, Iran, and Morocco, a cyclone in East Pakistan, and more.

Being Armenian and neutral in Middle East conflicts, he was the only remaining photo-editor during and after the Munich Olympic massacre. He covered Miss Europe pageants during five years in Beirut, as well as the Pope’s first visits to Jerusalem, East Pakistan, and Turkey.

He traveled with Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and Cyrus Vance in the presidential aircraft during their shuttles to make peace between Arabs and Israel. He visited West Africa, where he accompanied Pat Nixon during her “goodwill” tour. Harry was supervising photo-editor for the Asian Olympics in Tehran.

He did several picture stories about Leila Khaled, who hijacked a TWA jetliner to Algiers and Damascus. He had front-page and cover photos of the Lufthansa hijack to Dubai by Palestinians, showing the hijacker aiming his pistol at the pilot’s head. The pilot was later murdered, and his body was thrown from the plane in Aden.

Koundakjian covered the Lebanon crisis from 1973 until 1979, when he was transferred, with his family, to New York City headquarters as a multilingual photo editor responsible for publications’ needs outside of the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

His photos of Pope Paul VI praying, Yasser Arafat embracing refugee children, and King Hussein’s wedding won him several prizes and were featured in Life and Time magazines.

The Armenian Weekly editors and staff convey their deepest condolences to the family of Harry Koundakjian, a longtime contributor to this newspaper. 

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Lucy Ishkanian Tankian passed away on April 20, 2014. An accomplished concert pianist, she was recognized internationally. Lucy generously gave her time and expertise to the artistic community through her support of the education and careers of young artists. In 1992, she founded the Juilliard-Komitas friendship program that offers gifted students from the Komitas Conservatory in Yerevan, Armenia, the opportunity to study at the Juilliard School in New York.

Lucy Ishkanian

The funeral service, officiated by Archbishop Oshagan, took place on April 25 at St. Illuminator’s Cathedral in New York.

Lucy Ishkanian is survived by her husband, Hagop Tankian. A brother, Vahe, predeceased her.

Lucy was a valued member of the Prelacy’s Musical Armenia committee that each year selected an artist or artists to be featured at the annual Musical Armenia concert in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall.

In appreciation of her life-long dedication to the Armenian Prelacy and the arts, the Prelacy honored her at a luncheon on May 2, 2011, where Archbishop Oshagan decorated her with the Queen Zabel Award, one of two high honors awarded by the Eastern Prelacy.

Lucy gave her first recital at age seven, two years after becoming the youngest student ever accepted to the Juilliard Preparatory Division. She continued her education in the college division of Juilliard, graduating with both a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees. She also went on to complete requirements for a PhD at Columbia University.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Illuminator’s Cathedral or to the Juilliard Armenian Scholarship Fund.

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Arthur A. Maranian, Sr. was born in May 1928 in Arlington, Mass., one of nine children of the late Aram and Alice Maranian.

He attended schools in Arlington as well as in Boston at Don Bosco for printing. At the age of nine, he was already an entrepreneur. Following his discharge from the U.S. Marine Corps, Arthur started his own business in Somerville. In 1950, he married the late Helen Marian of Lowell, and they moved to Washington, D.C. There, Arthur and Helen started their family and were blessed with two beautiful children, Arthur Jr. and Linda.

Arthur worked for a printing company affiliated with the U.S. government and was in charge of the Special Marine Unit from the Pentagon that provided and rushed secret documents and maps crucial to the Korean War effort. This experience provided him with a thorough understanding of lithography. In 1953, he returned to Boston and started Maran Printing Service, Inc., in Arlington. Over the years, Maran Printing Service became one of the most unique printing plants in the Boston area, receiving many awards for outstanding work in the printing trade.

Arthur made special presentations for President Gerald R. Ford, the Bicentennial, the U.S. Postal Service, the U.S. Constitution Museum, the opening of the Kennedy Library attended by President Jimmy Carter, and other historical programs. He received numerous expressions of gratitude, among them from President Ford, the White House, and the Kennedy Family. Arthur’s love for history and printing was recognized by his peers in the New England Printer and National Geographic magazines, as well as the Armenian Mirror Spectator and other Boston-area papers.

