Helen Paloian as a young child was in orphanage in Armenia. Paloian — then Helen Kherdian — wandered the streets, begging for food and shelter. She witnessed Ottoman Turk soldiers raid her village and deport the locals, just before the Armenian genocide began in 1915.

During those killings, she briefly found refuge in an Armenian church but fled when she learned Turkish soldiers planned to burn it. She later moved into an orphanage and finally her cousin found her and brought her to Racine, Wis., in the mid-1920s.

Born in 1906, Paloian does not remember how her parents died. During the slaughter, two of Paloian’s two older brothers were exiled and a third brother left for the U.S. Later on, she briefly reunited with the third brother but never heard from the other two again.

Left on her own, Paloian lived on the streets until she was rescued by a woman from an orphanage, where she stayed until the end of World War I. After the war ended, the orphanage moved to other countries, like Syria and Lebanon. Paloian followed.

By chance, an American cousin of Paloian’s named Jacob Hardy found out she was living in Greece . He decided  to travel to Greece to bring her back to the U.S. with him. Chicagoan originally from Armenia,  Zadig, agreed to travel to Havana to wed Paloian, mainly to ease her entry into the U.S.

“She was obviously very blessed … with a strong mind and spirit,” said her granddaughter Marianne Ajemian, when asked what has made Paloian live this long. “She loved life and she loved helping people … and I don’t think she ever wanted to say goodbye.”

On Sunday St. Gregory the Illuminator Armenian Church honored the 107-year-old, believed to be one of the tragedy’s last survivors, for her strength, perseverance and faith in God.

Source - chicagotribune.com