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Fresno: Fresnan had farming in his blood

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  • Fresno: Fresnan had farming in his blood

    Fresnan had farming in his blood
    By Jim Steinberg / The Fresno Bee11/17/06 04:43:29

    Fresno Bee, CA
    Nov 17 2006

    More informationKeith Harry Avedisian
    Born: June 18, 1949
    Died: Nov. 13
    Occupation: raisin grower
    Survivors: wife Linda; daughters Stacy and Laurie Avedisian; son
    Michael Avedisian; mother Eleanor Avedisian

    Keith Harry Avedisian of Fresno carried on the raisin-growing tradition
    that his family planted in the rich soil near Fowler after escaping
    Ottoman massacres of Armenians early in the last century.

    Mr. Avedisian died Monday of cancer after what his family called an
    inspiring effort to survive. He was 57.

    He was diagnosed in September 2005, when he was told to expect only a
    few months of life. More than 100 people - family and friends - joined
    recently to help celebrate his full year of life after his diagnosis.

    Mr. Avedisian was born in Fresno to Harry and Eleanor Avedisian.

    Harry Avedisian's father, George, had fled Armenia for the San
    Joaquin Valley. He began farming, as his ancestors had done in the
    old country. Mr. Avedisian carried the family name and farmed the
    family land.

    "It is very important to old-time Armenians," daughter Stacy Avedisian
    said. "The one with the name gets the farm. He had a brother who wasn't
    interested at all. My father loved everything about farming. He took
    high school agriculture classes, pruning classes. I think it was just
    something in his blood."

    Mr. Avedisian had worked earlier for a bridge construction company
    but knew his heart remained in working the soil, Stacy Avedisian
    said. He married his wife, Linda, in 1977 and quit his construction
    job the next year.

    The Avedisians lived in the first home built in their area of Selma,
    but the construction of more homes left Mr. Avedisian feeling too
    urban.

    "He felt cramped," his daughter said. "He didn't like city life"
    in Selma.

    "He needed to be on the farm. He loved that. He was not one to lie
    out on the beach. He could lie out in his field."

    Mr. Avedisian's aunt Ruby Abajian said the family came first to
    Lonestar, then to Fowler, where they farmed from 1910 on.

    Mr. Avedisian had a great-uncle who farmed near Lonestar.

    "They had done farming in Armenia," Abajian said. "It was familiar,
    and they picked it up in the United States.

    "When our family started out, we had no tractors. We used horses. It
    was primitive. Years went by, and we put in wells. They used to dig
    wells by hand, just one fellow with a shovel and a pipe of some kind.

    It was hard, but they made it."

    Mr. Avedisian's brother Darrell, an Ivanhoe pharmacist, died in July
    2005. Their father died on July 30.

    "I've had my share of crying," Abajian said. "I'm just trying to
    be strong."

    A service will begin at 10 a.m. Friday in Immanuel Lutheran Church
    in Easton.

    The family requests that any remembrance be sent to the church,
    5955 S. Elm Ave., Fresno, CA 93706, or to a favorite charity.
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