Araxie (Akiprikian) Boloyan

Araxie Akiprikian Boloyan passed away peacefully on February 3, 2022 at the age of 91.  Araxie was born on July 31, 1930 in Charvieu, France, east of Lyon, to the late Garabed and Nevart Akiprikian originally from western Armenia of the former Ottoman Empire.  She was the youngest of 3 girls – Rachel Ohanessian (husband Yeghia) and Elise Juy (husband Roger), all pre-deceased.

Araxie grew up and went to school in Lyon where her father had his own shoe cobbler business until he passed in 1939.  Her mother Nevart was left at a young age with the difficult task of tending to 3 young daughters during World War 2. Rachel, her eldest sister of 10 years acted as her second mother.  Growing up, Araxie was very studious and took advantage of the schooling opportunities presented to her.  Her pursuit of knowledge and her natural intelligence would serve her well throughout her life.  Like many of her generation, including the man whom she would later marry, her beloved Vartan, she desired to move to America and find new opportunities for herself.  In January 1955, she came to the US and lived with her uncle Mardiros Mardirossian in New York City.   While in the US, she took a job as a nanny and later briefly moved to Stratford, CT to help her relatives, the Yakoubians, tend to their 3 kids after their oldest was stricken with polio.

In an age when men dominated the work force and women got married and tended to their families, Araxie had more of an independent streak, much like a modern female living today.  At 26 years old, she was eager to find more permanent work to attain independence. Against the wishes of her aunt, she applied for and was offered a secretarial position at the United Nations after successfully passing the entrance exam.  Her fluency in both French and English gave her the opportunity to work with foreign dignitaries who needed her dual language background.  Her job required travel to Europe on behalf of the UN.  Her good salary afforded her enough to rent an apartment in NYC and have money left over to send back to her mother in France.  For a female in 1956, she was way ahead of her time and she truly enjoyed her independence.

It wasn’t until June 6, 1965 that her life would take a completely different turn when she married her love Vartan, with whom she spent over 54 years together before his passing in 2020.  They had previously met in Providence, RI where Araxie had cousins and Vartan was friends with some of the same cousins.  Araxie and Vartan had a lot in common.  They both were the first of their families to emigrate to the US from France, their parents were Genocide survivors, they both spoke French and Armenian fluently, and they loved their native France but cherished the life, opportunity, and future the US offered to them.  They would settle in Providence, RI and start a family.  In May 1967, their son Carl was born followed by daughters Lynn in July 1968 and Liz in August 1969.  In August 1970, they would buy a home in Cranston where they resided until their passing.

Araxie embraced her new life as a full time Mom.  It was a sharp contrast from the independent New York lifestyle she led for almost 10 years.  As with anything she did, she committed and devoted herself to her family. She was very loving and caring, always giving her kids and grandchildren big hugs and kisses and expecting the same in return. People who met her always found her to be very kind, compassionate and caring.  However, the one trait that always comes to mind and that she exhibited consistently was her ability to apply a singular focus and commitment to any challenge.  It was the one characteristic that encompassed all of her other characteristics and made her who she was.  No one was going to get in her way once she put her mind to something.  It was the same in her moving to the US, her pursuit of the UN job, her yearning for independence in NY, and with protecting and caring for her husband and children.  In this latest chapter of her life, her family was her world and nothing was going to distract her.  She knew what was right and, when confronted with a hurdle, she had the confidence to figure it out herself and overcome it. Her life dedicated to her family was her legacy.

Although she was brought up Catholic, Araxie attended and devoted her time to the Armenian Evangelical Church in Providence and Cranston, RI.  As her family still resided in France, her new Rhode Island family embraced her as one of their own.  Her parents-in-law, Haiganoush and Kazar Boloyan, devout Christians themselves, were a major influence on her as were her sisters and brothers-in-law Elise Thurber, Michel Boloyan, Louise Janigian, and Jacques Boloyan.  This same dedication and devotion to both church and family was passed on to her own children and grandchildren.

Araxie leaves behind a very large family including her children, Carl Boloyan, Lynn Tatewosian, and Liz Hathaway, and their respective spouses Rachel Abrahamian Boloyan, William Tatewosian, and Joseph Hathaway; her 7 beautiful grandchildren, Lucine, David, and Anna Boloyan, William and Victoria Tatewosian, and Joshua and Arianna Hathaway; her niece Aimee Farina and her husband Francois, her nephew Alex Ohanessian and his wife Collette, her nephews Jean-Marc and Guy Juy, her grand nieces and nephews Raphaelle, Sebastien, Delphine, Eric, and Alex.  On the Boloyan side of the family, she leaves behind sister in-law Louise Janigian, nephews and niece Paul Thurber, Robert and Marc Janigian, and Monique Houle and numerous great-grand nieces and nephews in both the US and France.

Funeral services will be held on Saturday, February 12th at 11am at the Armenian Evangelical Church, 180 Oaklawn Ave. in Cranston, followed by burial at Swan Point Cemetery, Providence.  In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Armenian Evangelical Church or the Armenian Missionary Association of America (AMAA) in memory of Araxie.