Arthur was a long-standing member and generous supporter of the Holy Trinity Armenian Church in Cambridge along with other local Armenian churches and organizations. He was a member of Mystic Valley Masonic Lodge, the Knights of Vartan, the Aleppo Shriners. He is survived by his son, Arthur Jr. and his wife Karen; his daughter, Linda Mitchell and her husband Kenneth; 4 grandchildren; and 7 great grandchildren. He was the brother of Aram, Jack, Lucy Balian, Dorothy Parsikikian, and the late Leo, George, Michael, and Ann Hartounian. He is survived by many loving nieces and nephews. Arthur is also survived by his loving companion and friend Nadia Ann Karnik.

Funeral service was held on Wed., May 28 at 11 a.m. at Holy Trinity Armenian Church, 145 Brattle St. in Cambridge. Visiting hours were at the Aram Bedrosian Funeral Home, 558 Mt. Auburn St. in Watertown on May 27. Memorial gifts may be made to the Quimby Center for Geriatric Care at Mt. Auburn Hospital (300 Mt. Auburn St., Ste. 517, Cambridge, MA 02138; Attention: John R. Anderson, MD). Interment will be at the Lincoln Cemetery in Lincoln, Mass.

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HAVERHILL, Mass.—Albert (Shavarsh) Movsesian, a crusader for Armenian Genocide education and human rights, passed away on May 25 at Merrimack Valley Hospice House surrounded by his loving family.

The day coincided with his late wife’s birthday and occurred on the eve of Memorial Day, which he always observed as a proud veteran.

Albert S. Movsesian enjoyed being in the driver’s seat.

Long active in Armenian Genocide issues, Movsesian left no stone unturned when it came time to educate the public.

As a member of the Armenian Genocide Education Committee of Merrimack Valley, he traveled to schools along the North Shore and Greater Boston with stories drawn from his own family history and the persecution of 1.5 million Armenians in 1915 at the hands of the Ottoman-Turkish government.

Much of his presentation centered around the Near East Relief and the Armenian Orphan Rug, which was woven by his mother-in-law and other orphans during that time in Lebanon. Movsesian lobbied for its identity, traveling to the White House upon First Lady Hillary Clinton’s invitation to ensure proper recognition.

A month before his death, Movsesian attended a 99th anniversary commemoration at North Andover High School, where he was presented with an appreciation gift by the Armenian Genocide Commemorative Committee for his three decades of service.

As a respected member and former commander of the Arakadz Lodge, Merrimack Valley Knights of Vartan, he helped dispatch medical supplies to Armenia through the International Medical Equipment Collaborative (IMEC) in North Andover.

He was a Board member of the Armenian Library and Museum of America (ALMA) and belonged to the National Association of Armenian Studies & Research (NAASR). Movsesian also maintained a venerable career with the Armenian Church at Hye Pointe, where he taught Sunday School and served as a Diocesan delegate and Parish Council member over 55 years.

His church service earned him the prestigious St. Nerses Shnorhali Medal for distinguished service from the Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church of North America.

A World War II veteran with the Army Air Corps, Movsesian served as a radar technician before graduating from Boston University on the GI Bill. He worked at Liberty Mutual for 38 years, winning several awards for salesmanship.

For 22 years, Movsesian was an active volunteer and chapter president with Northern Essex Elder Transport (NEET), reaching out to 14 communities throughout the North Shore in furnishing rides to the incapacitated. For many, it became a transportation of last resort.

He was also involved as a board member for 15 years with the North Andover Council on Aging where he served as a program coordinator, often speaking to listeners about his ethnic history.

As an active member of the Boston Rotary Club, among his golden deeds was serving meals to deprived people and catering to their essential needs. He was also a Big Brother for 44 years and a member of Saggahew Lodge, AF & AM, of Haverhill for over five decades.

