HOME FOR THE ARMENIAN AGED (NO.6): THE PRESIDENTS

Vahe H. Apelian

Traditionally the Chairman of the Board of the Trustees and the President of the Corporation have been vested in one person and had been the case with the presidents presented here and continues to this day.  The current president of the Home and the chairman of its Board of Trustees is the well-known community leader Andrew Torigian.

 

AROUSIAG JERAHIAN

Aroosiag Jerahian was the lady who led the founding members of the New Jersey Home For The Armenian Aged.

There was no biographical information in the archives of the Home when this article was written and information about her was sketchy. On the hallway wall of the Armenian Presbyterian Church in Paramus, there were and may still be photographs dating back to the early 1930s where some of the founders of the Home are identified, including Arousiag Jerahian. 

In her memoirs, she comes across as a woman of determination and conviction who is very meticulous about dates. She was undoubtedly endowed with leadership qualities. The women who initiated the efforts towards establishing a residence for the Armenian aged went to her and asked her to assume the leadership of their group. In her memoir, she reveals that upon assuming the chair of the self-motivated group of women, she asked every one of the groups to take a solemn vow to work together for life, if need be, towards the realization of their mutual goal. 

She was elected the president when the corporation was founded in 1938 and became a life member of the Board of Trustees. She witnessed the realization of their goal when they bough the Home grounds in 1943. In 1948 she moved to California with her husband but kept in touch with the Home and continued to support the Home by writing articles about the Home in Armenian newspapers. She also visited the Home and attended the Fathers’ Day picnic. 

The records of the United Armenian Congregational Church in North Hollywood indicate that she died on December 1965.

KEGHAM (KEGAN) YEZDANIAN

Mr. and Mrs. Arousiag Jerahian moved to California on January 6, 1948. Kegham Yezdanin acted as the interim president until May 16, 1948, when he was elected as the president of the Home For The Armenian Aged Inc. during the yearly general membership meeting.

Mr. Kegham Yezdanian was born in Bitlis, being of the eight siblings. At the age of four, his parents moved and settled in Constantinople where he attended Mesrobian Armenian School and the Yessayan Varjaran.

He immigrated to the United States in 1921 and married shortly after his arrival. Mr. Yezdanian started his own business in textiles and became very successful. His firm employed 55 employees and boasted the most modern equipment and produced 15 to 18 percent of the total domestic production in his line of textile specialty. He was also very active in professional organizations and associations. 

Mr. Yezdanian was very supportive of Armenian organizations but had not taken part in them being very engrossed in his business. The Home For The Armenian Aged was the first Armenian organization he became involved.

KARNIG H. SOLAKIAN

Mr. Kegham Yezdanian resigned at the end of his term and the Board of Trustees elected Karnig Solakian as the next president on June 11, 1950. His presidency, however, lasted only two weeks.  He passed away on June 24, 1950, from a massive heart attack. His election immediately followed by his incapacitation and untimely death spanned in a tragic sequence. But his legacy went well beyond the nominal few days he served as the president of the Home. 

Karnig Solakian has supported the founding of the Home from its very inception. He was instrumental in securing the purchase of the adjacent properties of the Home through Mr. Dikran Dedourian’s benevolence. He was the first chairman of the Home picnics, which he built in the course of the next five years as an annual event. He also acted as the Chairman of the many committees of the Home. Much of the progress of the Home in its crucial formative years is credited to his years of experience with the New York Welfare Department, where he had felt the need for an old age home for the Armenians. After his death a plaque was placed in the Home with the following inscription: “In abiding gratitude to Karnig H. Solakian 1887-1950, for his sacrificial efforts in the establishment of this Home For The Armenian Aged”.

A special eight pages Hyedoun issue (Vol. III, No. 6-7, June-September 1950) was printed titled:  “Memorial Issue Dedicated to Our Beloved President”. Community leaders bestowed accolades, both in Armenian and in English, on the newly deceased offering condolences to “his son Aress, his daughter Anahid, two sisters Mrs. Lucy Parsekian of North Bergen and Mrs. Maritza Nahigian of Springfield, Mass., his fiancé Agnes B. Cherekjian of Carlstadt, New Jersey.”

On June 14, 1951, exactly one year after his death, his ashes were buried in the Home ground, which has been his expressed wish. Rev. Bedros Apelian performed the religious ceremony. Rev. Charles Vartanes reviewed his life through the years of service to his people stating that Mr. Karnig Solakian showed a deep concern for the underprivileged people and exhibited a determination to help them in his way, through welfare groups and political actions and concluded that Mr. Karnig Solakian will go down in Armenian history as one of its most outstanding men.

AGNES BARBARA CHEREKJIAN HALADJIAN

After Karnig Solakian’s death, the Board of Trustees on September 19, 1950, elected Miss Agnes Barbara Cherekjian as the next president.

Ms. Agnes was affiliated with the Home since the very beginning. In 1945 young men and women had gathered and formed an organization called Junior Home For The Armenian Aged Inc. She became its president and the Chairwoman of various committees and also served on various other committees.

