66th Annual Scholarship Banquet February 13, 2011

A graduate scholarship organization will mark its 66th anniversary with a memorial tribute to a distinguished Central California pastor who led the Armenian Evangelical Union of North America.
Armenian Theological Students’ Aid, Inc. will salute the late Reverend Karl Vartan Avakian at a luncheon on Sunday, February 13, 2010. The 1 p.m. luncheon will take place in the Fellowship Hall of historic First Armenian Presbyterian Church, 430 South First Street at Huntington Boulevard in Fresno. The theme of the gathering is: “A Heart for Ministry, A Heart for In-Care Seminary Students.”
Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students. Tables of eight and a host of sponsorship opportunities are available. Proceeds benefit the global graduate scholarship programs of the Fresno-based nonprofit corporation. More information may be obtained by calling (559) 323-5502, (559) 260-3357, or (559) 320-2323.
A native of Alexandria, Egypt, Avakian immigrated to California on September 21, 1957 and worked his way through Pacific Bible Institute (the forerunner of Fresno Pacific University), Tabor Bible College, and the Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary, now part of FPU. He became Christian Education Director at Fresno’s Pilgrim Armenian Congregational Church in 1966, was ordained a Minister of the Word and Sacraments in 1979, and was called to the pulpit of the Armenian Presbyterian Church of Paramus, New Jersey that same year.
In 1988, Reverend Avakian was elected Moderator of the Armenian Evangelical Union of North America, an ecclesiastical confederation of Armenian Protestant churches, missions, and fellowships in the United States of America and Dominion of Canada. Two years later he became fulltime Minister to the Union and was named Distinguished Alumnus of his alma mater, FPU. Upon his retirement as conference minister in 2004, Reverend Avakian became a Director and Secretary of the ATSA Corporation. He also served as a Trustee of FPU for two decades. He passed away on May 30, 2010 at the age of 74 and was survived by his wife of 37 years, Nancy, and their children, Laura and David.
On January 8, 1945, just five months before VE Day, Yettem resident Ezras Tellalian met with Fresno pastors Arsham K. Yeramian and Hagop Chakmakjian in the Mason Building law offices of Fresno attorney Gasper Magarian. Remembering a generation of ethnic pastors lost in the genocides of the Ottoman Empire, the quartet formed ATSA, a financial aid organization to assist students of Armenian descent preparing to become ministers, preachers, and teachers of the Holy Bible in the 20th Century.
In the ensuing six and one-half decades, the nonprofit organization they chartered has raised and granted in excess of $700,000 in scholarships to help more than 200 seminary students at home and abroad earn their entry-level graduate degrees. ATSA Scholars have matriculated in divinity schools across the United States, Dominion of Canada, Near East, Europe, and the Republic of Armenia.
ATSA works in partnership with the New Jersey-based Armenian Missionary Association of America, the Glendale-based AEUNA, and the Beirut-based Union of Armenian Evangelical Churches of the Near East.
In addition to the tribute to Reverend Avakian, the February 13 luncheon will feature Canadian cuisine prepared by Chef Hrant Darakjian and his culinary team, vocal music by Mezzo-Soprano Jennie L. Gray and Soprano Vera Darakjian, and remarks by graduating Talbot Seminary student David Azizian. Therese Gulesserian, successor to Reverend Avakian on the ATSA Board of Directors, will serve as Master of Ceremonies.
ATSA is governed by a nine-member Board consisting of: Rafi Balabanian, D.D.S., Ann R. Karagozian-Sarafian, Ph.D., and Edward Saliba (Class of 2010); Therese Gulesserian, Harry Halajian, and Philip Tavlian (Class of 2011); and Hrant Darakjian, Arnold H. Gazarian, D.D.S., and Reverend Ara Richard Guekguezian (Class of 2012).