He often reminisced about his days as a competitive tennis player and his passion for beekeeping, along with the venture called “Movses Apiary,” sharing jars of honey as gifts. He was also an avid photographer.

Movsesian was born in Haverhill, son of the late Movses and Koharig (Mesrobian) Movsesian, and graduated from Haverhill High School. He was a longtime resident of Bradford and North Andover before spending his final months at Ashland Farms in North Andover.

For 40 years, he maintained a home in Freedom, N.H., overlooking Lake Ossipee, using it both as a family hiatus and personal retreat.

He was the husband of the late Charlotte (Gulezian) Movsesian, who died in 2012, and brother of the late Roxie Shamlian, Nance Movsesian, and retired U.S. Army Colonel Anthony A. Movsesian.

He leaves 2 sisters, Elinor Tate, and her husband John, of Lincoln, R.I., and Lucy Talanian of Milton, Mass.; 11 nieces and nephews; 9 grandnieces and grandnephews; his brother-in-law, Martin Gulezian of Methuen, N.H.; and several beloved cousins and friends.

A funeral service took place at Armenian Church at Hye Pointe. Memorial contributions may be made to Project SAVE Armenian Photograph Archives, P.O. Box 236, Watertown, MA 02471-0236 or the Armenian Church at Hye Pointe, 110 Main St., Haverhill, MA 01830.

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Albert Sarkissian

Albert Sarkissian was born on Feb. 12, 1917, in an Armenian community that was then in Russian Ashkabad. Albert was the son of Shooshanik Hovsepian (born in Shushi) and Vaghinak Sarkissian (born in Tabriz). Albert and his sister, Seda, were orphaned at a young age. Although they lived with family, they needed to learn to fend for themselves very early in life. Albert joined the army at age 16 and served as a communications specialist. He spent most of his childhood in Iran where he met his future wife, Lena Aganoor.

Albert and Lena were married on Aug. 6, 1943 and were inseparable partners for 65 years. They had three children—Susan, Sofia, and Leo. Collectively there are seven grandchildren, several of whom are married: Susan and Ray Bagdasarian, with children, Laura and Greg Srebotnik and Robert and Karen Bagdasarian, and great-grandchildren Nicole and Matthew; Sofie and Marv Gough, with children, Kristen and Thomas Aikman, and great grandson, Noah; Greg Gough; Alissa and Michael Ray, and great grandsons Xavier and Xander; and Leo and Mary Sarkissian, with children Heather and Matt Saforrian and Hailey Sarkissian.

Albert worked diligently his entire life, always taking advantage of educational opportunities, even when working full-time. The opportunity to further his family’s and his personal education was a driving factor in his decision to move to New York City in 1958 with his wife and three young children.

He believed strongly in education. In New York, he attended RCA institute while working full-time, so that he could advance himself as an electronics engineer. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the New York Institute of Technology and later, as a graduate, was an instructor at the successor to the RCA Institute. Albert served as vice president and plant manager of an electronics firm in Queens, N.Y., for many years. In the early 1970’s, he established and became the president of Hybrid Semiconductors, Inc. The U.S government was one of the company’s primary customers.

In retirement in the 1990’s, he and his wife left New York to live close to the Armenian community in Watertown, Mass. There they attended many events and seminars hosted by the church, the Armenian Library and Museum of America (ALMA), the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR), the Armenian Cultural Foundation (ACF), and other organizations.

Although his career was in electronics, in retirement Albert returned to literature and journalism in his volunteer and personal activities. As a “Researcher of Armenian Studies,” he authored and published a book titled, Contemplations, Free Masons and British Anti-Armenian Activities in 2003. He sent copies of the book to Armenian libraries and groups across the world.

For years he was active in the Armenian church, serving on the board of St. Illuminator’s Cathedral in New York and attending many church national assemblies. Albert was a member of St. Stephan’s Armenian Church, active in the Armenian Revisionary Federation (ARF), and was a volunteer at ALMA and the Hairenik newspaper. He felt strongly about Armenian independence and Armenian education. He and his wife traveled to Armenia twice in later years.