Ms. Agnes B. Cherekjian was a graduate of the New York University with a B.S. (cum laude), an M.A. in Religious Education. She had been the president of the Administrative Committee of the Christian Youth Council of New Jersey. She had also been the New Jersey representative on the Administrative Committee of the Christian Youth Council of North America. She had held the position of Minister of Religious Education in several churches in New York and New Jersey.

On September 7, 1952, Agnes and Jack Hagop Haladjian were married in the church in Radburn, Fair Lawn where he had been the Minister of Religious Education. The ceremony was officiated by Rev. Bedros Apelian of the church in Radburn and Dr. Edward J. Campell from Plainsville, N.Y.

Agnes B. Cherekjian Haladjian continued to serve as the president of the Home until May 1953, when she declined to continue the presidency any longer. Mr. and Mrs. Agnes and Jack Haladjian chaired the 11th annual picnic on June 20, 1954.

ARMENAK (ALBERT) MARDIROSSIAN

Right after the resignation of Mrs. Agnes B. Cherekjian Haladjian, the Board of Trustees elected in 1953, Mr. Armenak Mardirossian as the fourth president, a position to which he was re-elected until his death in 1989. He was elected to the Board of Trustees in 1951. His tenure marked with unprecedented growth. He played a pivotal role at every expansion of the Home.

Mr. Armenak Mardirossian was born in Bulgaz, Bulgaria on October 17, 1905, to Kaspar and Haiganoush Mardirossian.  His father left Dikranagerd following the 1895 massacres and joined the Bulgarian Army. After his honorable discharge, he was made an honorary citizen of Bulgaria where his family remained for several years. Kaspar labored as a manufacturer of religious pictures and stained glass. The Mardirossians returned to Constantinople in 1907 following the overthrow of the Sultan and the institution of short-lived deceptive democratic reforms. Being in the capital city of the Ottoman Empire, Mr. Armenak Mardirossian survived the massacres but witnessed the tragedy that befell upon his people. In 1921 he left for America.

The bright young man who had mastered several languages growing up in Constantinople caught the attention of the Ellis Island officials when he volunteered to be a translator. Impressed by the performance of the young adult, the officials let him leave the island well before the rest as it coincided with a long holiday. Years later, historians had found a notation to that regard and tracked him down and interviewed him on national television when the restoration of the Statue of Liberty was underway. 

A year after his arrival to the U.S. Armenak Mardirossian sponsored his parents and brother to join him. In America, he became a successful real estate developer.

His services to the Home are best summed in the inscription of the plaque presented o him in 1967 by the founders of the Home. The plaque bears the following inscription:’ A tribute to Armenak Mardirossian whose unselfish devotion and pioneering leadership as president of HOME FOR THE ARMENIAN AGED during the past 18 years have contributed immensely toward the achievement of our goad. May he be blessed with health and happiness.”

Mr. Armenak Mardirossian continued to serve the home until the very last day of his life, until he was hospitalized because of a massive heart attack from which he never recovered and passed away almost two weeks later, on May 26, 1989. He was 83 years old.

ZAREH KALOUST KAPIKIAN

After Armenak Mardirossian death, the Board of Trustees elected Zareh K. Kapikian as the president of the Home. He had acted as the vice-president of the Home for many years.

Mr. Zareh K. Kapkian was born in Sepastia on April 16, 1888. He was the youngest of six brothers. Hew as the son of Kaloust Kapikian and Anna Mazmanian Kapikian. Even since his early youth, he was an active participant of the Armenian Apostolic Church He graduated from the Aramian High School when where he played on the soccer team. The course of his life changed by the brutal onset of the genocide of the Armenian in 1915. He experienced first hand the horrors of the genocide and the death of 13 members of his immediate family. He survived and immigrated to America in 1920.

In America, he continued to be very active in the Armenian community. He was a founding father of the St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral and of the Holy Martyrs Armenian Church projects. He served as the Commander of Knights of Vartan Haigazian Lodge. He was active in the Pan Sebastia patriotic Union. He served as its president for 17 years.

He died in 1989 office a few months after his election as the president of the Home.

As an added note, he was the father of Albert Zaven Kapikian  M.D. (1930 – 2014) who “was an Armenian-American virologist who developed the first licensed vaccine against rotavirus, the most common cause of severe diarrhea in infants. He was awarded the Sabin Gold Medal for his pioneering work on the vaccine” Wikipedia.

PAUL KESHISHIAN O.D.

After Zareh Kapikian’s death, on November 1989, the Board of Trustees elected Dr. Paul Keshishian on as the president of the Home. Dr. Keshishian had joined the Board of Trustees in 1986, shortly after assuming the position of Medical Director of the Home For The Armenian Aged.  

Dr. Paul Keshishian graduated from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1979 and is board certified in family practice.

He was the president of the Home when I resigned from the Board in 1995.

