I would like to adjourn tonight’s meeting in memory of Ruby Sohikian [SO-hik-ee-an], a devoted mother and friend who passed away in her sleep after a long and full life.
Ruby was the dear mother of our great friend, Arthur Sohikian, who is the Executive Director of the North County Transportation Coalition.
Each of us on the City Council knew of Ruby through our friendship and work with Arthur, and we know how truly loved she was by every person in her life.
Ruby was born in Nottingham, England in 1924 and moved to Istanbul, Turkey as a child to live with her aunt.
She attended Armenian schools and became fluent in several languages, including French, Armenian and Turkish.
Those skills landed Ruby the opportunity to move to the United States in the 1950s to become an interpreter.
She met the love of her life, Penyamin [PEN-ya-min], at an Armenian dance in New York City.
The pair started their life together on Long Island, where they raised two children – John and Arthur.
Throughout her life, Ruby never stopped putting her family and community first, working to ensure her children took advantage of every opportunity to succeed.
While we join in mourning the loss of such a beautiful soul, we are comforted knowing she left this world peacefully.
We will miss Ruby and our thoughts are with Arthur, his brother John and the entire Sohikian family.