Albert always had time for his family. One of his major roles was “chauffer,” dropping off and picking up his children, wife, and sister-in-law often on a daily basis. He was protective of his daughters and would not want them driving with friends (so, he would often drive them to the mall or the movies, and wait in the car if need be, reading or doing his engineering homework).
In addition to his family, he was fortunate to have many good friends, both from the Armenian community and work. He was a man of strong principles, reflected in his commitment to his Armenian heritage, his adopted country, his family, church, and friends.

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Jasmine Chobanian of Natick, Mass., passed away on July 25, 2014, after a brief illness. She was the beloved wife of 59 years of Aram V. Chobanian, M.D., and the cherished mother of Karin Chobanian Torrice of Natick, Lisa Chobanian Ramboeck of Bronxville, N.Y., and Aram Chobanian, Jr., of Brookline, Mass. She is also survived by her beloved grandchildren, Marc and Vanessa Torrice. Jasmine was born in Pawtucket, R.I., the daughter of the late Charles and Zabel (Russian) Goorigian. She leaves her loving sisters Nectar Lennox of Cumberland, R.I., and Marie Vartanian of Agawam, Mass., her sister-in-law, Ruth Chobanian of Cambridge, Mass., as well as a large number of nieces, nephews, and friends.

Jasmine Chobanian

Jasmine graduated from Brown University (Pembroke College) and was a research technician at Harvard’s Thordike Memorial Laboratories. She was a talented portrait painter who attended the Boston Museum School and studied under the late artist, Conger Metcalfe. A patron of the arts, she served as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Boston Ballet Company. She was known for her unique exuberance, gaiety, infectious spirit, and loving nature. Jasmine was considered by many as the “First Lady” of Boston University and its Medical Campus during her husband’s period of leadership there. Boston University honored her in 2006 for her contributions with a Gala Dinner and Arts Program. She had many hobbies and interests and was an avid reader, storyteller, nature lover, bird watcher, and sports fan. She traveled extensively internationally and was fascinated by the people she met and their different arts and cultures. She also was very active in humanitarian efforts to provide assistance to Armenia.

A Memorial Service to celebrate her life will be held in September on a date and place to be announced.

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Lt. Col. David B. Davidian, Sr., of West Yarmouth, Mass. passed peacefully on March 12, 2014 at the age of 89, at Mt. Auburn Hospital, with his family by his side. He was the beloved husband of the late Mary (Dolbashian) and Roxy (Shrestinian) Davidian.

David was born the son of the late Bagdassar and Mary (Oozoonian) Davidian. He was a graduate from Classical High School and Clark University with a degree in History and International Relations.

David enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps. in 1943.  He was stationed in England during WWII.  He was a Lead Navigator in the 301^st AAF BU and flew a B17 conducting bombing raids over Germany, earning him an Air Medal.  He was recalled during the Korean War in 1951 and later during the Cuban Missile Crisis.  He retired in 1974 as a Lieutenant Colonel.  His WWII crew was a tight group of friends.  They had a 50^th reunion at his home in West Yarmouth, a historic event that made front page news in the Cape Cod Times.

He was the loving father of David B. Davidian, Jr. and his wife Innessa Antonian of Belmont, Mass., Christyne Davidian of Petaluma, Calif., Susan Davidian Kinnear and her husband Michael Norman Kinnear of Watertown, Mass., and the late Melanie Davidian of Burlington, Vt.  His grandchildren, Shant Davidian of Waltham, Mass., Ani and David Davidian III of Belmont, Mass.,  Matthew Ray and Gregory Davidian Hubert of Petaluma, Calif., and Michaela Araxi and David Aram Kinnear of Watertown, Mass.  He survived two sisters, Ojen Fantazian of Arlington, Mass. and Vartouhi Merzigian of Worcester, Mass.  He also leaves many nephews, nieces, grandnephews and grandnieces.

David worked for New York Life Insurance for over 40 years.  He built a nursing home, Medway Country Manor, from the ground up with his partner John Peters, Jr. and worked as the treasurer until he retired in 1992.

