Vahe H. Apelian
My classmate and friend John Armenian is running for U.S. Congress. As a candidate he will be sworn sometime at the end of this year or early next year. I plan to attend the ceremony.
John Armenian’s friends and classmates know him as “Ohan.” Ohan is of Armenian origin, derived from "Hovhannes," which is the Armenian version of John, which comes from the Hebrew "Yochanan," meaning "God is gracious." Whether John, Hovhannes or Ohan, the name carries the meaning of "God is gracious" or "gift from God." John Armenian is a gift.
Let us face it. John Armenian is not a spring chicken. He is hovering around his eighth decade. I am inclined to believe John will outlive many congressmen. His paternal Uncle Parsegh is over one hundred years old. Last year when we visited John’s uncle Parsegh in New Jersey, he mused about the closure of the local Armenian nursing home, which he said could have come for use to him in his old age. I am sure, John will outshine the rest of his colleagues in the U.S. Congress with his powerful intellect.
John was the brightest student in our class. He was also driven, punctual to a fault for his friends, and challenging. Here are some of our shared anecdotes.
In high school, we were once on a general knowledge contest team. The question was: “What was the length of the Great Wall of China?” He had us scrabble a number and fictitious unit. When the answer was read and no team won, John immediately made a conversion calculation with his unit of measure being equal to so many miles or kilometers. He insisted on scoring us accurately. The question had not specified the unit of measure. A commotion ensued which was settled when the question was deemed wrong and removed from the score.
If you can ever figure out SEND + MORE = MONEY, know that John did just that in our junior HS year. As a member of the science club, he challenged the rest.
John can also be political and run a successful campaign. During our HS years at the Armenian Evangelical College, we were members of the ARF Zavarian Student Association that was traditionally run by the Djemaran students. We made a pact to snatch the leadership from them. John, Vicken Hovsepian (now in Canada) and I, ran a yearlong campaign by recruiting new members from our high school. We won the election. Although three of us were equals, we knew that John was first among equals. Thus, we appointed/elected him president of the association. He has been charting his own course since and is running as an “Independent Centrist for the People, not Party. Common Sense Solutions, not Politics”
When we graduated from high school, it was customary to pick a graduation motto and note the subject the graduating student intended to pursue. He was contemplating to have for his graduation motto “Science is not a sacred cow. Science is a horse. Don’t worship it. Feed it.” He had also indicated that he would study physics in college. I am not sure whether he chose that motto, but after graduation, he studied physics at the American University of Beirut. After receiving his undergraduate degree in physics, he did graduate work at Tufts University in Boston. Not long after graduation, he moved to California where he was first employed in aerospace engineering. He later established a consulting firm.
In his congressional election campaign brochure John wrote: “For 40 years, I solved complex problems for America's national defense—developing cutting-edge aerospace technologies, holding top-secret DoD clearances, founded my own R&D firm, and earned NASA recognition for contributions to the Hubble Space Telescope. I didn't build aerospace systems by picking political sides. I built them with data, logic, and rigorous problem-solving.”
John has two college graduate daughters, one of whom is a medical doctor. She graduated the same year as our son graduated as a pharmacist, both in Boston. John also has three grandchildren, who attend California public schools. He is fluent in four languages. He is running, in his own words, “as an independent with no party bosses, no political debts, and one clear mission: bring the same disciplined, systems-level thinking that builds large, complex systems to the work of governing for the people.”
John has financed his campaign thus far. I am sure he will need support and an ever-expanding base. Those who would like to support him may join his team. I have attached his campaign link below. Ordinary people can do extra-ordinary things together, he claims.
On election day we will learn whether John won. But knowing him, I can unequivocally state that Ohan John Armenian is already a winner. The question is whether the U.S. Congress will also be a winner by having him in its ranks.
Very well said, Vahe. Ohan knows how to solve problems logically, with data, which is the basis for physics. He knows how to follow the scientific method. Yes, Congress will be enriched with his presence there. We wish him all the best.
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