Twists of Fate

My father would get tears in his eyes talking about the privilege of being able to make his voice heard in electing our country’s leaders.

Laura L. Constantine, Tony Healey

Like most Armenian Genocide survival stories, the lives of Acabie (nÈe Karamanoogian) and Yervant Avakian embody the randomness of events that are woven together by the shared experience of survival and resilience in the face of trauma and loss. That is why their son Stephen Avakian, along with his wife Laura, established The Yervant and Acabie Avakian Family Endowment. It stands as a testament to his parents’ pursuit of a better life, despite the unimaginable horrors they experienced as children. And, as Stephen would always say, their endurance helped shape his own character.

In 1914, Acabie Karamanoogian, just eight years old, and her older sister Elizabeth, age 12, watched as Turkish militias marched into their village of Habousie. Their parents, both highly educated, were pillars of their community—their father a storekeeper, their mother a teacher. Yet, their education and status offered no protection against the coming doom. Over two years, they endured unspeakable tortures, were stripped of their dignity, and ultimately murdered in the Armenian Genocide of 1915. 

Meanwhile, in a neighboring village, seven-year-old Yervant Avakian and his four siblings faced a similar fate. Like the Karamanoogian family, Yervant’s father was killed for refusing to renounce his Christian faith. His mother, however, somehow managed to survive. Their village was torn apart as Turkish forces occupied homes and conscripted young boys. Yervant’s family, like many others, was forced to join the death marches into the Syrian desert. 

Miraculously, Yervant and his family made it to Lebanon, where they began to rebuild their lives. For Acabie and Elizabeth, salvation came in the form of an escape from servitude in Turkish homes. The sisters were placed in the Kharput orphanage, where they, along with hundreds of other Armenian children, faced overcrowded and disease-ridden conditions. Relief came in 1919, when the Near East Relief organization arrived, improving the situation dramatically. In 1920, Elizabeth was given an opportunity to escape to America, traveling under the employ of a Near East Relief worker. Acabie followed ten years later, sponsored by Dr. Elizabeth Campbell, a New York City physician who saw that she received a top-tier education at Northfield, a girls’ private boarding school in Massachusetts. Acabie later earned a master’s degree from Columbia University and built a life for herself in New York, working for the Brooklyn YWCA.

Back in Lebanon, Yervant pursued his education with quiet determination. In the 1930s, he arrived in the U.S., where fate led him to Acabie in New York City. Their shared pasts forged a deep bond, and the couple married. In 1945, they welcomed their only child, Stephen, into the world. Yervant continued his lifelong quest for knowledge, working various jobs, including owning a TV repair shop, while immersing himself in literature, music, and politics. Acabie and Yervant spent their summers in upstate New York, near Acabie’s  sister Elizabeth, where they cultivated a peaceful life amid their own family memories of resilience. Stephen recounted how his parents never missed an opportunity to vote. “My father would get tears in his eyes talking about the privilege of being able to make his voice heard in electing our country’s leaders.” 

He inherited Yervant’s love for books and politics, aspiring from a young age to become a journalist. His writing career began at his high school newspaper, then flourished at the College of Wooster, where he was the editor of the student paper. Stephen pursued a journalism degree at Northwestern University on a full scholarship. It was there he met Laura McClary, also a graduate student and an Honors College graduate from the University of Missouri. The two married in December 1969, marking the beginning of a partnership defined by mutual ambition and purpose.

While Stephen began his career as a reporter for the Cleveland Press, Laura pursued a career in education, later shifting to human resources management in healthcare. Their lives took a political turn when Stephen was drawn to public service, working as press secretary for Howard Metzenbaum during his first Senate bid and later as an aide to former astronaut John Glenn. Stephen’s career took him to Washington, D.C., where he became Glenn’s press secretary during his 1974 Senate campaign, often flying back to Cleveland on weekends with the senator himself at the controls.

Laura, meanwhile, discovered a passion for healthcare personnel management, ultimately becoming Vice President of Human Resources at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston. When Stephen transitioned to running John Glenn’s re-election campaign in 1979, Laura’s career continued to ascend, leading her to a senior role at MIT. Stephen shifted to consulting, applying his skills to public school districts that needed community relations and communication expertise.

Now retired, Stephen and Laura reflect on the hardships Stephen’s parents and the courage that sustained them through painful challenges. They honor the legacy of Acabie and Yervant through their commitment to education and service. Together, they continue to find ways to give back, most notably by providing AGBU scholarships to Armenian students, ensuring that the next generation can benefit from the same opportunities that sustained their families through so much adversity.