Others have assumed the presidency after Dr. Paul Keshishian and chaired the Board of Trustees. The current president is Andrew Torigian.

HOME FOR THE ARMENIAN AGED (NO.5): THE FOUNDERS

Vahe H. Apelian

The Founders of the Home For The Armenian Aged

THE FOUNDERS

The signatories of the Certificat of Incorporation are the founders of the Home For The Armenian Aged. These women were related to each other not only in purpose but also socially. Most of the women, like the prelate Karekin Hovsepian, were Dikranagerdsi Armenians and were mostly affiliated with the Armenian Presbyterian Church.

Zorah (Turnamian) Bookrajian was born on 9/6/1905 in Union City, N.J. and married to Jack Bookrajian. They had one son, Jack Edward. She was a member of Holy Cross Armenian Church and was active with AGBU. She dies on 9/7/1975.

Helen (Hammalian) Gabbert was the daughter of Anna Hammalian. After graduating from high school she became a concert soprano and sang in concerts and operas. She was the Society Editor of “The Record” where she spent 18 years. She was active in the Institute for Cancer Research, Armenian General Benevolent Union, Armenian Presbyterian Church, and in the Hackensack community in general. she died on September 1988.

Aghavni Hammalian settled in New Jersy at the age of two having arrived from Dikranagerd with her parents. She married Paul Hammalian and the couple became one of the first members of the Armenian Presbyterian Church established in 1898. She was very active in the Armenian community and assisted the survivors of the 1915 Genocide. She was also a trustee of the Armenian Presbyterian Church. She was elected the church’s “mother of the year” in 1956 and was cited as “combining the best of the Armenian and American heritages”.

Anna Hammalianwas was Mrs. Aghavni Hammalian’s sister-in-law. She was born in Dikranagerd and came to America with her parents in 1888. She married Hacop Hammalian. They were members of the Armenian Presbyterian Church and had two daughters one of whom, Mrs. Helen Gabbert, was also a founding member of the Home. She died in January 1973 having lived in Hackensack for 74 years. Her obituary in “The Record” reads: “Mrs. Hammalian founded the Armenian Home in 1937 and served as its treasurer from 1937 to 1948.”

Ovsanna Kassabian was the widow of Mr. Hovsep Kassabian who is credited to have initiated the drive to found a residence for the Armenian age. She was born in Dikranagerd on July 3, 1882. and died on February 8, 1960. Her obituary in the Hyedoun reads: “until her last few days of life, she always visited the Home and was deeply interested in the welfare of the guests.”

Baitzar (Bertha) Tarzianwas born in Dikranagerd and taught there until she came to Boston in 1906 when she married Guiragos Tarzian. In 1922 the family moved to West New York in N.J. She was a long-standing member of the Women’s Guild of the Holy Cross Armenian Church in Union City and was active in the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) for over 53 years. After her husband’s death, she moved to the Home where she lived the last fifteen years of her life. She dies in 1881.

Zarman Turnamianwas the sister of Mrs. Aghavni Hammalian. Zarman Chankalian Turnamian was born on March 1, 1886, in Union City, N.J. She was a member of the Holy Cross Armenian Church. She married Charles C. Turnaamian. They had w children, Zorah and Levon. She was also a member of the Women’s Guild of Holy Cross Church. She dies on 10/10/1965.

Aroosiag Jerahian, there is no biographical information in the archives of the Home and information about her is sketchy. On the hallway wall of the Armenian Presbyterian Church in Paramus, photographs are dating back to the early 1930s where some of the founders of the Home are identified, including Aroosiag Jerahian. 

In her memoirs, she comes across as a woman of determination and conviction who is very meticulous about dates. She was undoubtedly endowed with leadership qualities. The women who initiated the efforts towards establishing a home for the Armenian aged went to her and asked her to assume the leadership of their group. In her memoir, she reveals that upon assuming the chair of the self-motivated group of women, she asked every one of the groups to take a solemn vow to work together for life, if need be, towards the realization of their mutual goal. 

She was elected the President when the Corporation was founded in 1938 and became a life member of the Board of Trustees. She witnessed the realization of their goal when they bough the Home grounds in 1943. In 1948 she moved to California with her husband but kept in touch with the Home and continued to support the Home by writing articles about the Home in Armenian newspapers. She also visited the Home and attended the Fathers’ Day picnic. 

The records of the United Armenian Congregational Church in North Hollywood indicate that she died on December 1965.

Mary Tfank– was the ninth founding member of the Home. 

GRASS ROOT SUPPORT

Board of Trustees

The Armenian community at large enthusiastically welcomed the founding of a home for the Armenian aged. Undoubtedly without this grass root community support, the Home could not have been realized.

After the founding chapters were organized in the tri-state area and words of encouragement came from community leaders as far as in California. Also, a “Junior Organization of the Home For The Armenian Aged Inc.” was organized in 1945, two years after the purchase. The purpose of these chapters was to support the Home.

