HOVHANNES TAPAGYAN
1923, Beirut – 2004, Los Angeles
Pedagogue and intellectual Hovhannes Tapagyan was born in Beirut on 28 October 1923.
His parents, who had migrated from Marash following the evacuation of Cilicia, came to settle in the Beirut suburb of the Nor Marash district.
As the eldest son of the family, he was destined first to attend the Nor Marash primary school, then, together with peers of his age, he was admitted to the Antelias Seminary, during the days of the blessed memory Catholicos Sahak. Within the Seminary, he showed a particular love for Armenian history and literature.
In 1939, while still a student, he became part of the cultural ferment brewing in Beirut, and became a member of the Nor Marash chapter of the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU).
After graduating from the Seminary, he was accepted as a teacher to teach the Armenian language at the school of the Church of the Holy Forty Martyrs in Nor Marash, which he himself had attended. Later, he was invited to teach at the Abgaryan primary school in the Nor Adana district of Beirut.
Already during this period, Hovhannes Tapagyan was enthusiastically part of a group of young intellectuals who decided to mark the anniversary in Beirut in 1946 of Vahan Tekeyan, the “prince of poets,” an event that was to be crowned with success.
Tapagyan was invited to the editorial office of “Zartonk” to meet with the then leadership of the ADL: Prof. Barunak Tovmasyan, Gersam Aharonian, Hagop Davitian, Attorney Hrachya Sedrakyan, Haykashen Uzunyan and Mihran Der Stepanian, who decided to found the Tekeyan Cultural Association (TCA) in Beirut.
Certain organisational positions were entrusted to Tapagyan, while Attorney Sedrakyan prepared the Association’s programme and bylaws for registration with the state, the ratification of which was granted in 1947.
During this period, Tapagyan was also entrusted with the responsibility for the Beirut suburb of Andrnahar in the national census programme for Lebanon, which he carried out with foresight and meticulousness.
After the formation of the TCA, Tapagyan became a member of the newly formed Beirut chapter of the Association. In 1951 he joined the local board and the following year became the secretary of the Beirut chapter.
It should be noted that Tapagyan’s contribution would support the revitalisation of the chapter, to which he brought his participation for 20 years (1951-1971).
In 1952 he joined the ranks of the Armenian Democratic Liberal Party, with Alexander Sarukhanyan as his godfather, and from the very first day brought his enthusiastic participation to the local clubs.
Tapagyan continued his educational career for a period by teaching Armenian history at the AGBU Hovagimian-Manoukian boys’ secondary school. For university studies, he attended the French Saint Joseph University in Beirut and then, having received a special scholarship, left for Sèvres (France) to follow special courses in pedagogy.
Upon his return to Lebanon, he joined the teaching staff of the newly opened AGBU Yervant Demirjian primary school, and became the vice-principal of the school, a position he was to hold until 1974.
In 1962, Tapagyan chose as his life partner a devoted Armenian woman who had entered the educational field, Sona Balakjian, who was a French language teacher at the AGBU Darouhi Hagopian girls’ secondary school. The Tapagyans were blessed with a son, whom they named Varand.
Alongside their devoted service in the educational field, the Tapagyan couple, through their organisational participation, unconditionally supported the active activities of the Tekeyan Cultural Association unfolding in Beirut.
The esteemed Tapagyan, with his experience in public life, during this period brought his active participation to the board of the ADL “Zartonk” club in Beirut, later also becoming the chairman of the club. It should be noted that the ADL “Zartonk” club, from the very first day of its formation, played an important role in national political events in western Beirut.
Hovhannes Tapagyan, as a sought-after educator within Lebanese-Armenian educational life, had made it a habit to follow pedagogical courses, becoming acquainted with the educational systems of foreign countries.
In 1974, through the benefaction of the well-known Karmirian family of the AGBU in Lebanon, the Boghos G. Karmirian school was built in Antelias, being the newest of the AGBU’s educational institutions in Lebanon.
The esteemed figure, who had earned the trust of the benefactor family as well as of the AGBU’s Educational Committee in Lebanon, became the first principal of the Karmirian school. The newly opened educational institution quickly became a successful establishment in the Antelias area.
In the same year (1974), Tapagyan assumed the chairmanship of the local chapter of the Tekeyan Cultural Association in Beirut. From 1971, under his leadership, the chapter unfolded an active cultural ferment within the newly built Tekeyan centre.
The Lebanese civil clashes of the spring of 1975 never discouraged Tapagyan; he threw himself with complete devotion into community service. In July of the same year, the ADL Regional Delegates’ Assembly of Lebanon and Syria elected him a member of the Regional Board, which was chaired by his former colleague, Varoujan Khachatourian. Tapagyan assumed positions within Beirut’s community and inter-party bodies, participating in dialogue to establish relative calm within the Armenian quarters. Even during the most intense days of the Lebanese civil war in the 70s, he remained at the ramparts without wavering, continuing to bear the educational responsibility of the newly opened school, facing every difficulty.
Tapagyan’s national-public activity gained its particular importance when the TCA’s Founding Body lost three of its members, and in 1985 he joined the Body of Founders.
Hovhannes Tapagyan, Varoujan Khachatourian, Garo Papahkian and Garo Haroutunian, as new members of the Body of Founders, undertook the implementation of the Association’s endowment fundraising programme. The esteemed Tapagyan was entrusted with travelling to the United States and Canada, where the existing TCA chapters were carrying out active work, especially within the newly built centres in Montreal and Altadena.
The esteemed figure, a devoted unionist, leader and faithful activist conscious of his duties, was always aware of the office entrusted to him.
Within Lebanon’s dwindling community, Tapagyan, together with the principals of the AGBU’s other schools in Lebanon, was the educational official ensuring the uninterrupted operation of the AGBU schools. And as the leader of the ADL’s Lebanese region, he represented the region at the ADL’s 17th General Delegates’ Assembly, which convened in Montreal in June 1988. With his experience, he played a major role in the formation of the newly elected Central Board, including young leaders within the ADL’s highest executive body.
In 1992, during a special event organised for his 40 years of national-public activity, he received the “Certificate of Merit” from the ADL’s Central Board, as well as a gold ring engraved with the ADL’s emblem.
In the same year, he published his only work, which included his memoirs of decades in education and public life. In the homeland, by the hand of His Holiness Vazgen I, Catholicos of All Armenians, he received the “St. Sahak – St. Mesrob” order and a glorious encyclical.
Before the end of 1992, when Tapagyan had come to the United States, where his son Varand had settled, due to health reasons he was unable to return to Lebanon to continue his devoted educational career.
In California, he was surrounded by unionist comrades and those close to his ideals. Tapagyan did not remain far from national life and always supported the programmes of the Marash Compatriotic Union, to which he had belonged for years.
He was awarded the Order of Honour by the Ministry of Education and Culture of Armenia, and His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, during a visit to California, bestowed upon the esteemed figure the cultural order.
For those who knew him, for his colleagues in the educational and public fields, Tapagyan was a devoted figure commanding respect, who at the age of 81 closed his eyes forever in Pasadena on 18 December 2004.
Ara Aharonian
