Yerneg ayn oreroun

Երնէկ այն օրերուն

Vaհe H Apelian 

To Vatche Baghdikian

Members of the Armenian Evangelical College (AEC) Student Association, in NJ
with the principal of the school, Dr. Zaven Messerlian

On August 8, 2026, I came across the following note on Elbiz Baghdikian’s Facebook page, “8/8/1968 on this day at 5 pm on a bus from Beirut to Bois the Bologna, I met the love of my love it has been a beautiful journey with you. 3/13/2026 you went to Heaven leaving me with joyous memories with the family around me.” 

It suddenly dawned on me that Vatche Baghdikian has left us for good, a few months ago. It is right there and then, the saying yerneg ayn oreroun, came to my mind.

Երնէկ այն օրերուն  - Yerneg ayn oreroun - Yearning for those days - is the title of a story by the eminent writer Hamasdegh wrote in his book The Village- Kyughe - Գիւղը։ Underneath the title he noted to R. Tarpinian (Ռ. Դարբինեանին), who was the longstanding editor of Hairenik Daily in Boston, where also Hamasdegh lived.  Hamasdegh surely noted "to R. Tarpinian (Ռ. Դարբինեանին)", because they were literary collaborators. In his autobiography Hamasdegh noted «I owe to Tarpinian the publication of my two books in America, “The Village” (Գիւղը) and the “The Rain” (Անձրեւը).»

It is with the same spirit that I noted Yerneg ayn oreroun,  for Vatche Baghdikian, although I saw him sporadically when the company I was going to work for, moved us to Cincinnati, OH in 1995. But since 1976 our social lives evolved about the Armenian Evangelical College Alumni Association and the Sipan Armenian Day school. Among others, Vatche Baghdikian and I were  among the  founding member of both

I set foot in the United States at the J.F.Kennedy international airport on the early Friday afternoon on July 9, 1976. Noubar Manougian and his wife Knarig, formerly from Egypt, were supposed to pick me and after a few days with them, I was to conclude my immgrant's journey in Los Angeles. .But they were not there. Instead, it was my former classmate, who would be my brother-in-law, who came and picked me up. Movses and his wife lived in Hackensack, NJ, next town to Paramus, where the Armenian Presbyterian church is located. It is there, at the church, that I soon met familiar faces from our days at the AEC in Beirut and changed my mind and stayed foot in NJ for the next nineteen years. Throughout those years, the Armenian Presbyterian Church where Sipan Armenian day school took place, became our regular hangout. and if we met elsewhere, it was mostly about the Sipan Armenian School, where our children attended.

The  beautiful graduation diplomas of our two sons.

Yerneg ayn oreroun is the story about a widow and a widower. Mkhsi was a recent widower, and 50 years old Mnsoush was alredy long time widow. They not only keep their distance from each other lest they rose the suspicion of the rest of the villagers, but also often quarreled and bickered.

Not long after, on an ominous year the govenment ordered the villagers  to close the doors of their houses and pack,  for the government was to move them elsewhere where they will be taken care of. But the reality of the exile settled in soon. And one day, the former bikering neighbots, Mkhsi and Mnoush, found each otherand fell into each other arms saying, yerneg ayn oreroun.

Those were good days for us well. 

Along with the cherished memories, the Sipan Armenian School we founded still functions with vigor. The former students are now parents and have their children attending it.  Attendance has not only not declined, but has increased at a steady pace. 

On September 11, 2026, Sipan Armenian School resumes its 48th academic year.

Sipan Armenian School may be viewed on Facebook.