Pharmacist enjoys family, his roses, staying active
By: John Karas 07/21/2006
East Hartford Gazette, CT
July 21 2006
When Harry Egazarian, fresh from college, started working at the former
Pat’s Medical Pharmacy Downtown, Dwight Eisenhower was President,
Boeing 707s powered by new Pratt & Whitney engines were just taking
to the air and Founders Bridge had not yet opened to traffic.
Last week Egazarian looked back on a life that in many ways is
the realization of the American dream. The son of Armenian parents
who found in the United States a refuge from the horrors of ethnic
persecution and genocide, he celebrated his 50th year as a pharmacist
on June 12.
Speaking near the subjects he dotes on most these days at his Bancroft
Road home – his carefully-tended roses and his beloved grandchildren –
Egazarian reflected on a life of achievements. That includes family,
his profession and his long political career.
The secret to his lifetime of service has been following a simple
creed.
"I love people, and I love to help people," he explains. "I can’t even
retire," he adds with a smile. "I retired for two weeks, and then I
said to my wife, ‘Honey, I can’t stay home. One of us has got to go.’"
Now he is comfortably back behind the counter at Shaw’s pharmacy on
Main Street. Harry plans to remain there for as long as his health
allows.
"When my kids ask ‘Why do you work dad?’ I tell them ‘Because I enjoy
it,’" he said.
It’s a deep-rooted philosophy of joy for life and caring for his
fellow human beings that he owes to his parents – and especially to
his mother. As a 7-year-old, Harry’s mother witnessed her father being
executed during the massacres of 1915 in Turkey. She later lost two
siblings during a torturous march to the sea.
"She died with nightmares," revealed Egazarian. "She blamed
herself. But she made sure her children did not grow up bitter because
of what had happened."
An uncle who lived in Worcester, Ma. found his mother in an orphanage
in Marseille, France, and brought her to America, Egazarian said. And
when she turned 17 her family introduced her to her future husband.
"Two days later they had the wedding," Egazarian said. "That’s how
thing were done those days. And they were married for 45 years. They
had three children. I am the youngest, and I have two sisters."
How Harry met Marilyn, his wife, could also be a Hollywood
story. Marilyn, also a pharmacist, will celebrate her own 50 years
in the business next year.
"We both grew up in Worcester, although he hadn’t known each other,"
Egazarian said. "We met in College. We both went to the University of
Connecticut. I went in ’52, and she came by in ’53. And I knew she
was coming because my fraternity had sent out a list of incoming
freshmen. I had friends in all the public schools and I asked
around. But nobody knew of her, because she went to an all-girls
parochial school.
"And then I met her the first day on campus. We happened to bump onto
each other. Six months later I got my courage up to ask her to go
out to a basketball game with my roommate and his fiancé. We went
to the game, and I sat her down and told her ‘I’ll see you after the
game.’ She said ‘Where are you going?’ I said ‘I am the manager of
the basketball team. I have to be on the floor.’ I was the manager
with Hugh Greer."
They were married in 1957, although their families raised many
objections. She was Irish Catholic; he Armenian Apostolic.
"But you know what?" Egazarian said. "The moment I gave her the ring,
my father adored her."
In 1963 Harry decided to convert to Catholicism.
"It didn’t trouble me at all," he said. "The differences are very
small."
It helped too that Armenian cardinal at the time was Gregory Peter
Agajanian, one of the most distinguished clerics of his time, whom
Egazarian admires so much he named his oldest son after him. Egazarian
and his wife met the cardinal when he visited Boston.
"You are Armenian," he told him, "But you are not," he said to
her. "No, I am Irish," she said. "What a wonderful combination,"
he responded, "because the Armenians and the Irish suffered greatly
for their faith."
The same year Egazarian adopted his new faith, he also became
a business owner. He had already been working, since 1957, at
"Pat’s Medical Pharmacy," which had started in the 1800s as "Noble
Drugs." Then, in 1963, owner Pat Gulotta unexpectedly passed away and
Egazarian bought the pharmacy from his estate. Harry kept the name –
Pat’s Medical’ adding another chapter to its local reputation. Over
the years Harry’s friendly demeanor and keen interest in both his
patients’ lives and East Hartford politics made Egazarian’s pharmacy
one of the focal points of the town.
"We, of the older generation, have more of a feel for people and their
needs," he said. "We always make it a point to talk to the patient,
as much as possible. Just throwing something out is not enough."
Since ‘small talk’ with Harry always turned to what was happening
in town, it was only natural for the popular pharmacist to become
involved in politics. As a member of the Democratic Town Committee
he was asked to serve on the Town Charter revision in 1965. In 1974,
Egazarian was chosen to replace a Council member who was retiring – a
path that lead him to serving for more than a decade as Council leader.
It was a time when politics in East Hartford became increasingly more
confrontational, something that Egazarian still resents.
"In the early stages it was Republicans and Democrats and you had your
small spats on the floor – after that you went out together and you had
some camaraderie. And it was an off-the-cuffs scene, but nonetheless
we were human to one another. [Unfortunately, later] It got to the
point were even Democrats were antagonistic to Democrats. There were
different factions, and so on. And I think I banged the gavel a little
more often than I should."
Despite this, even his political opponents, at the time, remember
Egazarian with respect.
"Harry was always fair in his conduct to me, and I always liked the
way he kept the order of business in his meetings," said Republican
Donald Pitkin, today Minority Leader of Council.
Still, things did change in town, and Egazarian was voted off after
15 years on the Council.
"If you ask me ‘was it too long?’ Yeah, it was too long," he said. "But
I became a Councilman, and I served not with the idea that it will
be good for business – because that’s a mistake. That’s wrong. I went
because I felt that I wanted to give back to the community."
Over all these years the businesses environment was changing, too.
"Things began to get more and more difficult for independent
pharmacies," he explained. "Until, in 1999, I decided to sell my
store to the Arrow chain."
For anyone else, that would have been a blessing: stay at home and
enjoy his retirement, and maybe a hobby – and Egazarian is an avid
gardener with some of the most beautiful flower patches in town,
which he devotes to his grandchildren.
"There is Grace’s rose garden," he said as he walked among the blooming
flowers. "That’s Chelsea’s garden. Over there is Sara’s lily patch. And
this is Ryan’s tulip patch."
And there is no doubt that he adores his four grandchildren – he and
his wife stopped spending the summer in Maine, where they have a home
on the ocean, because they wanted to stay with them.
"I saw some changes and I said ‘Marilyn, we don’t want to miss that. I
want to grow old with the children," he said.
But his calling proved even more powerful. A few weeks after he
retired, Egazarian took a new position at the pharmacy department
of Shaw’s supermarket. He started in New Britain, at first, and a
few months later transferred to the new Shaw’s supermarket in Putnam
Plaza. He wanted to be near his old customers, some of whom he knows
for almost half a century, he said.
"I have three customers who are over 100 years old," he said,
"which means they were in their early 50s when I came here. They
were my customers back then, and I kind of feel I had a small part
in helping them reach this time of their life."
And he certainly did not want to miss what is happening in his town.
"I loved East Hartford, all these years," he said. "It’s a wonderful
town. I really enjoyed my life here. My kids wanted me to move to a
live-in. I said I can’t."
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