The Eastern Diocese mourns the loss of Joseph Kalemkerian, of Trumbull, CT: an ordained deacon and lifelong devoted servant of the Armenian Church, who passed away in the company of his loved ones on April 30, at age 90.
Born to Genocide survivors, Joe grew up in Manhattan’s Inwood neighborhood, where he became active since his earliest days at the uptown Holy Cross Church. Under the tutelage of the late Fr. Arten Ashjian, Joe became an altar server, and subsequently a parish council member at that church, during its period of greatest flourishing.
He carried the legacy he had received there to St. Thomas Church in Tenafly, NJ, where Joe worked inseparably alongside such friends as Caspar Kasparian and George Mekenian. There, too, Joe and his wife Louise became deeply active in the leadership of the parish, under the pastorship of the late Fr. Arnak Kasparian.
The Kalemkerians were also very active at the then-young Diocesan Center in New York, for which Louise produced some of the seminal (and still utilized) Christian education publications of the Armenian Church in America. Joe’s professional work as a graphic designer also helped to define the emerging style of the expanding Diocese; the logotype he designed for St. Nersess Seminary, at Archbishop Tiran Nersoyan’s request, remains the visual identity of that institution.
But Deacon Joseph’s most consequential work involved his recruitment and training of a generation of altar servers in the New York-New Jersey region. Many went on to receive ordination themselves, as deacons and even priests. Most continue to serve in churches across the Diocese. All recall their mentor as a wonderful teacher, and a man they have looked up to throughout their lives.
Joe Kalemkerian was a devoted husband; proud father, grandfather, and uncle; loyal brother and friend; and humble follower of our Lord Jesus. In later life he dutifully attended St. Gregory the Enlightener Armenian Church in White Plains, NY, as well as St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Norwalk, CT, where his wife of half a century, Rev. Louise Kalemkerian, serves among the ordained clergy. He is survived by his wife and two daughters, his granddaughter, and seven nieces and nephews.
The funeral was held at the White Plains church on May 6. Memorial donations may be made to the Near East Foundation or the Connecticut Food Bank.
May our Lord remember his servant Dn. Joseph Kalemkerian on the day of his judgment.
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