s
■
Maggie: Âzmikaelian listens to in
terviewer’s questions.
IK
Staff photo bv Duffy Coffman
It’s a chance to start a new life*.”
nion with her family.
rmenian starts new life here
By Amy DeVour
Of The Print
■¿aggie Azmikaelian had liv
ed in Tehran, Iran, all her life.
But like many other Armenians
living in Iran, she and her hus-
band. Gena, decided to im-
rwgrate to the U.S. three years
52 American citizens hostage.
All visas were either frozen or
cancelled, and the couple was
separated from their children.
Not until a year and half later,
shortly before the hostages
were released, would the cou
ple see their children again.
1°'
Regarding the hostage situa
■Maggie, visiting here on a
■irist visa, brought her' two tion she^reflected, “I couldn’t
children into the U.S., enrolled believe it, it was so very
them in schools in the serious.” Like so many others,
■ackamas County area, and Maggie and her mother watch
Burned to Iran to help her ed the television anxiously for
■sband finalize the paperwork word of the official release of
■eded to complete the im- the hostages. Maggie stated
^■jration. Her son, now 8, she was very relieved and felt
Md her daughter, now 14, liv somewhat ashamed about the
ed in the care of Maggie’s situation, but pointed out, “It
Bjther, Zaghik Galestian. who was the government’s doing,
not the people themselves.”
is p C.C.C. student.
Maggie, a former secretary
■Routinely, the Azmikaelians for the National Oil Company
filed for their immigration in Iran, called her children
■pers. Then, not so routinely, every week during the long
the revolutionaries in Iran took separation. Maggie recalled
that they showed little emotion
during the long months apart.
But when Maggie and Gerra
walked off the plane at the
Portland Airport last Friday,
they were greeted by anything
but veiled emotion. “My
daughter was crying but my
son just laughed and laughed.”
Maggie’s mother and brother
were also there to welcome
them.
Her brother, an American
citizen, helped a great deal in
securing the visas. It was two
months ago that Maggie receiv
ed a telephone call from her
brother, saying the immigration
papers had been sent to
Frankfurt, Germany. The
elated couple flew to Frankfurt
and then to the U.S., arriving
last Friday.
Maggie recalls life under the
Shah as “content.” “Everything
was good, there were no pro
blems.” When asked whether
the decision to immigrate
would have been different if
they hadn’t had children, she
answered, “I don’t know, we
only though^ in terms of the
children.” She stated further
that they wanted good schools
for their children that they had
not found in Iran.
Maggie would like to go back
to school and learn more
English. She also plans to
return to work after she and
Gerra get reacquainted with
’their children.
Maggie said the most impoir-
tant reason she likes the U.S. is
the security it has to offer. “We
feel safe here,” she related.
“It’s a chance to start
again, a new life!”
hew machine
fhop teacher
■Twenty-five years of
■achine shop experience truly
Halify machine orientation in
Hu ctor, Jim Burrows, to.
Rach.
Burrows has lived in the
U.S. for 19 years and began his
apprenticeship at the young
age of 15 in Glasgow,
Scotland. He has been
teaching at the College for
three weeks and will probably
continue teaching Whisenant’s
class until the end of winter
■ The 40-year-old Scotsman term. “So far I’ve enjoyed it,”
Hally enjoys teaching and feels he said. His very rich Scottish
Hsitively about his. students, accent hasn’t proved a pro
Hmmenting, “I think I have a blem, either.
■Burrows is teaching in place
■ Ernie Whisenant who is on
Hk leave.
Hry good rapport with the
Hidents.” Besides substituting
for Whisenant, Burrows also
has his own machine orienta-
tfcn class. He believes his
The former Army Reserve
sergeant is married and has two
children: Burrows’ mother,
father and brother still live in
Scotland. Although he has
■aching methods are approx-
■nately the .same as
Whisenant’s, although he has
■ver met the man he is replac-
Bc
many Scottish and American
friends in the U.S., he yearns
for his friends in his own coun
try. “It’s not the place I miss, it’s
the people,” he said.
Wednesday, January 28, 1981
Jim Burrows
Photo by Brenda Feltman
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Colors by Munsell Color Services Lab