PEABODY, Mass. — Adrienne Arkun, who worked as a librarian for the Queens Borough Public Library in New York for 32 years, passed away on April 24 at the age of 101.
She was born in Ridgewood, NJ, to Nishan Nazaretian (1895-1927) of Amasya and Marie Sarkisian (later Chakerian; 1904-1985) of Bursa, on July 1, 1924. Adrienne’s three paternal aunts and one uncle of Amasya, along with her paternal grandmother, were lost or killed during the deportations of the Armenian Genocide. Previously, her paternal great-grandfather was beheaded during the Hamidian massacres. Adrienne’s mother Marie (Mariam), the latter’s mother Takouhi Papazian Sarkisian (1874-1965), and grandmother Mannig (Mariam “Dudu”) Kazanian Ekmekjian, were deported from Bursa along with many other relatives in 1915.
Marie came to the US as a “postcard” bride to marry Nishan at 18 years old. The latter had an oriental rug and floor covering store (the Ridgewood Floor and Covering Store), but died of a heart attack at the age of 32, leaving toddler Adrienne (Adriné in Armenian) without a father for several years. Marie worked in a sweatshop and eventually married Roupen Chakerian (1892-1970), a Zeytun Armenian who had fought in General Antranig’s army and later the French Armenian legion in Cilicia.
Adrienne’s childhood was during the Depression years, which had a deep impact on her life. She was studious and thought of becoming a chemist, but her college advisors stated that this would not be easy for a woman and steered her to library sciences instead. In addition to her native English and Armenian, with some knowledge also of Turkish from her childhood, she studied French, Spanish and German. After a obtaining a bachelor of arts degree from Queens College in 1946, she earned a second bachelor from Columbia University’s Faculty of Library Service in 1947, which was the equivalent of a master’s degree at that time in this field.
She began working as a librarian for the Queens Borough Public Library in NY in 1947. Eventually she rose to become a chief branch librarian in the system, including at the Glendale Public Library in Queens.
As the first-born in the US, Adrienne played the role of translator and intermediary for her parents, grandmother and younger sister (Arpy Shepard, 1932-2025). She was well known for giving books and helpful advice to friends and family, and especially to younger female relatives. She played a key role in bringing her mother’s cousin and the latter’s daughter, Nancy Shirinian (later Toumayan) to the US, providing an affidavit of support and arranging for her education, in the 1950s.
