Hye Sharzhoom Armenian Action
Staff Report
A large collection of Armenian themed books and periodicals was received from the estate of the late June Shamshoian. Her daughter Janine Shamshoian Economides and husband Dr. Nicholas Economides made the generous donation in October of this year. The books will be incorporated into the Armenian Studies Program collection.
June Shamshoian was born on August 22, 1927, in San Francisco. Her parents were Haigaz “Harry” and Parantzem Paul. She had a brother, Peter, who died in the Battle of Okinawa in World War II, and a younger sister, Elaine, who passed before her.
June studied piano and played very well. She loved art, and was a good student. She attended the University of California, Berkeley, and was one of only three women students in the business department. She later graduated with a degree in business.
She met her future husband, John S. Shamshoian, while he was a student at Stanford University, and she was attending Berkeley, in a meeting of Armenian Students clubs. She and John married in 1953. June was a school teacher until her first child was born. June and John had three children, Janine, Gary, and Peter.
Always a very independent woman, after retiring, she enjoyed traveling to many countries, and to her mother’s native Kharpert and the regions of western Armenia.
June attended many of the Armenian Studies Program presentations and took courses as well.
She loved her friends and they cherished her, and her closest friends from her girlhood, her college years, and as a young mother remained extremely close throughout her entire life.