Oxford selectswoman shares memories of Armenian Genocide

PanARMENIAN.Net - Two of the 1.5 million Armenian Christians slaughtered by Turkish Muslims between 1915 and 1922 were grandparents of Oxford resident Alice Kulungian Walker, 85, the town's first female member of the Board of Selectmen. Others lost were uncles, aunts and cousins, Ellie Oleson writes in an article published by Telegram.

"I'm first-generation American. My parents escaped from Armenia. Their families didn't survive," Mrs. Walker said.

When she was honored with flowers at this year's annual town meeting for her years of service to this community, the town was recognizing the value of each individual, which was not recognized in Armenia a century ago, she said.

Mrs. Walker and her husband of 63 years, James H. Walker raised their four sons and multiple foster children and supplied the community with flowers and plants grown on their home farm, which came to be known as Walkers' Greenery.

Mrs. Walker also worked for a time at State Mutual Insurance Co. in Worcester. Mr. Walker worked many years for Sheppard Envelope in the city.

"My mother lost her parents and siblings. My father's uncle escaped to America. My father's mother was afraid to cross the ocean on a ship. Instead, she was forced to walk across the desert with the Turks and died there," Mrs. Walker said.

"My grandfather was a respected leader in his community. The Turks told him that if he would give up Jesus, they would let him live. He wouldn't, so they shot him. He could have survived if he'd renounced his Christian religion."

Her parents, David and Zevart Kulungian, were teenagers at the time. They were not slain, but were forced to work as slaves for the Turkish army.

One rainy night, Mr. Kulungian found some nearby encamped English and French soldiers.

"My father went to the soldiers and asked them to free the slaves. They did. My mother was put in a Red Cross orphanage in the mountains of Lebanon. There, the older children taught the younger children crafts and how to speak English," Mrs. Walker said.

Mrs. Kulungian already spoke her native Armenian and the Kurdish she'd learned while working as a slave, and eventually became fluent in five languages.

Young Zevart went to Marseilles, France with one of the older girls. There, she learned French from her foster family. Mr. Kulungian came to the United States.

Zevart remained in France until her future husband sent her money to join him in America.

Unfortunately, the marriage foundered when the family moved to Worcester.

"My father never had a childhood and didn't know how to treat children. He was very strong and didn't realize his own strength. It was hard for my older brother," Mrs. Walker said.

When Mrs. Kulungian became ill with tuberculosis and depression, 12-year-old Alice went to visit her in Worcester State Hospital.

"My mother told me not to come back. She didn't want us there with all the illness. I think she lived there a couple more years. I never saw her again. Zevart means 'happy' in Armenian. She was anything but," Mrs. Walker said.

She attended Oxford's public schools, where a junior high school civics class changed her life. "I wanted to be involved, to return the favor to this wonderful country, which is still saving people around the world," Mrs. Walker said.

When she graduated from Oxford High School in 1946, her father said he would not help fund a college education, since "girls are meant to marry."

Then Oxford High Principal Frank Sannalla, a coach at WPI, suggested she get a job at State Mutual.

She met Mr. Walker at Sunday school at the First Congregational Church, where he was the program head and she was a teacher.

"We had four boys, animals, fowl and ducks," Mrs. Walker said. The couple also took in 14 foster children, from infants to teens, "who were the hardest."

"It was painful economically. We only were given $1 per day per child. I understood, from eighth grade civics, that I had a right to speak up, and I did."

Her strongly worded letter was read on the floor of the Statehouse and funding for the foster care system was restructured.

In 1968, the family was struck by tragedy, when the couple's 16-year-old son, James H. Walker Jr., died in an industrial accident in an elevator.

The Walkers' other three boys survived and thrived, giving the couple four grandchildren.

Mrs. Walker served on the Economic Development and Industrial Commission, and often stayed at Town Hall for selectmen's meetings, where she took notes and shared information with the Telegram & Gazette reporter, sometimes being mistaken for a newspaper stenographer.

She attended training sessions for the commission, which taught her "courage and made sense."

This led to a run for a selectman's seat.

"I ran three times before I won. They didn't want a woman selectman," she said.

She served as the town's first selectwoman from 1983 to 1998. She also served as the town's representative and sole woman on the Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission and was an election worker, library trustee, and member of various other committees and boards. She also became a 4-H Club leader and local activist.

Mrs. Walker said she was happy to have served her community, and hopes people will remember the value of each and every individual.

"When Hitler began the Jewish holocaust, he said, 'Who remembers the Armenians?' when cautions were raised. If the slaughter of Armenians had been recognized, the Jewish holocaust wouldn't have happened. It should be remembered, so it never happens again."