Son recalls father’s life

Alecia Foster

GLENDALE -- Sarkis Sarkissian stepped outside his family’s restaurant

on Glenoaks Boulevard in the late hours of April 29 for some fresh air.

A few moments later, he was joined by his father, Sebooh, who gave him

“five” and sat down next to him.

“We clasped hands for a couple of seconds,” Sarkis remembered.

At that moment, the 17-year-old said he felt like everything was going

well for his family -- they were a strong unit, their chain of Anoush

Family Restaurants were doing well and they were having a house built

high in the Verdugo Mountains overlooking Glendale.

A few hours later, everything changed.

Sebooh, who had remained at the party a little longer than the rest of

his family, was killed by an alleged drunken driver on his way home.

“Our team captain is gone,” Sarkis said of his father, who also left

behind his wife, Gayane, and two other sons, Vrej, 25, and Daniel, 10.

The 48-year-old Sebooh Sarkissian was born in Armenia, where his

appreciation of arts and literature flourished. Gayane’s fondness of the

same things drew the two together. Both were studying at the University

of Foreign Languages of Armenia, Sarkis said.

The two moved to America in the late 1970s and their love for the arts

came with them.

Their Anoush restaurants, two of which are in Glendale, were named

after a character in a tragic Armenian love story. There, a number of

Armenia’s top artists were invited to perform or showcase their works.

Sarkis said that recently, his father began writing poetry again,

something he frequently did in his youth. A number of those poems have

been published in the Absarez Armenian Newspaper, he said.

“Education was a really big thing to him,” Sarkis remembered.

His three sons are living with the fact that their father will not be

able to see them graduate this year -- Vrej from law school, Sarkis from

high school and Daniel from elementary school.

A rosary will be held for Sebooh at 7 p.m. Monday at Forest Lawn,

Hollywood Hills Hall of Liberty. Memorial services will be at 1 p.m.

Tuesday in Forest Lawn’s White Church. Family and friends will gather at

Anoush Family Restaurant on 1320 Glenoaks Boulevard following the

ceremony.