By Ruth Thomasian Photography and writing bring people together as was the case with Tom and me—he,a journalist/photographer, and me, and a photo historian. March 1,2011, with tape recorder running, or Suzanne Adams,Archivist, taking the photo, and Tom shares a photo he took of his mother,Ojen ‘Jennie’ Hekimian Vartabedian, and shares her accomplishments as a Genocide Survivor with Ruth. For many years I had read and admired his work from a distance before we connected on a professional level. He, and as did I,lived a very full life. The tripod of his life was his family, his work as a journalist at the Haverhill Gazette, and his Armenian heritage and identity,which he shared in his bylined Armenian Weekly articles. For four score and more years, he covered a wide range of Armenian eventspolitical, and social,and cultural—for the Weekly as an unpaid professional reporter. After his 40-year stint at the Gazette (1966-2006), he became even more wildly read in all the Armenian papers, or writing human-interest stories as he met people who had a memoir to tell. Every week one could read many of his bi-lined pieces in all the Armenian newspapers and online. Tom was fascinated by,and [...]
Source: armenianweekly.com