Kheboian/Mooradian
Arshalooys (Lucy) was born in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1927, the daughter of Melkon (Michael) Mooradian, who arrived to Providence in 1914 from Sivas, the capital of Sepastia, and Zemroot (Mary) Toulumjian; Melkon and Zemroot married in Providence in 1921. During Lucy’s childhood, the Mooradian family, including Lucy’s brother Moorad and sister Helen, moved to Whitinsville and settled on East Street. Lucy went to school in Whitinsville and loved going to the Prospect Theater to see the latest movies with her friends. When she graduated from Northbridge High School, she started work as a keypunch operator at Whitin Machine Works, and it was at the Shop where she would meet her husband, Charlie.
Garo (Charlie) Kheboian was born in New York in 1924 to Mgrditch Kheboian and Nevart Magakian who had eloped and immigrated to the United States in 1920 via Bulgaria. After Mgrditch passed away, Nevart remarried and moved with Charlie to Worcester, Massachusetts. After graduating from high school in Worcester, Charlie went to work at the Whitin Machine Works. After his service in the Army during WWII, Charlie returned to the Shop and met Lucy while working on the bolster job at the Shop in August 1945.
Charlie and Lucy married in Worcester in 1954, with several of Lucy’s friends and family from Whitinsville serving in their wedding party, including Ethel Asadoorian, Nora Asadoorian, and Helen Dagirmanjian as well as Charlie’s sister Beverly. They settled in Whitinsville on East Street, a few doors down from Lucy’s parents, and started their family. Gary was born in 1958, and Kenneth was born in 1961. In 1968, the family moved to 109 East Street where Lucy lives today, a few doors down from the original family home in Whitinsville.
While raising their family in Whitinsville, Lucy and Charlie kept close with their Armenian friends. Charlie would regularly attend Thursday evening kheyma nights in Worcester, while Lucy would enjoy regular card parties with Harriet, Annie and Sadie Malkasian, and Mary DeMarco.
Gary graduated from Northbridge High School and Assumption College and works as a travel manager; Gary married Patricia Fiore in 1985; they have 3 children, Maxwell, Alec and Sophia, and live in Stoneham.
Kenny graduated from Northbridge High School and Bryant College and works as a software developer; Kenny purchased his home on East street, a few doors from his mother.
Charlie worked at the Shop for 43 years and died in 1998; he is buried in Pine Grove Cemetery. Lucy has contributed her family photo album and recipe book to the Armenians in Whitinsville project; you can see her photos here and her recipes here.
