WATERTOWN – On the evening of Saturday, May 19, the Armenian American Pharmacists Association (AAPA) honored the St. Stephen’s Armenian Day and Saturday school principals, respectively Houry Boyamian and Mayda Melkonian, at the Oakley Country Club’s elegant reception hall. Melkonian previously was vice principal at the Armenian Sisters’ Academy.
Sossy Yogurtian (RPh.), AAPA president, welcomed all attendees and introduced Harold R. Partamian (RPh.), founder of the AAPA and its first president (1981), as the evening’s master of ceremonies. The featured speaker for the evening was Peter J. Koutoujian, sheriff of Middlesex County of Massachusetts. The sheriff made brief remarks and presented each honoree with a plaque recognizing her 30 years of honorary and exemplary service to the local Armenian community.
The honorees’ biographies were presented by their former students Dr. Vatché Demirjian (Pharm.D., RPh.) and Varteni Aroyan, a sixth year pharmacy student who was also the AAPA’s 2018 Apelian/Partamian scholarship recipient. Aroyan introduced Boyamian, after which Demirjian introduced Melkonian.
The honorees expressed their gratitude in moving speeches and then received gifts from Yogurtian and AAPA vice president Ripsime Guyumdzhyan. Each principal received a painting specifically painted for them by GP Vahan, a well-known artist and storyteller in the St. Stephens community, and a hand-painted silk scarf by Karine Abgarian, an Armenian artist from Yerevan who hand paints on silk using multicultural designs with an emphasis on unique Armenian symbolic patterns.
In addition to these gifts, AAPA presented both principals with the Honorary Award from the newly elected Minister of Diaspora of the Republic of Armenia, Mkhitar Hayrapetyan. These awards are among the first proclamations signed by Armenia’s new administration.
These gifts were presented to Boyamian and Melkonian in recognition, gratitude, and deep appreciation of their many years of service in education and dedication to the Armenian community in the greater Boston area.
