STATE OF HAWAII - A GOOD FRIEND OF ARMENIANS
US politician, Head of the City Center and China Town of Honolulu (USA), Assistant of Senator Sam Slowm, Frank Lavoie and his Armenian wife Margaret Lavoie were the guests of "Azg" daily on June 26.
To recap, the State of Hawaii is the 42nd state of the United States that on April 7 of this year officially recognized the . Frank Lavoie and his wife made a very big contribution and put a lot of efforts to it.
Frank Lavoie first time visited Armenia in 1995 together with the Peace Corps members and gave lectures at the Gavar State University for two years. Here he met and married Margaret. A year later, they moved to Boston. In 1999, they moved to State of Hawaii, where Frank became the assistant of the Senator and community head. The Lavoies have a 7-year-old son and the family observes the traditions of both nations. Frank loves the Armenian cuisine.
When Frank was informed about the details of the 1915 , he began to collect information about the Armenian well-known artist of the 20th century, a witness to the Arman Tadeos Manukian who died in the State of Hawaii and whose paintings are kept in several museums. Aram Manukian, born in 1904 in Costandinopolis, moved to France and then Hawaii with his parents rescued from the Armenian massacres. Here in Hawaii he created his valuable canvases and was nicknamed "Van Gogh of Hawaii". Unfortunately, the young artist died of young age being famous not only in the State of Hawaii of 800.000 population, where 100 Armenian families live, but also in many other countries.
In April 2008, George Kassen was suggested by the US National Committee to prepare a document presenting the . The latter asked Frank Lavoie to prepare the document and set the issue at the parliament. In December of that year, Frank Lavoie presented the document at the parliament. The document presented well-known artist Arman Manukian's life and activities as one of the survivors and victims of the , who most of his life lived and created in the State of Hawaii. The mentioned fact played a major role in influencing the opinions of the 6 members of the House of Representatives. They agreed to present the document for discussion of the 50 members of the House. All the members of the House of Representatives unanimously voted for the document and on April 7, 2009, the Sate of Hawaii became the 42nd state of the USA that officially recognized the declaring April 24 as a Day of Remembrance in Recognition and Commemoration of the of 1915
By the way, Hawaii is the native state of the US President Barack Obama, who paid an official visit to Turkey on those days when the Hawaii House of Representatves adopted the document officially.
One of the purposes of the Lavoies' visit to Armenia is to meet the Catholicos of All Armenians. They want the Armenian Catholicos to present a Khachkar to the State of Hawaii that will be placed at the Central Square of Honolulu and the park will be named "Armenian".
- By Marietta Makarian, translated by L.H.
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