Haiganoush Kazarian
Garabed (Charles) and Haiganoush (Agnes Malian) Kazarian were both born in a village known as Khosmat, Palu. Both miraculously survived the Genocide of 1915, losing their entire families which included parents, brothers, sisters, their spouses and children.
In 1915 Garabed escaped with Kevork Malian, and the two men made their way to America. Neither of them suspected at the time that Garabed would later marry Kevork’s sister, Haiganoush.
Although Garabed enjoyed the freedoms of America, his passion to correct the injustices against his family and people motivated him to volunteer to become a Gamavor, which is an Armenian Legionnaire. Along with many other brave Gamavors, he joined the French Army and fought the front lines against the Turks in World War I. Garabed served bravely for four years until he was seriously wounded and sent to a hospital in Damascus.
As fate would have it, Haiganoush was working as a nurse’s aid in that same hospital. She had managed to escape from the Genocide, and had sought refuge in the hospital. When Garabed was discharged from the French Army, he married Haiganoush in Marseilles, France.
Their lives here …
Garabed and Haiganoush arrived in America in 1921 and settled in the Armenian section of Pawtucket on Japonica Street. After many years of struggling as immigrants starting their lives together in a new country, they finally and successfully started a fuel oil business, known as City Oil Company. With three sons actively involved in the business, City Oil Company has been in operation for 67 years.
Garabed and Haiganoush were parents to five children: George, Beatrice, Paul, Alice and Martin. George married Mary Hazarian of Montreal, Canada and they had three children, Robert, Kenneth and Edward. Beatrice married Andrew Krekorian, and they had two children, Joyce and John.
Paul married and had two children, and makes his home in Cranston with his wife Connie. Alice, who never married, died at the early age of 34. Martin married Helen Baronian and they had four children, Charles, Carolyn, Martin and David.