It is impossible to narrate all the support the Home received from individuals, organizations, and the various chapters of the Home.  The extent of the community’s support can be best appreciated by examining the plaques placed near the door of every room bearing the names of the benefactors. However telling these plaques are, they only reflect the visible aspects of the community’s support. During the Home’s crucial formative years a host of individuals volunteered their services to the Home including physicians, lawyers, dentists, nurses, administrators, accountants, homemakers, carpenters, barbers, tailors; in short professionals and tradesmen from all walks of life brought their share to make the Home viable and survivable.

Various enterprises were also volunteered to raise money for the Home. The extent and the duration of the New York Chapter’s support may best reflect the prevailing attitude of the Armenian community towards the Home. The New York Chapter adopted an interesting and innovative way of raising money. These dedicated women met once a week and for a fee washed, dried wool and then sewed beautiful comforters. Along with washing and drying of wool, which the immigrant Armenian had most likely brought with them, these women also prepared delicacies and sold them. This unique endeavor was headed by Mrs. Gulmina Mardick, one of the very early supporters of the Home and vice-president for many years. The women started their support of the Home in this manner since 19343 and continued it for more than 16 years. In these years, they raised substantial sums of money. The records indicate that in 1958 these women had raised $5800 towards construction, an astronomical sum of money indeed. Wikipedia claims that adjusting to inflation it would be worth $51,308 today.

The Home For the Armenian Aged (presently Armenian Nursing and Rehabilitation Center) continues to enjoy the support of the community through Friends of the Armenian Home (FAH) group. Elbiz Baghdikian, who has been its treasurer for the past 18 years, informed that the FAH was formed by Bertha Vanishikian and Linda Aprahamian 21 years ago. The group is very active.  Thus far it has spent upwards of a quarter-million dollars towards upgrading the Home. Last year they broke grounds for a new addition that is expected to cost up to 30 million dollars. 

HOME FOR THE ARMENIAN AGED (NO. 3): THE EXPANSION

Vahe H. Apelian 

 

The expansion

The state of affairs at the Home For the Armenian Aged in Emerson, N.J. in 1950, five years after its operation can best be summed up by the inscription on a postcard put forth by the Home most likely for fundraising. It reads:

“The Home has fourteen beds, a spacious living room, dining room, kitchen and pantry, and four bedrooms. On the grounds are two garages a barn, a bake house, a goat house, and a chicken house. A part of the property produces fresh fruit and vegetables for the old folks during the summertime, and enough to make preserves for the winter. Each person is considered for admission according to his particular financial circumstances. There is a minimum annual charge for those of means. Our files contain many applications from old folk from all over the country asking to be admitted but the Home is filled to capacity. Because of these requests we are making plans for a home, which will be able to care for all Armenians who need comfort, care and security in their later years. In addition, we are hoping to expand our facilities to include a very much needed hospital and convalescent home.”

The operating funds of the Home were raised through donations from the community and also from the limited estate of the residents if any. The financial statement of the Home from May 1946 to April 1947 balanced its budget of $15,665.15 of which a meager $1185 were paid for salaries, and $1770.43 were paid for food. The limited funds did not discourage the members of the Board of Trustees who started actively looking for ways and means to expand to provide the much-needed services to the community.

Mr. and Mrs. Dikran Dadourian’s Donation

The first breakthrough came on April 10, 1948, when Mr. and Mrs. Dikran Dadourian donated to the Home 10 lots adjoining the Home ground, totaling approximately 1.8 acres. The original Home ground purchased by the community was 1.5 acres. The addition brought the Home to its present real estate of approximately 3.3 acres of prime property in one of the most affluent counties in the nation. 

Mr. and Mrs. Dikran Dadourian had previously visited the Home and had been very much impressed by the purpose of the Home. They had also realized that the Home with its limited space was destined to be of limited services to the community. 

As a token of appreciation Mr. and Mrs. Dikran Dadourian were elected as honorary members of the Home. They were the second recipients of this nominal honor. Archbishop Dikran Nersoyan Prelate of the Armenian Apostolic Church was the first honorary member.

Lots donated by Mr. and Mrs. Dikran Dadourian.

The new residential wing

The next several years were devoted to upgrading and furnishing the Home. No major construction was done during this period. Mr. Armenak Mardirossian was elected as the President of the Home in 1953 and become the longest-serving president of the Home. The first three decades of his tenure was marked by unprecedented growth. The community was most receptive and responsive to the needs of the Home and contributed generously to the fundraising calls, without which the expansion of the home could not have been realized. The ensuing growth of the Home was remarkable.

The first addition became the contraction of a new residential wing. The groundbreaking ceremony took place on September 16, 1956. The new building was completed in 1960 and doubled the occupancy. The newly available spec was occupied in no time.

Archbishop Mampre Calfayan Interfaith Memorial Chapel

Archbishop Mapre Calfayan diligently served the Armenian community for 28 years. His Grace passed away in his apartment in Miami on July 17, 1961. It had been his wish to have a chapel erected at the Home. The Primate permitted the Board of Trustees of the Home to perform the Karasounki Hokehankist (the traditional fortieth day requiem memorial service) and also to solicit donations for a memorial chapel. 