He was a member of the Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church in Worcester, Mass., its Board of Trustees, and the Men’s Club for many years. He was a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), was on the Board that formed the Worcester AYF Juniors and helped with the construction of Camp Haiastan in Franklin, Mass.

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“Take my hand and lift me higher
Be my love and my desire
Hold me safe and honor bound
Take my heart to higher ground.”
… Barbra Streisand (“Higher Ground”)

CHELMSFORD, Mass.—Lucy (Dulgarian) Dumanian lived a good life.

She raised three wonderful children who clung to their Armenian roots, was a dutiful wife and housekeeper, was college-educated during a time when education was at a premium, and worked 34 years with the federal government.

Lucy (Dulgarian) Dumanian

Prior to that she taught school and never wasted an opportunity to exercise an act of kindness. Lucy enjoyed life to the fullest before death took her Aug. 27 at the ripe age of 91.

Do you believe in divine intervention? How many of us have lived through close encounters, maybe felt a spirit tugging us toward an enriched destiny?

Lucy’s death did that. It led me to a spiritual path toward higher ground. For that was Lucy’s sanctuary at her burial.

As I always do on a long trip, I select a piece of music for my listening pleasure. It’s usually a CD I have prepared in advance. But on this day, I allowed fate to play my hand.

I reached into the side compartment where my CDs are stored and picked one out at random. Whatever it was, that would be my selection for the ride to Lucy’s funeral.

The CD that fell into my hand was Barbra Streisand’s 1997 recording of “Higher Ground,” which I had picked up at a second-hand store for a dollar. It was the second song on the track behind a spiritual gem called “I Believe/You’ll Never Walk Alone.”

The lyrics grabbed me instantly and I caught myself singing along with Barbra.

Turns out the studio album was the 27^th in this diva’s repertoire, though her first in 4 years, selling more than 5 million copies worldwide.

Let it be known that up to this moment, I had yet to hear the track. It had remained secluded in my car for months before answering an impulse.

“Walk me over this horizon

Let the sun’s light warm my face

Once again the times are changing

Once again I lost my way.”

At the church, it was said that Lucy was the light of the earth, a ray of sunshine on a dreary day. She was a lifelong resident of Chelmsford and wed 53 years to her husband John before he passed.

Her children Audrey, Andrew, and Robert were members of the Armenian Youth Federation and lent their support to many functions. Lucy had spent her working life with the Electronic Systems Division of Hanscom Air Force Base after teaching at Chelmsford and Orange High Schools.

The funeral procession wound its way along the highway to a side road leading to the cemetery, past the headstones to what looked like a cul-de-sac where the entourage came to a halt.

Mourners were led up a steep hill to a site under an elm tree overlooking the entire premises. Lucy’s ground couldn’t have gone any higher unless you were buried on a mountain. The view was like another Streisand song, “On a Clear Day, You Could See Forever.”

She was laid to rest with her husband John where a graveside service was conducted by Rev. Fr. Khachatur Kessablyan. Had Lucy picked this spot after being inspired by the Streisand song?

Turns out, it was the other way around. Her husband had suggested the idea—not to be above their peers but more to serve as a watchtower. Of course, the view from the top didn’t hurt matters.

The story about the CD unfolded at the mercy meal that followed. My copy was passed along to Lucy’s children for their listening pleasure, keeping their mother in mind.

“I would trade the wealth of ages

For a warmer hand to hold

The path of light is narrow

But it leads to streets of gold.”

Rest in peace, Lucy!

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Dr. Hrair Atikian, beloved husband, father, grandfather, brother, and uncle, passed away on Tues., Aug. 19 in Burbank, Calif., due to complications caused by cancer. He was 74. Hrair Atikian was a resident of Sherman Oaks for 46 years, and a prominent orthodontist in North Hollywood for more than 35 years.

