Armenian-American Family History Traces Immigrant Experience
‘A Willingness of the Heart’
A personal essay explores one Armenian-American family's experience navigating between Old World tradition and American assimilation in the 20th century. The author reflects on memories of his immigrant grandparents, Levon Nazareth Bohjalian from Kayseri and Haigoohi Sherinian from Istanbul, who settled in Tuckahoe, New York, in the 1920s. Through family photographs and anecdotes, the piece chronicles how first-generation Armenians maintained cultural identity—playing traditional oud music, speaking Armenian at home—while simultaneously embracing American life. The essay describes summer vacations in Tannersville, New York's Catskills, where Armenian families from New Jersey and Manhattan would gather in modest cabins. The author uses these scenes to illustrate what F. Scott Fitzgerald called "a willingness of the heart," capturing the immigrant experience's inherent balancing act between heritage and belonging.
