Brantford Expositor (Ontario)
September 7, 2006 Thursday
Novel spurs man’s search for family
by Elizabeth Yates
Marsha Skrypuch’s curiosity has had a life-altering payoff for
Brantford’s Carl Georgian, whose dad’s life is explored in a new book
called Aram’s Choice.
Kevork Kevorkian, whose Anglicized name was George Georgian, was an
Armenian refugee who came to Canada in 1923. His experience as a
Georgetown Boy – 100 youngsters rescued by the Armenian Relief
Association of Canada – is portrayed in Skrypuch’s novel for young
readers, Aram’s Choice.
After meeting Georgian some 17 years ago and hearing his father’s
story, Skrypuch set off on a stream of research into the Armenian
genocide that has fueled three books so far, with more yet to come.
Meanwhile, Georgian, now 70 and retired from a multi-faceted career
that included teaching in the Arctic, is undertaking his own
exploration of a fascinating family history,
It’s a complicated story, set half a world away.
Around 1915, during the Armenian genocide, Kevork’s father, Hanna,
separated from his mother, Turfanda. He had been conscripted into the
Turkish army; she left Armenia, moving around the Middle East as a
refugee for a few years before remarrying and then relocating to
Uruguay, one of few countries to welcome Armenian immigrants, in
1928.
The boy was raised by an aunt for a while, kept safe at a monastery
during the years of slaughter. When conditions improved, he returned
to live with his father. But when Hanna remarried, he sent Kevork
away – to join thousands of Armenian refugee children in Greece.
That’s where Aram’s Choice begins, as a visitor comes to tell the
children some will be taken to Canada: a land where the boys will
find peace, jobs and plenty.
In real life, Kevork spent about four years at Georgetown Boys’ Farm
– where the denizens were forbidden to speak Armenian – before going
to work for a farmer near Hagersville. He was treated well there
until his indenture ended, Georgian reports, and then moved on to
another farm in Dunnville. Eventually, Kevork become a well- known
figure in the community, spending 40 years working as milkman for the
local dairy.
"In Dunnville, they used to say you could set your watch by when
George came to your house," says Georgian.
Meanwhile, Turfanda had apparently been searching for her son and
eventually made contact by letter. The pair were to reunite, but she
died in 1967, just as he was making arrangements to visit.
"Even on her deathbed, she was kissing a picture of my father,"
Georgian was later told by relatives.
Contact information for the family in South America was lost after
Kevorkian died in 1985, says Georgian, who began researching his
heritage after retiring from Ontario’s Ministry of Colleges and
Universities in 1996. Since then, he has located descendants of
Turfanda’s three brothers, who came with her to Uruguay. That branch
of the family now lives in Brazil.
Hanna Kevorkian, meanwhile, had moved to Syria with his second bride;
their relations are located in the Middle East and now in Toronto. "I
see them all the time."
A married father of two and grandfather of four, Georgian has
discovered a new appreciation for his Armenian heritage while digging
into these tangled roots. He has learned the language and studied the
history of the ancient people who once occupied a vast region of Asia
Minor.
"It’s a really amazing story. And I’m just getting into it now."