Verdugo Views: Distinguished alum has Armenian heritage
Glendale native Paul Ignatius, retired Secretary of the Navy, will be honored at this year’s Glendale Educational Foundation event as a distinguished Hoover High alumnus.
Born in 1920, Ignatius grew up on Columbus Avenue in a Spanish-style house with a red tile roof and five apricot trees in the backyard; a reminder of a time when the entire area was covered in orchards, he wrote in his memoirs, published in 2000.
He started school at Field Elementary — a long walk, he recalled. Then Keppel opened in 1928 and he walked there with neighborhood friends. Not only did Ignatius attend Eleanor J. Toll Junior High, the woman for whom the school was named lived across the street on Columbus Avenue.
Growing up, he gave little thought to his Armenian heritage.
“There were no Armenian kids in our school except us,” he said of himself and his siblings. Nor could he speak the language. It wasn’t until much later that he focused on his family’s history and learned that both parents, Elisa Jamgochian and Hovsep Ignatius, were born in Armenia.
His maternal grandfather, Avedis Jamgochian, brought his family, including Elisa, to England in 1893 and they prospered there, but had to leave for health reasons.
They came to California in 1911. Jamgochian built a large house in Tropico and eventually invested in a soap factory, along with other business ventures. Elisa befriended a young photographer, Edward Weston, and gave him one of his first exhibits, “a small affair for family and neighbors.”
Ignatius’ father was 19 when he came to the United States in 1904, directly from “the old country,” with his three brothers. They settled in Pittsburgh, where they dropped the patronymic “ian” from their names.
When H.B. Ignatius, as he was later known, attended a Shriners’ Convention in Los Angeles in 1912, he looked up Jamgochian, well known for writing letters and poems in Armenian newspapers published in the United States. He was introduced to Elisa, decided to move to Glendale and they married a few years later.
During the aftermath of the massacres of 1915, H.B. Ignatius was asked to join the Near East Relief Committee, “the only Armenian in this distinguished group,” his son wrote. “Of all his many fundraising activities, this one gave him the most satisfaction.”
Paul Ignatius’ years at Hoover were very active. He was elected into leadership positions every year, served as class president twice and as president of the student body his senior year.
After graduating in 1938, he worked for a summer job at Warner Bros. Studios, then enrolled in USC, earned a master’s degree in business administration at Harvard Business School and served as a commissioned officer in the Navy during World War II.
He founded Harbridge House Inc., a Boston management consulting and research firm, and served as Secretary of the Navy from 1967 to 1969 under Lyndon Johnson, according to Wikipedia. He was honored last year when the U.S. Navy announced it was naming a naval vessel for him.
Ignatius treasures his years at Hoover. “I took advantage of almost every extracurricular activity,” and he has returned to Glendale to attend many of his class reunions.
--
Readers Write:
The Glendale Educational Foundation is honoring Paul Ignatius, Ron DePompa and Shant Sahakian at its annual “Dancing with Diamonds” event on Feb. 7 at the Glendale Hilton. For more information, call (818) 247-0466.
—
George W. Jamgochian, who was pictured along with his father, George A. Jamgochian, on Glendale’s 2007 Rose Float (Verdugo Views, Jan. 16) wrote, “Thank you for the newspaper article and photo of us on the 2007 Glendale float. It really cheered my Dad up.’’
The younger Jamgochian has vivid memories of that ride down Colorado Boulevard.
“As soon as we started moving at the regular parade speed, the bear started shedding its fur like crazy. The brown plant material over it started flying right off. I was worried we’d end up with a furless bear at the end!”
Fortunately, he added, “That didn’t happen.”
—
If you have questions, comments or memories to share, please write to Verdugo Views, c/o News-Press, 202 W. First St., Los Angeles, CA 90012. Please include your name, address and phone number.
