Cherry Hill Courier Post, NJ
June 22 2008

Caring priority for genocide survivor

By WILFORD S. SHAMLIN ¢ Courier-Post Staff ¢ June 22, 2008

An unlikely chain of events helped Dorothy Baldadian and most of her
family escape the genocide of an estimated one million Turkish
Armenians early in the 20th century.

More amazing than her story of survival itself is her recounting of
the experience. Laura Chudd, a long-time friend who heard Baldadian
speak about the horrors she witnessed, remembers her addressing a
volunteer-recognition luncheon ceremony more than a decade ago.

"She told it without bitterness," said Chudd, of Haddon
Township. "That was her life and she accepted it. She could tell that
story, which was horrible, just factually, without hate."

Baldadian, among the last survivors of the Armenian genocide by the
Turkish Ottoman Empire, died May 4 in Cherry Hill. She was 98 and
formerly lived in Collingswood.

Her positive and upbeat nature made those around her take notice.

"Everybody wondered why she never worried and was always praising God
and thanking Him for all of her blessings," recalls daughter Ruth
Melian of Cherry Hill. "That’s her. It’s her faith that lifts her up."

"She cherished her faith because her mother went through so much to
bring them to the country where they could worship freely, and she
loved this country. She was so patriotic because she recognized the
freedoms."

Baldadian prayed constantly and — for as long as Melian can remember
— out loud. She once told her daughter: "When I talk to my Lord, I
have to talk to Him. I can’t do it any other way."

Melian describes her mother as a woman of faith who was kind and
impartial, generous and spunky, and high-spirited, even after caring
for her husband, Samuel, who died of a brain tumor.

Baldadian will be remembered for "always smiling, always caring about
someone else," Chudd said. "I knew her when she was in her 80s and she
never had any complaints, always looked happy, always peaceful. It was
just a joy to be with her.

"She had a lot of tragedy in her life as well as a lot of joy and she
remained very accepting of it all."

Even after a next-door neighbor was killed by an intruder in 1994,
Baldadian refused to move into her daughter’s home. Both she and the
victim were senior citizens living alone in Collingswood, and Melian,
along with neighbors, feared for Baldadian’s safety. She tried putting
them all at ease.

"I’m not alone," Baldadian insisted.

"Who is with you?" concerned loved ones asked.

"The Lord is with me," she replied.

"She was not afraid," says Melian. "She was fearless."

Baldadian also knew the joys of love, parenthood and friendship. She
often chauffeured friends to Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church in
Philadelphia and to picnics she organized at Cooper River Park. She
also volunteered at a women’s consignment shop that contributed a
portion of sales to CONTACT, a nonprofit that runs a toll-free crisis
hotline. She was noted for her math skills at the checkout counter and
her ability to make alterations.

"She could fix anything," Chudd remembers. "She could fix a small hole
so that you didn’t know it was there. She was our finest seamstress,
even in her 80s. She was amazing."

More amazing was her family’s escape from disaster. Five-year-old
Dorothy Parnagian was among Armenians rounded up in a massive dragnet
across the country during the genocide, from 1915 to 1918. The family
was ordered to march in a caravan toward the desert.

Dorothy’s father, an affluent importer, was killed and a cousin who
went looking for him also disappeared. Many of the men were forced to
dig their own graves before being killed.

A benevolent guard and a politically connected relative eventually
helped lead the family to safety.

"That was a miracle from God, she always said," Melian relates.

Baldadian had to leave her two sons behind, and it would be five years
before they were reunited. Before that, she had to gain
U.S. citizenship and save enough money to pay for their voyage to
America.

"Even though she lived through that horrible tragedy, her focus in
life was doing good for others," says Melian. "She never remained
bitter. She was really loving and kind to all."

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