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Dr. Jacob S. Nakshian, Jr.: An Appreciation

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Old 22 Apr 15, 17:12   #1 (permalink)
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Post Dr. Jacob S. Nakshian, Jr.: An Appreciation

By Sonia I. Ketchian

Dr. Jacob Sarkis Nakshian, Jr., of Attleboro, Mass., who died on Jan. 4, 2015, was the younger son born on June 17, 1927, in Providence, R.I., to Jacob Nakshian, Sr., who founded a chapter of the Armenian General Benevolent Union in Rhode Island early in the 20th century, and Armenian Genocide survivor Altoon Noorigian Nakshian.

Dr. Jacob Sarkis Nakshian, Jr.

Jacob (called Argie by his neighborhood friends) belonged to that generation of American-born youngsters who, in the words of Prof. James Russell of Harvard University, never knew their grandparents. Father Jacob made certain his two little sons Charlie and Argie were well integrated in their American environment, and every Saturday used to send older sister Bertha to the movies with them. The boys spent summers in Lowell, Mass., at the home of their then-married sister Bertha Ketchian and Tzolag “Harry” Ketchian, where they made friends with many young people, played baseball at the Lowell Common (with their father’s cousins Jacob, whose daughter Karen Guregian is a sportswriter for the Boston Herald, and Jerry Guregian, and neighbors, the Manoian brothers, one of whom was Howard Manoian of Normandy fame), admiringly played games with their little Lowell niece and nephew, and discussed seminal topics with brilliant Tzolag. Argie recalled Tzolag taking him to a Communist Party cell meeting in Lowell after the Soviet Union had attacked Finland in 1939, where at age 12 Argie argued with the adults concerning Soviet aggression against the smaller Finland.

Thus nurtured by his loving family, Argie grew up strong, healthy, inquisitive, vital, full of joie de vivre, and always ready to quip and joke in his parents’ home, where brother Charlie’s numerous framed paintings enhanced the tasteful parlor, dining room, and bedroom sets selected by Altoon.

An avid, thoughtful reader and brilliant analyzer of everything he read and heard, young Jacob graduated in 1945 from Hope High School in Providence, where although he played football and baseball, focused on fencing. He was drafted into the Navy on V.E. Day Aug. 14, 1945, amidst the unending trauma hanging over the family ever since older brother Charles, who had begun studies on a scholarship at the Rhode Island School of Design, was killed in action during the battle of Anzio (Italy, 1944). All the many other relatives fighting for the U.S. (Sarkisians, Noorigians, Kalajians, Nakshians, Kazanjian, etc.) returned safely (see Daphne Abeel’s interview in the Armenian Mirror-Spectator on the four Noorigian brothers, Dec. 1, 2001, “The Noorigian Brothers—Heroes at War and At Home”).

After discharge from the Navy, choosing Harvard over Yale, Jacob entered Harvard College on the G.I. Bill, where he majored in social relations. He served on the Student Council and Finance Committee, and played House Tackle Football at Dunster House. In a letter to his sister Bertha Nakshian Ketchian, author of In the Shadow of the Fortress: The Genocide Remembered (Cambridge, MA: Zoryan Institute, 1988), he quipped that he wished the ongoing Providence teachers strike had occurred during his time there. At college the young man became a member of Phi Beta Kappa and in 1950 graduated magna cum laude with an A.B. in social relations. Among his professors (Dunlop, Schlesinger, Parsons) was Prof.»Clyde Kluckhohn, the first director of Harvard’s Russian Research Center, who taught him “Anthropology and Modern Life” (grade A). His substantive honors thesis was titled, “The Armenian Youth Federation of America” (99 pages). Jacob considered a career in journalism, as he wrote to Bertha, but instead entered graduate studies at the University of Connecticut, earning his M.A. in clinical psychology in 1952 and his Ph.D. in clinical psychology in 1956. His Ph.D. dissertation was titled, “An Investigation of the Effects of Red and Green Surroundings on Behavior.” Among the students he taught at the University of Connecticut was his future wife Anne Whelan, an undergraduate in social studies. The couple married on Dec. 31, 1955.

For two years, Jacob served as a clinical psychologist with the Veterans Administration in a V.A. Hospital in Albany, N.Y., before moving to Worcester, Mass., to work in an out-patient clinic for 10 years. In Worcester, Jacob and Anne were active in the Armenian church. After that the couple moved to Attleboro, Mass., exchanging employment with the federal government and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts where Dr. Nakshian was named chief psychologist beginning at the Attleboro Mental Health Center Community Mental Health Center, serving five towns.

