THE ARMENIANS OF ORANGE COUNTY : Family’s Identity Not Lost in America

Before Edward and Annahid Bulujian left Iran in 1965 and the cultural certainty of the huge Armenian community in Tehran, his sister gave him a stern warning.

“She didn’t even want us to go. She said America was one big melting pot. We would lose all our language, our faith, everything,” recalled Bulujian, a businessman who now lives in Irvine with his wife, Annahid, and their four children.

So the Bulujians took some precautions.

“We packed all the (Armenian language) books we could carry--our history, our literature, everything,” he said. “We would read the books to our children. We would teach the language ourselves if there were no Armenian schools.”

As things turned out for the Bulujians, after they arrived in Los Angeles County with their 2-year-old son, Razmik, they didn’t need the books that much after all.

They found a thriving, fast-growing Armenian immigrant community already in place, complete with newly established Armenian-language churches and schools.

And when Razmik was old enough, they put him in one of the regular weekday Armenian grade schools that teach Armenian language, history and literature, along with the standard state curriculum. His three sisters, all born here, soon followed: Violet, Hasmik and Meline.

Also, all four children became closely involved with youth cultural and social organizations in the Armenian immigrant community--and, they say, they are still as active as ever in those groups, including at the Forty Martyrs Armenian Apostolic Church in Santa Ana.

“It’s natural with us, not just because our parents want us to,” Razmik explained. A USC graduate in business administration, Razmik, now 27, is a stockbroker.

Besides, added Violet, 24, a graduate of UC Irvine in psychology, “a lot of our American friends feel families like ours are so lucky--because we have a strong ethnic heritage to fall back on.”

Also, like many of the other Armenian immigrant families in Orange County, the Bulujians are strong on political advocacy, especially Razmik, who is Orange County chairman for the Armenian National Committee.

He and his father have joined numerous rallies in Los Angeles backing the democratization movement in Soviet Armenia--where Edward was born and where both parents still have close relatives.

Nevertheless, immigrant parents like Edward and Annahid Bulujian have not let up their ethnic watch on their children.

“We know the longer they live in America, the greater the chance they may forget,” Edward explained as he sat with his family in the living room of their Irvine home.

He and his wife still insist that their children speak only Armenian to them. And they expect that when their children marry, it will be to someone of Armenian descent.

“Of course, we realize they have grown up here and they cannot help but be very Americanized,” said their father. “And, of course, we cannot force them to marry another Armenian. We can only suggest.”

Then Edward Bulujian looked across the room at each of the children. He didn’t say a word. But they got his message.