California's Oldest Armenian Church Inaugurates 125th Anniversary Year

California’s oldest
Armenian religious institution will inaugurate its Quasquicentennial year with
a Memorial Day picnic at a matchless venue on the Fresno County Blossom Trail.

Members and friends of
Fresno’s First Armenian Presbyterian Church will mark the start of their 125th
Anniversary Year on Monday, May 30, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Hillcrest Tree
Farm, 6943 South Reed Avenue at Adams Avenue in Reedley, California, 16 miles
east of Freeway 99.

The public is invited
to attend the event, which will include complimentary barbecue kebab and hot
dog lunches, water slide bounce houses for children, a backgammon tournament,
and steam train rides for all ages.
Advance reservations may be made by calling (559) 237-6638 or visiting www.fapc.net.

Virtuoso musician Richard
Avedis Hagopian and his band will join the celebrants for an afternoon of ethnic
music and dancing. A native of rural
Fowler, California and proficient in more than 50 musical instruments, Hagopian
is best known as a Master of the Oud, a lute-like instrument. He gained fame as
part of the Kef Time Band, which played a style of dance music popular among
the Armenian-American communities throughout the United States for the past
half century.

Hillcrest Farm is the
oldest Christmas Tree Farm in the San Joaquin Valley of California. Founded in
1960 by Ed and Bonnie Toews, the Farm includes the Hillcrest & Wahtoke
Railroad, a five-inch scale/15-inch narrow gauge railway with live steam
locomotives and a host of gondolas and stock cars. U.S. Air Force Veterans Sean
and Melissa Bautista are the current proprietors of the Farm, Shops, and 1.2
mile Railroad.

Forty immigrants from
Marsovan chartered the First Armenian Presbyterian Church in a rented Fresno
hall on July 25, 1897. Succeeding generations served in the United States
military during World Wars I and II, the Korean conflict, and in Southeast
Asia. The congregation’s picnic tradition began with turn-of-the-century
Decoration Day gatherings at The Hills, Fresno Beach on the San Joaquin River,
Tarpinian Ranch, and Chateau Fresno Park.

The custom of placing
flowers on the graves of the war dead began on May 5, 1866 in Waterloo, New York.
In 1868, General John A. Logan, Commander in Chief of the Grand Army of the
Republic, declared May 30 a day for decorating the graves of dead comrades with
flowers. He closed his order by stating: “Let no ravages of time testify to
coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and
undivided Republic.”

The boyhood Church of
Authors William Saroyan and A.I. Bezzerides, FAPC is a member congregation of
the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) and the Armenian Evangelical Union of
North America (AEUNA). Reverend Gregory Vahack Haroutunian is the Senior
Pastor. The 2022 theme of the
congregation is: “Love God. Love Others.
Make Disciples.”