Dr. Nakshian worked for 40 years as a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist in the Attleboro area at the Mental Health Center and Community Care Services and also taught courses at Clark University, the University of Rhode Island, and Bristol Community College. At one time he also had a part-time private practice. Fellow psychologist, Dr. Elsa Ronningstam of McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School, notes that “Dr. Nakshian’s dedication to his patients’ welfare was extraordinary. He had the ability to combine outstanding knowledge and sensitivity with appropriate interventions that contributed to major positive changes and progress in his patients’ mental health, as well as the ability to engage in their lives.”»He retired in 2008.

A devoted family man, Jacob happily tended the gardens and their lovely home. He was an avid birdwatcher, played tennis, loved the cinema, the theater, enjoyed traveling on vacation with wife Anne, and remained a voracious critical reader. Extended family gatherings for the holidays were happy events. Anne predeceased him by one month. His own illness notwithstanding, at Anne’s memorial, Argie, Harvard man that he was, from memory gave a brilliant substantive impassioned eulogy that all present raved over, repeatedly calling it “amazing,” and Charlie Sarkisian described in awe, “He made us laugh, he made us cry.” Yet not one of them with all their gadgets thought of taping Jacob Nakshian’s swan song.

Jacob Nakshian leaves his daughters Laura Ward and Elizabeth, and son William; grandchildren Helen and Nathan Ward, Jacob and Rachel Nakshian; nieces Gloria Casparian, Dr. Sonia Ketchian; nephew Philip Ketchian and wife Dr. Elsa Ronningstam; cousins (nephews of Leo Sarkisian) Charles Sarkisian and Steven Sarkisian, Ed and Ralph Flori. Among his many cousins are Dr. Stanley Surabian and Helen Beth Noorigian Krispien. Sisters Elmas Bedrosian and Bertha Ketchian, and brother Charles Nakshian predeceased him; as did first cousins Arshaluis Hoogasian, Araxi Sarkisian, Akabi Sarkisian (mother of Leo Sarkisian), and Teresa Noorigian; cousins Peniamin Noorigian (the eminent Armenian-American writer and editor) and Zaven “Jack” Noorigian; and niece Anna Kayarian and grand-niece Carol Casparian.

The post Dr. Jacob S. Nakshian, Jr.: An Appreciation appeared first on Armenian Weekly.


By Sonia I. Ketchian Dr. Jacob Sarkis Nakshian, Jr., of Attleboro, Mass., who died on Jan. 4, 2015, was the younger son born on June 17, 1927, in Providence, R.I., to Jacob Nakshian, Sr., who founded a chapter of the Armenian General Benevolent Union in Rhode Island early in the 20th century, and Armenian Genocide survivor Altoon Noorigian Nakshian. Dr. Jacob Sarkis Nakshian, Jr. Jacob (called Argie by his neighborhood friends) belonged to that generation of American-born youngsters who, in the words of Prof. James Russell of Harvard University, never knew their grandparents. Father Jacob made certain his two little sons Charlie and Argie were well integrated in their American environment, and every Saturday used to send older sister Bertha to the movies with them. The boys spent summers in Lowell, Mass., at the home of their then-married sister Bertha Ketchian and Tzolag “Harry” Ketchian, where they made friends with many young people, played baseball at the Lowell Common (with their father’s cousins Jacob, whose daughter Karen Guregian is a sportswriter for the Boston Herald, and Jerry Guregian, and neighbors, the Manoian brothers, one of whom was Howard Manoian of Normandy fame), admiringly played games with their little Lowell niece [...]

The post Dr. Jacob S. Nakshian, Jr.: An Appreciation appeared first on Armenian Weekly.


By Sonia I. Ketchian Dr. Jacob Sarkis Nakshian, Jr., of Attleboro, Mass., who died on Jan. 4, 2015, was the younger son born on June 17, 1927, in Providence, R.I., to Jacob Nakshian, Sr., who founded a chapter of the Armenian General Benevolent Union in Rhode Island early in the 20th century, and Armenian Genocide survivor Altoon Noorigian Nakshian. Dr. Jacob Sarkis Nakshian, Jr. Jacob (called Argie by his neighborhood friends) belonged to that generation of American-born youngsters who, in the words of Prof. James Russell of Harvard University, never knew their grandparents. Father Jacob made certain his two little sons Charlie and Argie were well integrated in their American environment, and every Saturday used to send older sister Bertha to the movies with them. The boys spent summers in Lowell, Mass., at the home of their then-married sister Bertha Ketchian and Tzolag “Harry” Ketchian, where they made friends with many young people, played baseball at the Lowell Common (with their father’s cousins Jacob, whose daughter Karen Guregian is a sportswriter for the Boston Herald, and Jerry Guregian, and neighbors, the Manoian brothers, one of whom was Howard Manoian of Normandy fame), admiringly played games with their little Lowell niece [...]

The post Dr. Jacob S. Nakshian, Jr.: An Appreciation appeared first on Armenian Weekly.


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