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Married to Frederick Riley Blackwell (born 1925)
2020 Obituary :
In Loving Memory of Sonia Shiragian Blackwell
Guest ContributorMarch 6, 2020 / Last Updated: March 6, 20202
Sonia Shiragian Blackwell (1928-2020)
Sonia Shiragian Blackwell passed away at McLeod Hospice House on March 3, 2020, with her loving family by her side. She was born in New York, NY on February 22, 1928, the daughter of Kayane Ghazarian Shiragian and Arshavir Shiragian.
She grew up as a first-generation Armenian immigrant in Washington Heights, before it became famous as “The Heights.” She enjoyed an idyllic childhood, roaming her beloved Upper Manhattan with cousins and friends, exploring Fort Tryon Park and the Cloisters, roller skating everywhere, including to the corner store for a nickel ice cream treat.
After graduating from The Barnard School for Girls and earning the first place Latin Prize in the entire New York City school system, she attended Smith College and graduated in 1949 with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy. Her vocational passion was writing, and she worked for The Bergen Record (NJ) newspaper for several years after college where she was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. She always downplayed the nomination, stating plainly that “everyone is nominated.” She also worked as an Armenian language translator at the United Nations and published a short story in The New Yorker magazine about being Armenian in America. She helped her father Arshavir Shiragian write and translate his memoirs, The Legacy, about his role in avenging the Armenian Genocide, which was published in 1976.
In the early 1960s, she moved to Washington, DC to work with the senator from New Jersey. There she met and married Frederick Blackwell, her loving husband of 53 years, and with whom she started her third, and most fulfilling chapter: mother and grandmother, where her extraordinary goodness, compassion, brilliance and wry humor were always on display.
She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband and a beloved cousin, Robert Pehlivanian, who was like a brother to her. She is survived by her son Dr. Arshavir Blackwell of West Hollywood, CA; her daughter Elizabeth Blackwell Poston (Britt) of Florence, SC; and her daughter Pinky Blackwell Verma (Richard) of Bethesda, MD. She is also survived by cousins, again as precious to her as siblings: Vasken (Karen) Minassian of Bradenton, FL; John (Joanne) Pehlivanian of Bay Head, NJ; and Christine (Dr. Robert) Shamsey, of Sarasota, FL. Additionally, and to her the most treasured, she is survived by her five grandchildren, whom she adored and nurtured so well, and who in turn adored her: Colby and Cooper Poston and Zoe, Lucy and Dylan Verma.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/207608648/sonia-blackwell
Sonia Shiragian Blackwell
Birth
22 Feb 1928
New York, New York County, New York, USA
Death
3 Mar 2020 (aged 92)
Florence, Florence County, South Carolina, USA
Burial
Florence National Cemetery
Florence, Florence County, South Carolina, USA
Plot
20 - 20
Memorial ID
207608648 · View Source
Memorial
Photos 1
Flowers 1
Sonia Shiragian Blackwell passed away at McLeod Hospice House on March 3, 2020, with her loving family by her side.
She was born in New York, NY on February 22, 1928, the daughter of Kayane Ghazarian Shiragian and Arshavir Shiragian. She grew up as a first-generation Armenian immigrant in Washington Heights, before it became famous as “The Heights.” She enjoyed an idyllic childhood, roaming her beloved Upper Manhattan with cousins and friends, exploring Fort Tryon Park and the Cloisters, roller skating everywhere, including to the corner store for a nickel ice cream treat. After graduating from The Barnard School for Girls and earning the first place “Latin Prize” for excellence in Latin in the entire New York City school system, she attended Smith College, and graduated in 1949 with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy. Her vocational passion was writing, and she worked for The Bergen Record (NJ) newspaper for several years after college, where she was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. She always downplayed the nomination, stating plainly that “everyone is nominated.” She also worked as an Armenian language translator at the United Nations and published a short story in The New Yorker magazine about being Armenian in America.
She helped her father, Arshavir Shiragian, write and translate his memoirs, The Legacy, about his role in avenging the Armenian Genocide, which was published in 1976. In the early 1960s, she moved to Washington, DC to work with the senator from New Jersey. There she met and married Frederick Blackwell, her loving husband of 53 years, and with whom she started her third, and most fulfilling chapter: mother and grandmother, where her extraordinary goodness, compassion, brilliance, and wry humor was always on display.
She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, and a beloved cousin, Robert Pehlivanian, who was like a brother to her. Dylan Verma.
EVIDENCE TIMELINE
EVIDENCE TIMELINE
1952 (August 4)
https://www.nytimes.com/1952/08/04/archives/oriol-shiragian.html
Special to THE NEW YORK Times.
Aug. 4, 1952
Credit...
The New York Times Archives
See the article in its original context from
August 4, 1952, Page 18Buy Reprints
UNION CITY, N. J., Aug. 3— Miss Sonia Shiragian, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Arshavir Shiragian of Teaneck, was married here to- day to William E. Oriol, son of Mr. and Mrs. William F. Oriol of Paramus, in St. John's Protestant Episcopal Church. The ceremony was performed by Archbishop Tirayre of the Arme- nian Apostolic Church, assisted by the Rev. Aresen Simoniantz. The bride is an alumna of the Barnard School for Girls in New York and Smith College. She and her husband are on the staff of The Bergen Evening Record in Häckensack. Mr. Oriol was grad- uated from the Washington Square College of New York University.
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1965 divorce ... why is it listed in NEVADA ???
1965 divorce ... why is it listed in NEVADA ???
https://www.newspapers.com/image-view/1010599341/?match=1&terms=%22Sonia%20Shiragian%22
April 15 1973 Arshavir Shiragian obituary ..
https://www.newspapers.com/image-view/492983484/?match=1&terms=%22sonia%20shiragian%22
1976
Senate Committee on Aging
~avid A. Affeldt
/William E. Oriol
/Patricia G. Oriol
~rice Henderson, Adm. Asst to Senator Scott
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