[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 56 (Friday, April 15, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E748]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING HRANT ZEITOUNZIAN

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. DAVID DREIER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, April 15, 2011

  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, last month, one of my constituents, Hrant 
Zeitounzian, passed away at the age of 101. Mr. Zeitounzian was one of 
the last remaining survivors of the Armenian Genocide. While Mr. 
Zeitounzian spent most of his life in Europe, he moved with his wife 
Osana to the United States in 1986 and was living in Sierra Madre, 
California. I wanted to take this opportunity to commemorate Mr. 
Zeitounzian's amazing life and to express my condolences to his family 
and friends. Below is a 2010 press release from the Armenian National 
Committee--Pasadena celebrating Mr. Zeitounzian's 100th birthday.

       Pasadena, CA.--With strength and purpose, Hrant 
     Zeitounzian, a survivor of the Armenian Genocide, celebrated 
     his 100th birthday with family and friends on January 15, 
     2010. Zeitounzian marked his centennial as his family 
     reflected on a remarkable life that began in 1910 in Gurin, a 
     city in the Sepastia region of Western Armenia. Along with 
     his mother, brother and sister, Hrant, at the age of five, 
     was exiled from his homeland and sent on a death march. The 
     Pasadena Armenian National Committee participated in the 
     celebration of Hrant Zeitounzian's life and praised him and 
     his family for being staunch supporters of the Armenian 
     Cause.
       For much of his life Hrant Zeitounzian has been involved in 
     efforts to advance the Armenian Cause. As a youth in Lebanon 
     he was very active in the Armenian Youth Federation and has 
     long been a staunch supporter of the Armenian Revolutionary 
     Federation. Over the past several years he has regularly 
     attended the Armenian National Committee--Western Region's 
     banquet. Several years ago he received singular praise from 
     U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), who cited Zeitounzian as 
     an enduring symbol of the Armenian Cause.
       Following his exile from Gurin in 1915, Zeitounzian managed 
     to settle in Beirut, Lebanon after Turkish soldiers started 
     hunting down innocent Armenians in and around Aintab, where 
     his mother had found temporary shelter for her family. After 
     graduating from elementary school, Hrant was reunited with 
     his mother in Aleppo, Syria, where he would later become 
     enrolled in and graduate with high honors from Aleppo 
     College. He would go on to have a successful career at the 
     Iraq Petroleum Company and later at the American Tapline 
     Company in Lebanon. Following his ``formal'' retirement, the 
     ever-industrious genocide survivor would successfully open a 
     store in Beirut that specialized in selling Kodak cameras, 
     film and supplies.
       After enduring Lebanon's civil war, Hrant Zeitounzian moved 
     to the United States in 1986 with his wife of over sixty 
     years, Osana. Here in the United States he was reunited with 
     his four children, his sons Vahe, Vartan and Kevork and his 
     daughter Haiganoush (Anoush).

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