Peter Bilezikian, 97, survivor of Armenian genocide

March 30, 2010 06:49 AM

Peter Bilezikian

By Caitlin Castello, Town Correspondent

By trade, Peter Bilezikian, was an electrician, plumber, and business owner.
He was a self-educated philosopher and historian, but above all else he was
a storyteller.
"He would always leave people laughing, never crying," said his daughter
Bethel Bilezikian Charkoudian of Newton.
Mr. Bilezikian, a survivor of the 1915 Armenian genocide and a Newton
resident, died Wednesday at his home. He was 97.

Mr. Bilezikian was born in Marash, Western Armenia, which was occupied by
the Ottoman Turks at the time. He arrived in the United States in 1921-22,
his daughter said. He and his mother and siblings met his father in New York
before traveling and settling in Newton.

In 2005, on the 90th anniversary of the Armenian genocide, Mr. Bilezikian
shared his story with Globe columnist Yvonne Abraham.

"All I remember is, we were hungry, and I thought that was a normal thing. .
. . There were so many people dying. . . . I remember children dying with
the big stomachs . . . dropping dead right in the middle of the street. And
a cart would come along, pick them up as if they were nothing, and throw
them up on the cart and keep going. There’d be a big hole somewhere, they’d
just dump it in there," he said. "When I came to this country I lived in
Newtonville. At night I used to find myself under the bed in a cold sweat.
The dream I used to have was, a Turk would cut my ears off, cut my nose,
pull my teeth, gouge my eye out. I would wake up all wet. . . . I never had
these dreams in the old country."

Mr. Bilezikian never shied away from telling his stories to his family, said
Bilezikian Charkoudian. He taught his three children not to hate the Turks,
she said.
"He brought us up to love those Turkish people who helped save the Armenians
who did survive," said Bilezikian Charkoudian. "We were not brought up with
hatred. We were brought up with facts."

He graduated from Watertown High School in 1932, and was a recipient of a
full scholarship to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He could not
attend because he needed to earn money for his family, said Bilezikian
Charkoudian. He instilled the importance of education in his children.
"Through his love of reading and relating, and his talent for being
extremely creative, Daddy built up a successful business, married the woman
of his dreams and he provided the best for his family, making sure that they
all went to college and graduate school (even though in those days, the old
timers would tell him not to waste his money educating his daughters)!"
wrote his daughter Martha McCool, of Gainesville, Texas, for a memorial
service for Mr. Bilezikian at Watertown Evangelical Church.

Mr. Bilezikian established and ran Newtonville Electrical Company Inc., in
Newtonville. He would often forgo payments from people whom he knew did not
have the extra money to pay the bill, said his children. He would answer the
phone in the middle of the night, often in the dead of winter to assist
families whose heat had failed, said his son, James of Miami.

"Because he and his family were rescued so many times while trying to
survive Marash and the war against humanity, as rescuer, it never occurred
to Dad to send a bill to those he rescued. Dad would have said that Jesus
rescued us from our bondage to sin, and never sent us a bill, because He
paid for the rescuing and the sin on the cross of Calvary. Dad and mom were
examples of those who grew in conformity to the image of Christ, to the mind
of Christ," wrote his son, in the eulogy for Mr. Bilezikian.
Mr. Bilezikian, met his wife Lucille Mae (Vartanian), while living in
Newton. They were married for 51 years; she died in 1991.

His wife had a legendary singing voice, said James. Mr. Bilezikian and his
family would sing hymns on Sunday, and his favorite was "Amazing Grace." He
belonged to Watertown Evangelical Church. His uncle, Rev. Vartan Bilezikian
was the first pastor of this church, which was built in 1939 by their
family, said McCool.
"He was the most religious man I’ve ever known. He lived the Christian
life," said McCool. "We would also go to Uncle Vartans’s house, we sang
hymns. It was a very religious day for us, Sunday. He worked extremely hard
to provide a good life for us."

In addition to his children, Mr. Bilezikian leaves a sister, Gulenia
Sulahian of California; 12 grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

Services have been held.