Mr. Armenak Mardirossian, the Archbishop’s life-long friend, spearheaded the drive. On Sunday, August 27, 1961, more than four hundred congregated on the Home grounds for memorial service. The clergy from various Armenian religious denominations conducted the memorial service. The occasion also marked the start of the drive to build a chapel in memory of the Archbishop. 

The chapel was constructed within the next three years. The dedication of the completed chapel took place on April 26, 1964. Representatives from various Armenian religious denominations participated in the dedication ceremony.

The Mampre Calfayan Inter-Faith Memorial Chapel of the Home is centrally located around which the wings of the Home have spanned. The chapel is one of the most distinguishing features of the Home. It may also be unique for a nursing home to have spanned around a chapel. For the Armenian community at large, churched or chapel and institution of care and learning have almost always been erected side by side.

Calfayan Inter-Faith Memorial Chapel

The Memorial Nursing Wing and the State Licensure

While the construction of the Calfayan Chapel was in the progress, the Board of Trustees had already made plans for one more addition, a 78-bed nursing facility to be named Memorial Nursing Wing in memory of the victims of the Armenian genocide victims.

1965 marked the fiftieth commemoration of the Armenian Genocide. This occasion gave a new meaning and impetus to the construction drive and thrusted the Board of Trustees and the Armenian community at large into this monumental construction project, which was completed by 1967. The Memorial Nursing Wings are L shaped additions. Along with the nursing wing a new kitchen and a large dining hall were also built.

In the same year, 1967, in a letter addressed to the President of the Home Mr. Albert Mardirossian, Commissioner Lloyd We. McCorkle of N.J. Department of Institutions and Agencies informed that the State Board of Control had reviewed the recommendation of the Hospital Licensing Board and had directed that a Full License for the nursing unit be issued to the Home For The Armenian Aged. 

The Home now could care for more than 100 residents of which 78 beds were reserved for skilled nursing care.

The Dining Hall and the Elevator

The dining hall of the Home is dedicating I memory of Alfred and Mary Hekemian. The couple died childlessly and donated pat of their estate to the Home.

The two nursing wings of the Home are built on top of each other, one being at the ground level. In 1968, Dr. Hovagim Pohan presented a check for $10,000 toward the installation of an elevator to connect the two wings. Dr. Pohan donated in memory of his son Armen who was killed in combat while serving the United States Air Force during the Second World War. The elevator is wife enough to accommodate a stretcher along with several passengers.

The new boarding, the Last major addition to date.

Mr. and Mrs. Alex Manougian donated 200 shares of Masco Corporation to the Home in 1972. The Board of Trustees had already made plans for an additional 30-bed residential wing to be constructed to accommodate the ever-pressing demand for more room.

The donation of the Manougians served as the catalyst for the Board of Trustees to have the construction commenced. As usual, appeals were made to the Armenian community who in their most generous way responded to the call and the last addition to date became a reality.

The needs of the community had changed and the demand for residential care is not as acute as for skilled nursing care warranting changes in the service the Home renders. Reflecting the change the once Home for the Armenian Aged is now called Armenian Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.

REMEMBERING THE APPLES OF KEURKUNE

Vahe H. Apelian

THE GARDENER

Whenever I see apples, I am reminded of Keurkune and my late paternal uncle Joseph, affectionately-emmin (uncle in Kessab dialect). He was a true gentleman. He had the misfortune of losing one of his eyes as a kid when a stone thrown at him hit squarely his eye, blinding him in one eye. He wore an artificial eye set that gave him a pensive look that complemented his gentle nature. 

He was an expert for tending apple trees. He was also an expert pruner and grafter of trees. I took those skills for granted in my youth. It was in my college years that I read with astonishment that in agriculture schools, pruning and tree grafting are up to doctoral level specializations. He had earned his expertise in the University of Hard Knocks in greater Kessab and mastered it by trial and error over the years. The last time I saw him was when he visited America. I showed him the few fruit bearing trees I had in my backyard at our home in N.J. and sought his comments just to reconnect. This may be sentimental but it is true. To this day I plant a few fruit bearing trees in my backyard and grow every season a small vegetable garden. It reminds me of my father and him.

With my uncle in the orchard with my hunting rifle dangling from  my shoulder

Many Kinds of Apples

Sometimes back I embarked on a grocery-shopping spree. But this time around I was armed with a pen and pencil and had no intention of buying anything. Instead, I recorded the types of apples I came across on the grocery shelves and their prices. Here is the list. The following types apples were sold for $1.69 per pound: Gala, Braeburn, Granny Smith, Fuji, Golden Delicious, Red Delicious, Cameo, Pink Lady, Jonagold. McIntosh Apples were being sold in bags of 3 pounds for $3.99. That is to say, they were $1.33 per pound. They were the least expensive. Another type of apples called Ambrosio was being sold for $9.99 in 5.5 Lb bags. The store had made sure that the customers did not miss its price per pound, so it had listed it to the fourth decimal, that is to say, $1.8163 per pound! 