Dr. Hrair Atikian (1940-2014)

Hrair was born on Feb. 25, 1940 in Kessab (Kasab), Syria, the youngest of eight children blessed to Hovhannes and Martha Abdulian. Two weeks after Hrair’s birth, his biological mother passed away, whereupon Hrair was lovingly adopted by his maternal aunt, Efronia Atikian, and her husband, Agop Atikian (a well-known chemist and schoolmaster), whom he always warmly called “Mom and Dad.” The family immigrated to the United States in 1954, settling in Boonton, N.J., where Hrair attended Boonton High School and graduated in 1958. Hrair then attended Cooper Union, where he studied mechanical engineering for two years. After witnessing a downturn in the engineering industry, Hrair redirected his academic focus and enrolled in New York University (NYU), graduating in 1962 with a major in biology and a minor in chemistry. Hrair moved to Boston, and from 1962-66, Hrair attended Harvard School of Dental Medicine. He graduated from Harvard Dental School in 1966 with a Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD) degree.

In June 1966, Hrair married Martha Bilezikian of Newton, Mass. They moved to Portland, Ore., where Hrair completed a post-doctorate program in orthodontics at the University of Oregon Dental School. In 1968, shortly after moving to Studio City, Calif., Hrair opened up his own very successful orthodontics practice in North Hollywood. For 35 years, many local youth and adults received orthodontic treatment from Dr. Hrair Atikian. He practiced with honesty and integrity, with a conservative approach. Hrair was meticulous and dedicated in his practice of orthodontics.

In late 1970, Hrair and Martha purchased their home in Sherman Oaks, where Hrair resided up until his passing. Hrair and Martha had three daughters: Katherine (“Katie”), Caroline, and Alison, who brought Hrair much joy, love, and happiness.

In 1994, Hrair and Martha separated and later divorced. In 1996, Hrair married Mary (Ekmekji) Britton. They enjoyed nearly 18 years of marriage, which included travel to Kessab and other destinations. Mary lovingly cared for Hrair throughout his illness.

Hrair practiced orthodontics until late 2003, at which time he entered an early retirement and sold his practice in order to care for his 34-year old daughter, Katie, in the last months of her life as she courageously battled pancreatic cancer. The dedication, loyalty, diligence, and relentless sacrifice displayed at this time summarized Hrair’s character absolutely. Hrair was calm, hard working, loving, kind, loyal, and honest to the core. He was intelligent, and had a quick and subtle wit.

Hrair was very active in the local community, dedicating time and resources to the Armenian community and several American charitable organizations. Hrair was involved with the Kessab Educational Association (KEA) since 1969, serving as chairman three times, as well as secretary and treasurer. Hrair’s other civic involvements included the Kiwanis Club-North Hollywood Chapter from 1969-2010; the United Armenian Congregational Church Deacons’ Committee for 11 years, where he served as chairman for 2 years; and the Merdinian Armenian School for 12 years (including 5 years as chairman).

An avid reader, Hrair enjoyed history, archaeology, and anthropology. Other hobbies included stamp and coin collecting, and spending time with his children, grandchildren, and family, who in his own words were his “raison d’etre” or “reason for being.”

Dr. Hrair Atikian is survived by his wife, Mary Atikian; his daughters, Caroline Atikian O’Malley and Alison Sykes; his grandchildren, Shannon Michelle O’Malley and Jack Ryan Kade O’Malley; his son-in-law, John O’Malley; his brothers, Misak, Daniel, and Vasken Abdulian, and their families; and his sister-in-laws, Joyce and Patsy Abdulian, and their families. He was predeceased by his daughter, Katie.

A Memorial Service in Hrair Atikian’s honor is scheduled at the United Armenian Congregational Church, 3480 Cahuenga Blvd. West in Los Angeles on Sat., Sept. 27 at 10:30 a.m. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Merdinian Armenian Evangelical School (13330 Riverside Drive, Sherman Oaks, CA 91423; memo line: Hrair Atikian) or to the Armenian Missionary Association of America (AMAA) Kessab, Syria Fund (31 West Century Road, Paramus, NJ 07652; memo line: Hrair Atikian).

