AYF Camp’s Beloved Digin Eugen–Eugenig Bartoomian Passes Away

The board of the Armenian Youth Federation Camp announced on Friday that the camp’s beloved cook, Digin Eugen—Eugenig Bartoomian—passed away after an illness.

Funeral services for Bartoomian will be held on Friday, August 18 at 12:30 p.m. at Eternal Valley Memorial Park, 23287 Sierra Highway in Newhall. On Thursday, August 17, a viewing service will take place at 7 p.m. at St. Garabed Armenian Church, 1614 N. Alexandria Avenue in Hollywood.

Eugenig Bartoomian was born on July 7, 1929 in Aleppo to Vahan and Siranoush Bartoomian and was their first child.

Her mother Siranoush was survivor of the Armenian Genocide and grew up in a refugee camp in Aleppo. After marrying Vahan Bartoomian, they were blessed with four children, Eugenig, Genevieve, Khachadour and Hagop.

Siranoush always wanted her daughter to receive a higher education, just like the students at Aleppo College, where she worked. As such, Eugenig enrolled at the college. However, one year later, due to financial constraints she was unable to continue. When at the start of the school year, Eugenig was not enrolled in the 7th grade, an American representative of the school visited the family and found out that Vahan, Eugenig’s father, was a carpenter, thus agreeing that Eugenig will continue attending the school until he high school graduation and offered Vahan a job at the school.

She graduated Aleppo College with high academic honors and chose teaching as a profession. She worked one year as a teacher at the Zavarian school in Aleppo on a volunteer basis, then continued teaching at the Vartanian school for eight years.

While in Aleppo, Eugenig also brought her talents to the stage and was cast in two operettas.

In 1958, she and her family relocated to Damascus, where she continued teaching at the Zavarian school there, as well as the Armenian Catholic school, specializing in English and mathematics.

In 1967, Eugenig and her family relocated to Beirut, where she continued her teaching career until 1987 at the Armenian Evangelical Chamlian School.

At the height of the Lebanese civil war, Eugenig and her family relocated to the United States, establishing themselves in California.

She has had a life-long supporter of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation and from 1987 to 2017 she worked at the AYF Camp managing the kitchen, which would later be named after her. She tirelessly worked to provide well-balanced meals to the campers and other who used the AYF Camp facilities.

In the beginning, she worked alongside long-time AYF Camp manager, the late Khajag Shitilian. She leveraged her years in education to interact with campers, counselors and staff alike and became a wise mentor to generations of AYF Camp attendees.

Her generosity saw no bounds and, throughout her life, she cared for those less fortunate, sick and assisted them in their needs.