Arminé Adrina (Mikaelian) Keazirian,
90, of Cable Gardens, Ipswich, died Thursday, November 11, 2010 at
her home, following a long illness. She was the wife of the late
Rev. Edward M. Keazirian with whom she had shared sixty-one and a
half years of marriage.
Born in Boston December 9, 1919,
daughter of the late Megurdich and Nevart (der Mesrobian) Mikaelian,
she grew up in Washington Heights in uptown Manhattan. She
graduated from George Washington High School and was awarded her
Bachelor of Arts degree from Hunter College in 1941. After
receiving her Master of Science degree from the School of Social
Work at Columbia University in 1944, she became a social case worker
in Harlem. The Keazirians married in 1947 in New York City and for
fifty-three years Rev. Keazirian’s pastoral ministry led them to
four churches: the United Baptist Church in Old Town, Maine, the
Lynnfield Street Baptist Church in Lynn, the Roslindale Baptist
Church in Roslindale, and the First Baptist Church in Bellingham
from which they retired in 2000.
Her ministries in the churches
included organist, pianist, choir director, director of Christian
education, and leadership of various children’s and women’s
ministries. She was an occasional conference speaker and worship
leader within the Conservative Baptist Association of America. In
addition to her work in the churches, she was a teacher in the Lynn
Public Schools and a teacher and guidance counselor in Bellingham.
She was a board member and local committee chairperson for the North
Shore branch of the American Association of University Women and a
longtime member of the Women’s Council of Gordon-Conwell Theological
Seminary. She was also active in the American Red Cross, Camp Fire
Girls, and The Salvation Army.
She is survived by two daughters,
Karen A. Keazirian of Littleton, NH and Ruth R. Keazirian and her
husband Michael Lindsey of Chicago; two sons, Edward M. Keazirian II
of Beverly and John M. Keazirian of Glenview, IL; sister-in-law,
Anne K. Arlington of Braintree; grandchildren Taylor Rebekah and
Mikael John Keazirian, and a nephew, Rev. David Keazirian of
Edgewater, FL. She was the sister of the late Meline (Mikaelian)
Apoian formerly of Mastic Beach, Long Island, NY.
A memorial service will be held on
Saturday, November 20, 2010, at 1:00 pm, at the Immanuel Baptist
Church, 45 Central Street, Ipswich. Family and friends are
respectfully welcomed. Interment in the New Highland Cemetery,
Ipswich, will be private. Arrangements are by the Whittier-Porter
Funeral Home of Ipswich. In lieu of flowers memorial contributions
in her name may be made to the Hospice of the North Shore, 75 Sylvan
St., Danvers, MA 01923 and/or Relief Aid, Armenian Missionary Assoc.
of America (AMAA), 31 W. Century Rd., Paramus, NJ 07652.