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Lucy Ishkanian Tankian passed away on April 20, 2014. An accomplished concert pianist, she was recognized internationally. Lucy generously gave her time and expertise to the artistic community through her support of the education and careers of young artists. In 1992, she founded the Juilliard-Komitas friendship program that offers gifted students from the Komitas Conservatory in Yerevan, Armenia, the opportunity to study at the Juilliard School in New York.

Lucy Ishkanian

The funeral service, officiated by Archbishop Oshagan, took place on April 25 at St. Illuminator’s Cathedral in New York.

Lucy Ishkanian is survived by her husband, Hagop Tankian. A brother, Vahe, predeceased her.

Lucy was a valued member of the Prelacy’s Musical Armenia committee that each year selected an artist or artists to be featured at the annual Musical Armenia concert in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall.

In appreciation of her life-long dedication to the Armenian Prelacy and the arts, the Prelacy honored her at a luncheon on May 2, 2011, where Archbishop Oshagan decorated her with the Queen Zabel Award, one of two high honors awarded by the Eastern Prelacy.

Lucy gave her first recital at age seven, two years after becoming the youngest student ever accepted to the Juilliard Preparatory Division. She continued her education in the college division of Juilliard, graduating with both a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees. She also went on to complete requirements for a PhD at Columbia University.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Illuminator’s Cathedral or to the Juilliard Armenian Scholarship Fund.

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Arthur A. Maranian, Sr. was born in May 1928 in Arlington, Mass., one of nine children of the late Aram and Alice Maranian.

He attended schools in Arlington as well as in Boston at Don Bosco for printing. At the age of nine, he was already an entrepreneur. Following his discharge from the U.S. Marine Corps, Arthur started his own business in Somerville. In 1950, he married the late Helen Marian of Lowell, and they moved to Washington, D.C. There, Arthur and Helen started their family and were blessed with two beautiful children, Arthur Jr. and Linda.

Arthur worked for a printing company affiliated with the U.S. government and was in charge of the Special Marine Unit from the Pentagon that provided and rushed secret documents and maps crucial to the Korean War effort. This experience provided him with a thorough understanding of lithography. In 1953, he returned to Boston and started Maran Printing Service, Inc., in Arlington. Over the years, Maran Printing Service became one of the most unique printing plants in the Boston area, receiving many awards for outstanding work in the printing trade.

Arthur made special presentations for President Gerald R. Ford, the Bicentennial, the U.S. Postal Service, the U.S. Constitution Museum, the opening of the Kennedy Library attended by President Jimmy Carter, and other historical programs. He received numerous expressions of gratitude, among them from President Ford, the White House, and the Kennedy Family. Arthur’s love for history and printing was recognized by his peers in the New England Printer and National Geographic magazines, as well as the Armenian Mirror Spectator and other Boston-area papers.

Arthur was a long-standing member and generous supporter of the Holy Trinity Armenian Church in Cambridge along with other local Armenian churches and organizations. He was a member of Mystic Valley Masonic Lodge, the Knights of Vartan, the Aleppo Shriners. He is survived by his son, Arthur Jr. and his wife Karen; his daughter, Linda Mitchell and her husband Kenneth; 4 grandchildren; and 7 great grandchildren. He was the brother of Aram, Jack, Lucy Balian, Dorothy Parsikikian, and the late Leo, George, Michael, and Ann Hartounian. He is survived by many loving nieces and nephews. Arthur is also survived by his loving companion and friend Nadia Ann Karnik.

Funeral service was held on Wed., May 28 at 11 a.m. at Holy Trinity Armenian Church, 145 Brattle St. in Cambridge. Visiting hours were at the Aram Bedrosian Funeral Home, 558 Mt. Auburn St. in Watertown on May 27. Memorial gifts may be made to the Quimby Center for Geriatric Care at Mt. Auburn Hospital (300 Mt. Auburn St., Ste. 517, Cambridge, MA 02138; Attention: John R. Anderson, MD). Interment will be at the Lincoln Cemetery in Lincoln, Mass.

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