The most expensive apples were Honeycrisp Apples. They were being sold for $2.99 per pound. Let us face it, a pound is less than half a kilo. With the size of apples, these Honeycrisp apples were, two of them would weigh way more than a pound. I was not going to spend that kind of money no matter how crispy they were and even if they tasted as sweet as honey. Thank you guys for the offer, but I have tasted the tastiest apples around. I savored them in Keukune, our ancestral village. I picked them right from the trees and ate them as fresh as an apple can be. I admit though, hygiene was not my main concern. I would wipe the freshly picked apple against my pants or shirt or rub them with the palms of my hands and eat them crisp, tasty and fresh. 

There was another kind of apple sold in bags called Grapple. From the looks, they looked like ordinary apples. Why would they call them grapple, I wondered? As soon as I came home I went to the gadget that outsmarts me all the time with the vast information it has amassed, my Apple Computer. It said that grapples are Fuji apples that have been soaked in grape juice so they have a grape taste. It said Fuji apples were the best type of apples to absorb the grape flavor when soaked into it. Why on earth one would seek grape taste in an apple? 

Having innumerateede all these types of apples, the following caught my attention. Only two of these apples were termed delicious: Golden Delicious, a look alike of the famed Golden apple in Keurku e and Red Delicious, a look alike of the famed ‘Starken’ of Keurkune. 

The famed Golden Apple of Kessab

APPLE AS A TRADEMARK

Some time ago, my cousin, Steve Apelian made a comment that had his namesake Steve Jobs not registered Apple as a trademark, apple would have been the trademark for Kessab. Keurkunetsis, much like the rest of the Kessabtsis, owe a lot to apples. Apples changed their way of life for better. It helped parents assist their children to continue their higher education elsewhere. Apples are indeed the “apple in the eyes” of Keurkunetsis. For a few decades, apple remained their main cash crop for livelihood. 

THE GOLDEN AND STARKEN APPLES OF KESSAB.

Two persons are intimately associated with growing apples in Kessab, A person whose name sounded Chouboukhjian. The second is Joseph Apelian, endearingly called Pasha

No one I know has been able to identify for me the type of apple Mr. Chouboukhjian introduced. They were large size, green-colored apples and were known by the person’s name. Keurkunetsis did not take fancy of the Chebekhchian type of apples for commercialization. I was told because of their size and tendency to fall.

My late father-in-law told that Mr. Chouboukhjian. lived in Lattakia for a while. Recently, I learned from Hilda Tchobanian that he was a Frenchman, lived in France and was instrumental in purchasing, on behalf of the community, the Armenian Blue Cross Relief Society’s Belfontaine Camp in France.

Joseph Apelian is credited to have introduced the two types of the apples Kessab remains associated with, Golden and Starken apples. How and why was it that they chose those two types of apples remains a mystery to me given the fact they had no prior experience growing apple? One thing is obvious, they were prophetic in the choice they made for these two types of apples proved to be the right types for commercialization. Both proved to be delicious especially when grown in Keurkune’s open and unpolluted air. Both types proved to be very marketable. They also complimented each other in sight. One was yellowish, the other reddish. When both matured on the trees, they cast an awesome and captivating sight to behold. 

The yellow color apple was the Kessab famous Golden apples but I do not know why Kessabtsis adopted the word “starken” for the red colored apples. My uncle Joseph told me that the appearance of the red skin resembles star-studded sky. Indeed, the red-colored skin of the apple is intricately dotted when examined carefully. However, I have not come across the word “starken” in the dictionaries I checked, meaning star-studded.  But “starken” remained the word for the Red Delicious type apples in Kessab. However, they were much, much more succulent and tastier than the Red Delicious apples I have tasted in the U.S.

I asked my mother once why is Joseph Apelian nicknamed Pasha. She told me that Joseph was a very handsome child. His mother would call him Pashas – my prince. It was a relatively common endearing expression, more so then, than nowadays to call a young son, my prince - Pashas. Most Kessabtsis had an endearing nickname. His became Pasha and did justice to his demeanor as an adult as well. He was calm, composed and had a commanding presence in a social setting. Next, to his family, the loves of his life were Keurkune and catching bird with debkh-the famous sticky sticks Kessabtsis use to catch birds

EARLY YEARS

The introduction of apple in Keurkune came about when I was not yet in my teens but I was very conscious of my surroundings and remained impressionable. I remember distinctly the conversation that took place among the villagers in my paternal grandparent’s house. Seated cross-legged on the floor, under the dim kerosene lantern, their conversation would go along this way:  if each had so many trees, and if each tree produced so many apples and if the apples were sold even at such a price, the total would come to an astonishing amount for Keurlunetsis. However, the following never came into their conversation because they did not know then that insects ravaged apples, that they had to buy disinfectants on large scale, that they needed wooden boxes and trucks for transporting, and that over time others would start cultivating apples competing with them on the market. Keurkune was then, a world onto its own, cut from the rest of the world without electricity and hence without radio. But over time they came to know and understand the cultivating, tending, marketing apples on their own and they did a superb job to their credit. The other thing that never came into the conversation was their round the clock labor. They worked hard anyways, so their labour hard was a non-issue. The seeds for growing apples thus were thus planted onto the soil of Keurkune.

