A SPECIAL 100TH BIRTHDAY AT ST. ILLUMINATOR’S CATHEDRAL

On Sunday, October 6, following the Divine Liturgy, St. Illuminator’s Cathedral in Manhattan celebrated the 100th birthday of parishioner Mary Dugan.
She is a special member of the St. Illuminator’s family. Born on October 8, 1924, in Granite City, Illinois and raised there, Mary Dugan settled in New York in the late 1950s and has been a faithful and devoted parishioner of the Cathedral ever since. She is also a fixture of St. Illuminator’s fellowship hour, where she has distinguished herself for the special and remarkable bond she has developed over the years with generations of young parishioners of the Cathedral.
In his remarks celebrating Mary, Armen Morian, chairman of the Board of Trustees, reflected upon the romantic narrative arc that unites the story of Mary’s remarkable life. Her story, he said, exemplifies the special role St. Illuminator’s played in the life of Armenians in America and the rebirth of the Armenian nation after the Genocide. Her parents were introduced to one another and married at St. Illuminator’s because of a special program undertaken by the Cathedral in its earliest years following the Genocide, to make matches between young Armenian women who had survived and were living in the orphanages of Lebanon and Syria and young Armenian men who had emigrated to the United States to work in the factories and mills of the industrial Northeast and Midwest.
In heartfelt remarks, Rev. Fr. Mesrob Lakissian, Pastor, reflected about Mary and her importance to the St. Illuminator’s family and expressed his appreciation for her example as a proud Armenian American. Der Mesrob also presented her with a gold cross blessed and gifted to her by His Holiness Catholicos Aram I, special congratulatory greetings from His Eminence Archbishop Anoushavan, Prelate, and a framed certificate honoring her birthday from the Pastor and Board of Trustees, and asked Our Lord to bless her with good health and much happiness in her 101st year and beyond.