Lise Artinian

Lise Artinian's Life

Lise (formerly Elise) was born in Cairo, Egypt, on January 8th, 1926. She was an only child and she was sent to boarding school at an early age, first at the Armenian Catholic Sisters where she learned French and then to the British Sisters School where she excelled in English and also acquired secretarial skills. As you can guess, in addition to her proficiency in languages, Mom also received a strong religious education, which remained with her throughout her life. We were taught as kids to say our prayers every night and not going to Mass every Sunday was not an option.

Interestingly, Mom's first job was working as a secretary with the RAF (Royal Air Force) at a unit stationed in Egypt. Mom and Dad married in 1948 when she was 22 years old and by age 32, Mom and Dad had 4 kids. Together, they influenced us with their hard work ethic and a strong moral character to always do our best in life but also to care for others.

Mom stayed home and took care of us until we (the older girls) were 9 and 10 yrs old. She then worked at the American Embassy in Egypt briefly before we left for Lebanon in 1962. In Lebanon, Mom worked as an administrative assistant at American Pharmaceutical and Consulting companies. However, Mom's dream was to emigrate to the United States and she never gave-up on that dream. She had heard about the U.S since her father had been here and fought in the Spanish-American war before returning back home. After thirteen years living in Lebanon, we emigrated to the U.S.A., thanks to her determination and consistent efforts. She was 50 years old when she came to California and she had to start a new life, However, I've never seen a citizen more proud than our Mom! She worked in a local bank and supported the family until her retirement at age 65. After her retirement, Mom remained very active: she went to daily mass, sometimes walking 40 minutes to get there; she loved reading and she had a large book collection, she took evening classes at the local City College, including Spanish, painting, car mechanic, psychology, and computer classes; she volunteered with different organization such as the Ombudsman and Mother Teresa's Charity, she visited the sick in hospitals, specially those who did not have any visitors, and she took care of her roses.

What I remember Mom most by is her unshakable love and faith in God, her kindness to strangers, her love of children, her gift as a peacemaker, her positive and trusting attitude towards life that all will be well, her lack of gossip, her concern for the poor and always contributing to their causes, her steadfast determination to get things done even if it meant taking matters all the way up to the top. She loved us all deeply and unconditionally and she was the guiding force behind our career decisions. Mom was our rock and we will miss her terribly.

Unfortunately, she was afflicted with Alzheimer's disease and she spent the last 10 years, to the day, at the Ararat Nursing Facility. At Ararat, she received excellent care by a devoted staff of nurses under the supervision of Margo Babikian. We will forever be grateful to her and to the Ararat family.
Now, Mom is where she would want to be: with her God, who always watched over her and who is watching over all of us. We would greatly appreciate if you would keep our beloved Mom in your daily prayers, as we know she is also doing the same for us, from heaven above.

Her loving children: Nora, Lucy, Raffy, and Sylvette