Armenian Heritage Park 10th Anniversary Gala Honors Stephen Kurkjian, Celebrates Immigrant Contributions, Funds Park Maintenance

His great talent combined with fervor served the Armenian community well along with the rest of American society. McGrory said: “This sophisticated sense of fairness and justice is never more important than in Steve’s passionate and clear-eyed advocacy for Armenians. He is a deeply respected voice in the ears of so many Globe reporters and editors. He wants everyone to see history for exactly what it is and to acknowledge that a genocide is genocide. He wants to make sure that a great country, and her people who came to the United States, get proper credit for the massive contributions that you have made to Boston and beyond.”

McGrory concluded his introduction with even more words of praise, underscoring that “You have chosen a really, really great honoree.”

Kurkjian at the Podium

Kurkjian took the podium and in turn extolled McGrory’s crucial role in holding up the Globe’s standard of excellence. He gratefully recognized other Globe reporters in the audience, including the founder of the Globe Spotlight Team, Tim Leland. Janet O’Neill, the wife of Kurkjian’s late great friend the reporter and editor Gerry O’Neill, and editors Walter Robinson, Patty Wen, Ben Bradlee Jr. and Mark Morrow were mentioned, along with Tom Farragher, who was not present that night.

Kurkjian recalled that he always told journalism classes over the years, there might be the Second Amendment to the US Constitution saying that you can rule by the barrel of a gun, but the First Amendment which comes before that says that despite the Second Amendment, you can rule by the institutions of democracy. “Having that Constitutional power behind us,” Kurkjian exclaimed, “energizes you, makes you feel that you are really working for the people – and from the first day that I came into the Globe, I felt that.”

His Armenian background did not go unrecognized at his job. When he answered the phone at the Globe in the multiethnic and tribal Boston of the 1960s and stated his name, he reminisced that after callers understood he was an Armenian, this invariably led them to recall various good deeds done by Armenians. “Hearing those voices over the phone,” Kurkjian said, “telling me about what their experiences had been with Armenians, gave me the sense that we are doing okay, we are making our way in this world.”

As part of an Armenian family, Kurkjian also inherited a connection with the park. His four Kasparian uncles, all genocide survivors, operated the most popular grocery store at Codman Square in Dorchester, he related. Some Saturdays he would accompany them on their early morning drives to the Fanueil Hall meat markets and Haymarket, where they would get fresh fruits and vegetables. Here he said he saw how one of his uncles who did not speak much English still was able to make himself understood, and in turn was honored and respected. The lesson remained with him, he said, that, “you may not have money, you may not have the largest number of people, but you still can make your way in this world.” For this reason, Kurkjian realized, it felt right for him when he was asked to be the headliner for the park event this year.

His father and his contemporaries came to the US escaping the Armenian Genocide, and benefited from all that this country offered to blossom and flourish due to the protection and the economic opportunity that American provided. “It was an immense, immense gift that we got from this country, which I will never, ever forget,” he said. The  children of that first generation, like Kurkjian’s late cousin Chuck Bilizekian and his wife Doreen, were able to contribute materially to what Kurkjian likes to calls “our Champs d’Elysee,” the Rose Kennedy Greenway. The park in this sense is an expression of gratitude from the Armenians.

This is an extraordinary story, he pointed out, which is happening again with new groups of immigrants.

Kurkjian thanked the Boston Globe and Comcast for making possible a video which was screened earlier during the evening about the park. He said: “It is presenting what I hope to be the ultimate goal for us: having Boston, at the center of the town, embrace us and our purposes – not just to remember the genocide of the Armenians, which cost us so dearly, but also the second purpose, which is … to find a place in the center of town where all immigrant groups can be welcome.”

He thanked the audience for coming to the benefit, and concluded, “The cycle of life is happening here in Boston, and the park is embracing it. …You are making sure that the Armenian experience will never be forgotten in this city.”

Fitzgibbon then closed the formal portion of the evening, cheerily calling out, “Someday soon, let’s meet at the park!”

The event was a success in many ways. Aside from the enthusiastic cheering for those honored, Kalustian announced that with the recent fundraising, the Heritage Park Foundation had raised a total of approximately $3 million for the park’s legacy fund, to date. For more information, or to donate, visit armenianheritagepark.org.