Yerevan Peterson

Yerevan PETERSON

1928 - 2020

Yerevan (Sarkisian) Peterson, age 92 of Oxford, passed from this life on Friday, October 16. She was born on May 5, 1928, in Boston, Mass., the daughter of Sarkis and Azniv Sarkisian, both immigrants from Armenia. Yerevan grew up on Cypress Street, in Watertown, Mass., where her earliest memories were of life during the Great Depression and World War II.

After graduating from Watertown High School, Yerevan worked at Harvard University’s Baker Library. She also helped out at her father’s restaurant in Cambridge, where she met Spiro Peterson. They were married June 10, 1951, and moved to Oxford, Ohio, in 1952. There, Yerevan worked at Miami University, first as secretary to the Dean of Men and then as a cataloguer at Miami’s library.

In Oxford, Yerevan created a rich life of family, intellectual pursuits, and activism. Beyond raising her children in a loving home, she was an active research assistant to her husband and volunteer library technician in Miami University Libraries’ Special Collections. Yerevan helped to lead the Square Mile amendment to the Oxford Charter, which maintained the residential nature of the city, and the cleanup of the Alba Craft Laboratory Superfund site, which was important in assuring the health of Oxford’s citizens. Through that latter work, she became an active supporter of Oxford Citizens for Peace and Justice. She also was a member of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church from the early 1950s on. She lived her latter years at the Knolls of Oxford, and then at Friends Fellowship Community in Richmond, Indiana.

Yerevan is survived by daughters Ellen Dorothea (Yaqub) Salehi and Anastasia Lynne Peterson; son Andrew Townsend (Rosa) Peterson; granddaughters Megan and Mily; grandsons Hamed, Yama, Tamim, Kanishka, Khaled, and Daniel; great-grandchildren Kyle, Nadeia, Sophia, Leilani, Ava, Isaac, Khaleesi, and Danerys; and many good friends and neighbors. She is preceded in death by her husband, Spiro, sisters Anna and Doris, and brother, Harry. A memorial service will be held in the future, when the public health situation permits. In lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate donations to Friends Fellowship Community (Richmond, Ind.) or the Alzheimer's Association.

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