4 RAPS SHEET n NOVEMBER 2023 GREGORY F. GOEKJIAN, who served Portland State for four decades as a professor of English, died October 3 in Portland. He was 81 years old. Professor Goekjian was born August 13, 1942, in Cleveland to Kenneth K. Goekjian, a veterinarian, and Florence Goekjian, née Kuntz, a homemaker. He had an older sister, Mary, and a younger sister, Valerie. His father was a survivor of the 1915 Armenian genocide in the former Anatolia, a region of modern-day Turkey, and was among the founders of St. Gregory of Narek Armenian Church of Cleveland. After graduation from high school in Shaker Heights, Ohio, Professor Goekjian enrolled at Northwestern University to study engineering. He changed his major to English and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1964. He completed a master’s at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in 1966, and a doctorate at the University of Pittsburgh in 1970. He joined the Portland State University English faculty the same year and remained at the University until his retirement in 2008. Upon retirement he was promoted to professor emeritus. Professor Goekjian taught literary criticism, poetry, 18th-century literature, and Milton. He also researched, wrote, and taught the literature of genocide. He authored articles on Milton, Derrida, and genocide, and was a visiting professor at Yerevan State University in Armenia and the West Sussex Institute of Higher Education in Britain. In 1999 he received the John Eliot Allen Outstanding Teaching Award. With other emeriti faculty members, Professor Goekjian helped establish the Holocaust and Genocide Studies Project in 2012. He served on the project’s advisory board, brought speakers to Portland State, and presented in other instructors’ classrooms on the Armenian genocide. Off campus, his involvement with the Armenian community included lobbying for Armenian causes, securing medical equipment and supplies for Armenia after the 1989 earthquake, and helping found the Armenian Community Organization of Oregon and Washington. Professor Goekjian was also an accomplished work worker, a skill he taught himself while working on his parents’ second home in the countryside near Cleveland. In retirement he built toys, furniture, and cabinets for family and produced several pieces for St. Kevork Armenian Church, of which he was among the founders. Professor Goekjian was married three times: to Anne Sease; to Gretchen Brown, with whom he had two children, Ben and Mary; and to Jane, who survives him. He is also survived by his son and daughter; a sister, Valerie Zahirsky (Rev. Michael); a niece, a nephew, six grandchildren, two step-grandchildren, a grandniece, and a grandnephew. Remembrances may be sent to St. Kevork Armenian Church, 9215 SE Church Street, Clackamas OR 97015. In memoriam: Gregory F. Goekjian, 1942-2023 2 0 2 3 RAPS ANNUAL HOLIDAY BRUNCH Thursday, December 7 n Refreshments at 10:30 a.m. n Brunch at 11 a.m. AUGUSTANA LUTHERAN CHURCH n 2710 NE 14TH AVENUE n PORTLAND You’re invited to the RAPS Annual Holiday Brunch, Thursday, December 7, at Augustana Lutheran Church, 2710 NE 14th Avenue, Portland. Please enter the church through the NE 15th Avenue door, which opens at 10:30 a.m. Nearby on-street parking is usually plentiful, and TriMet line 8, Jackson Park /NE 15th serves the location. Cheryl’s on 12th will provide a delightful buffet brunch. Our usual array of mimosas and assorted wines is served at 10:30 a.m., and brunch is served at 11 a.m. The brunch is $30 per person. To reserve your spot, please contact the RAPS office at or 503-7253447. Mail your check by Saturday, December 2; make your check payable to the PSU Foundation and write “RAPS Holiday Brunch” on the memo line. Mail to RAPS, Portland State University, PO Box 751, Portland OR, 97207-0751. See you there!
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc4NTAz