Once it became understood that growing apples was the way to go, the families in and out Keurkune teamed up to prepare for the planting. The fields that grew wheat and tobacco were turned into young orchards. I recall the changes that took place in the field behind our grandparent’s house that became the apple orchard depicted in the pictures attached here. 

The fields needed to be open when wheat was planted because the soil needed to be tilled every season. The soil in keurkune is not forgiving. It is full of pebbles and rocks and is crusty that needed to be loosened up for seeding. Tilling was done with oxen. The tiller and I have my late grandfather in mind, would hold, steady and push the plow as the oxen pulled it. The furrows needed to cast next to each other in straight lines. It was a very tedious and difficult job. The process required the fields to be open. 

The same open fields were partitioned in order to prepare the orchards, by erecting retaining walls, Kessabtsis call them errafs.. I remember my uncle, our grandfather working to erect these retaining walls  stone by stone.

In the apple orchard LtoR: Stepan, Garo, Zvart and Ara Apelian

GROWING APPLES IN KEURKUNE

Once orchards were prepared, the apple trees were planted. It took a few years for them to grow to start bearing fruit, necessitating families supporting each other in the interim. With the growth of apple trees, two words came into the Kessab vocabulary that were not there before – acarose and demol. Acarose is the infestation that causes havoc to the orchard. To this day I do not know how the Keurkunetis came to know that those nasty bugs were called acarose. That is what the Keurkunetsis called them. The Internet search engines have not been of any help for me to understand as what bugs they referred to. The other word was demol, the insecticide they applied on the apple trees. 

Maintaining the apple trees was a tedious job. Muscles were in force. My uncle Joseph and his brother-in-law Assadour teamed to spray the insecticide solution they prepared at home. My uncle carried the container on his back and held the hose, while Assadour continuously and rapidly manually operated the piston to pressurize the tank. The insecticide solution did not spare them either. I remember my father had a trench coat and goggles sent to Keurkune for his brother to wear during spraying. But they proved to be of no use. The trench coat was too cumbersome and confining to do the job and the view from goggles would be blocked from the the droplets of spray coating the goggles. 

The other menace that threatened the apple trees was a worm that bore into the tree. My uncle would constantly check the trees one at a time and look for droppings the worm left at the base of the tree turnk as it bore into the tree. He would then locate the entry hall and insert a metal wire through the hole to kill the worm. They looked like grub worms. 

With such determination and care, apple trees were cultivated in Keukune starting mid 1950’s. Apples were then harvested, placed in wooden boxes, hauled on the trucks by the young and upcoming who were kids when the apple trees were planted. Hauling of the boxes on the truck became a communal event. Most of the times the young men who hauled the boxes would go with the truck to Aleppo to safeguard to boxes in the open market waiting for the merchants, the famed “toujars” in the Kessab dialect. Soon after the Kessabtsis erected a refrigerated warehouse in Kessab to store apples instead of flooding the market at one time. A new economy was thus born in keurkune and greater Kessab as well and the Kessabtsis became astute traders in apple. 

Apple trees have a relatively long life but I doubt that any of the trees planted then have survived to this day. Over time apple ceased to be the commodity it was once and Kessabtsis adroitly succesfully adapted to the new realities making Kessab a famed touristic attraction only to face the harsh reality of the ongoing Syrian civil war that changed the course of the lives of the ever-resilient kessabtisis. 

HOME FOR THE ARMENIAN AGED (No.2): THE DEDICATION

Vahe H. Apelian

The Bust of Nerses the Great on Home Grounds sculpted by  Albert Arakelian

HE FIRST BOARD OF TRUSTEES

The newly founded corporation held its first general membership meeting on December, Sunday 22, 1938, in Saint Mesrobian Armenian School in Union City, N.J., and elected the first Board of Trustees consisting of 15 members. In addition to the eight of the founders, the following were elected: Capt. James Chankalian, Mr. Yeznig Boghossian, Mr. Nshan Voskian, Mr. Karnig Solakian, Dr. Joseph Basralia, Dr. Levon Turnamian, and Mr. Edward Kassabian. Four of the founders were elected as life members of the Board of Trustees as stipulated by the by-laws: president Mrs. Arousiag Jerahian, treasurer Mrs. Anna Hammalian, secretary Mrs. Zorah Turnamian, and member-at-large Mrs. Aghavnie Hammalian.

