Happy 99th Birthday Uncle Marty!!!

Happy Birthday to a wonderful man - Marty Kaprelian!

Uncle Marty Celebrates his 99th birthday today!  Can you believe it?!  We are so lucky to have him in our lives, he's a true treasure.  Having never met either of my grandfathers, I consider myself blessed to have had the chance to develop such a wonderful relationship with Uncle Marty (he's really my great uncle - in all senses of the word).  Uncle Marty has lived through many many things in his lifetime, I cannot even imagine what it must be like to have experienced so much change!

He was born in the back of a shoemaker's shop...and has seen the world through industrialization, war, peace, prosperity, depression, technology and so much more.  A man who once as a kid sold newspapers on the street corners in Chicago, who acted in community plays in Milwaukee, who made gin in his bathtub during prohibition, who served in the United States Navy and countless other amazing things.  I wish I could write an elegant snapshot of his life thus far, but Uncle Marty leaves me practically speechless. 

What can we say, except for maybe "Hip Hip Hooray!  Happy Birthday Uncle Marty!!!"

Some more photos taken by my mom at his family birthday celebration this past Saturday:

Family Picnic Day!!!

Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer
Those days of soda and pretzels and beer....

Happy family picnic day for the Sergenians!  I hear it's going to be a smaller turnout this year, but I hope that it's a nice picnic none-the-less.  If anyone gets pictures, please send them to me and I will post them on the blog here.

Send Me Your Father's Day Photos!

I would love to post some photos of the family's father's day celebrations, send them to me if you have them!


-Silva

Summer Time Fun

Ron, Sarah, Rachel and John at the Cabin

Sarah Says: "We had a blast, but John and I were terrified of the water. We said numerous times that we 'drowned' there after falling into one foot deep water of the pier. Looking back I realize this could NOT have been much of a vacation for my parents!"

Thanks to Sarah for posting this on her facebook :D Thought we could share it around the internet.

Grace's Graduation from Basic Training!

Grace is super hugged by Mom after the Family Day presentation.

I left Wednesday to go to Fort Sill Oklahoma to see my younger sister Grace Graduate from basic training. Mom and Mariam and I met at the airport in Dallas and flew in to Oklahoma City together. Thursday morning there was a brief program for the families, with skits of what the soldiers in training had been doing each week.


Here they are demonstrating how they prepared to go into the gas chamber.

After all of the skits the soldiers were released for the day to spend with their families. This mostly involved eating and picture taking. Grace's "Battle Buddy" Savard joined us for the two family days since his family was unable to make it to Oklahoma from Rhode Island. We had a lot of fun with the two of them.


Grace and Savard (first name is Frank) in the car on our way off the base.

As I said before, the day involved going out for a nice lunch, driving around the beautiful city of Lawton, OK and getting more food and coffee (this is missed on base) and red bull (I've never seen people drink so much red bull, but apparently the soldiers in training are very sleep deprived!). We had to have the two of them back at the base by 8:00pm.

The next day there was the Graduation ceremony at the McMahon Auditorium in Lawton. We arrived and all of the soldiers were already seated in the auditorium. They had strict instructions not to acknowledge the presence of anyone, looking only straight ahead. Something Grace later said was very strange and zoo-like because so many people were taking pictures.


Grace with her fellow C Battery graduates.


Captain David Leibovich, Battery Commander


Grace's Drill Sergeants - Gonzalez (left) and Alaniz (right)

After the ceremony we took the mandatory gajillion photos. Here you can see Grace next to her Drill Sergeant Gonzalez.



A nice photo of Private Frank Savard











Later Grace took us back to her base and showed us around a bit. We got to see her bay (where they sleep) and some of the grounds where they do physical training. Including below, the Treadwell Tower.




Finally saying goodbye to mom and the rest of us....it had to end sometime.


She then fell in to formation with her battery.


One more shot of her Drill Sergeant - I swear this guy is right out of a movie!


And that concludes Private First Class Grace Sergenian's graduation from basic training. She's now off to Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas for 16 weeks of Advanced training. Congratulations Grace!

Videos posted here: http://postcardsandsnapshots.blogspot.com/2011/06/graces-graduation-videos.html

Happy Memorial Day

To those who serve and those who served before them, Happy Memorial Day! Let me know if I've missed anyone else in the family.


Marty - served in the Navy


Bob - served in the Army


Ara Jr. - served in the Army


Marsh - served in the Army


Ron - served in the Army


Tommy - served in the Army (thanks Sarah for letting me steal this off your facebook ;) )


Grace - just enlisted in the Army - will graduate from Basic on June 9th, 2011 (sorry, the blurry photos is the best one I have!)

Presenting: Archie and Alice: An Illustrated History of the Sergenians and Kaprelians

Archie and Alice by Silva Sergenian | Make Your Own Book

I would like to share with you all the culmination of over a years work on the family history project. I don't even know where to start. This project has been a long time in the making, and even now with the printed book I still don't feel it is entirely "done". Working on this family history project has been an enriching experience, one that has allowed me to learn so much about our family - a family I could not be prouder to be a part of. All of the photos, the documents, and the stories have painted a picture so rich and textured, that I hope I did it even one tenth the justice it deserves. I cannot thank my aunts and uncles enough for what they've contributed to this project, but more so for what they have contributed to make this family what it is. I have a great deal of admiration for each of them - the love and concern that they hold for each other, for all that they have accomplished in their lives, and for the families they have raised.

This project took a tremendous amount of time - something my very patient and loving husband can certainly attest to. But there is one clear point to make - every minute, every hour I put into this project was more than worth it. This project has been it's own reward for me. I am excited to share this book with you! I will mention now that I had to stop somewhere - or else this book might have become a mighty tome. As it is, I am sure I have enough material for a volume two. SO you will see that there are not many photos of the great-grandchildren of Ara and Alice, and there are not many photos of the grandchildren beyond the high school years. Maybe I will make a volume two...or maybe I will continue posting the extra stories, documents and photos here on this blog.

The book has chapters covering the arrival of Alice and Ara's families to the United states, their marriage, their family throughout the years, and a chapter for each of their children and the families they have, with a final chapter about the business.

The book is available for purchase now, but only in the larger size. I would suggest waiting to purchase a book until I can put a slightly revised version up (I have found a typo or two that I would like to correct, and I have gotten a few extra Sergenian's business related items from Tom), and then you will be able to purchase either an 11x13" book for about $120, or an 8x10" book for about $60. I will make an updated post once the book is ready for purchase.

I hope you enjoy!!!

-Silva

Some Intersting Stuff on the Horizon

Just a text post - there are some interesting things coming up on the horizon. We're about a week away from the debut of the family history book - so look back soon for the link to the online preview.

Also, I just received an interesting family treasure via the New York City Municipal Records...so keep on the look out for that too!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the Sergenian Mom's out there (and there's a lot of them!!!).

Happy Easter Weekend!

Have a Happy Easter Weekend Everyone!














The Original Layout in the Wisconsin State Journal.