The newly elected Board of Trustees held its first public function on Sunday, May 29, 1939. Approximately 100 people attended the function. Mrs. Arousiag Jerahian addressed the audience and saying: “many people doubt that it is possible to realize such a monumental task and many claims that the newer Armenian generation does not have the interest in such an institution and does not have the drive to sustain such an institution. To such allegations we say” commented Mrs. Jerahian, “that we will pass to the new generation a noble task, and they will be a witness of the efforts we have undertaken dor caring our parents and relatives”. Mrs. Jerahian concluded her address by saying the believed the monies will be raised and the community will respond.

The second general membership meeting took place on Wednesday, May 8, 1940, in the Armenian Presbyterian Church in West New York, N.J. A building and finance committee was elected consisting of Cap. James Chankalian, Mr. Karnig Solakian, Mr. Sam Hekimian, Mr. Hagop Hammalian, and Mr. John Terzian. 

The Second World War was in full swing. The progress toward the realization of the elusive goal was further hampered. 

THE PURCHASE 

Five years had elapsed since the founding of the corporation and three years since the election of the Building and Finance Committee and no purchase of a site was yet made. Various proposals had come to the Board of Trustee’s attention but none of them met all the requirements. In July 1943, the Board was informed that there was a house for sale in Emerson that might very well be the very thing they were looking for. 

On Tuesday, August 3, 1943, Mrs. Arousiag Jerahian, Mr. Karnig Solakian, and Mr. John Terzian visited the agent who escorted them to the house on Main Street. The agent demanded $8900 in cash for the purchase of the house with an advance payment of $2000. The Board of Trustees had only $700 in their account. To meet the advance payment and other ancillary expenses, the Trustees loaned approximately $2000 towards the purchase of the house. In mid-September, Mrs. Arousiag Jerahian, Mrs. Anna Hammalian, and Capt. James Chankalian from the Building and Finance Committee signed promissory notes for $2000 advance payment with the commitment that the balance will be paid by December of the same year.

 To raise the necessary funds for the purchase of the property, the members of the Board of Trustees and the Building and Finance Committee conducted an intensive community-wide fundraising campaign.  Mrs. Arousiag Jerahian, in her memoir, attributed the ensuing acquisition to the tireless efforts of Capt. James Chankalian, his niece Mrs. Helen Hammalian, Mr. Sam Hekimian, and Mr. Karnig Solakian.

The Board organized a community-wide “Inspection Opening” on Sunday, October 31, 1943, on the premises of the house they were committed to purchasing. Over 200 people attended the event, including four clergymen from various Armenian churches. $4,000 was raised. On December 1943, Capt. James Chankalian presented the money to the agent and was also able to convince the agent to issue 12 promissory for the balance, contrary to their previous agreement of full payment by December. 

THE DEDICATION

Barel six months had passed since the purchase of the site, the Board of Trustees held the first picnic on the last day of June 1944. The picnic henceforth would be held annually on Fathers’ Day for many decades to come. The house was not habitable yet. The new elected Catholicos, His Holiness Karekin Hovsepiants, attended the picnic. He was so impressed by the purpose of the Home that he requested it to be dedicated to the memory of Catholicos Nerses the Great, Armenia’s greatest humanitarian and the pioneer of public social services.

Catholicos Karekin I Hovsepian was the prelate of the Armenian Apostolic Church in North America since 1936 and had encouraged the very first efforts to start the Home. he was elected as the Catholicos of the Catholicosate of Cilicia on May 16, 1944, but had not been able to leave for Antelias in Lebanon to occupy the vacant seat because of the ongoing world war. He became the first Catholicos to bestow pontifical blessings on the Home.

During the second annual picnic on June 1945, Mr. Sahakian for Florida – Mrs. Jerahian does not mention his first name in her memoir – burned the remaining mortgage of $500. The Home had now become the permanent property of the community and the community had now laid the foundation for growth.

RENOVATION AND THE THE FIRST RESIDENT

The purchased hose was not immediately habitable. The Board of Trustees entrusted the renovation to Mr. Sam Hekimian, who, in spite of the scarcity of material because of the war situation, was able to have the house renovated to meet the State requirement. A whole year, 1944, was devoted for renovation. Most of the necessities, such as stove, bed, and other essentials were donated and many of the expenses were paid through loans made by the Trustees.

The first resident to be admitted was 74 years old Mr. Missak Shatafian, who was admitted on Wednesday, February 17, 1945. Mr. Missak’s son, John, who was a policeman in the Union City had presented his father to Mrs. Arousiag Jerahian for admission to the Home. Fifteen years had elapsed since that day on June 16, 1930, when Mr. Hovsep Kassabian had solicited Mrs. Arousiag Jerahian’s help. She had not failed him. Countless since then have made the Home For The Armenian Aged their last residence.

Mr. Shatafian died in December 1951. he was born in Malatia, Turkey and came to the U.S. of America where he raised his family. His obituary in the Hyedoun reveals that Mr. Misssak Shatafian was admitted to the Home “with crutches which he discarded after six months, due to good care and medical treatment. He took a keen interest in politics in which he was active at one time.”

The First Residents of the Home For The Armenian Aged in Emerson, NJ