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Obituary for Harutun "Harry" G. Karian
Harutun George Karian - or Harry as he was known to everyone, died at U of M Hospital in Ann Arbor on Saturday, November 28, 2020. He passed away peacefully, surrounded by his loved ones. He is survived by his beloved wife of 55 years Joan, and his six children - Mardiros Karian, Marianne (Bob) Jones, Amy Karian, Katie Karian, Neil Karian, and Elizabeth (Theodore) Amundsen. He was also the very best grandfather to Anastasia Jones and Francesca, Julian, and Roman Amundsen. He was also survived by his younger brother Martin Karian.
His first name - Harrr-you-toon - means Resurrection in Armenian. He was a devoted husband, loving father and grandfather, son, brother, and mad scientist.
He was born on February 25, 1940 to Mardiros and Mary Karian, oldest of three kids (Harry, Rosemary, and Martin) and grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. After graduating high school, he got his B.A. degree in chemistry at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri in 1961 and then went north to attend DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois and accepted a full time job at Argonne National Lab in Lamont, Illinois. He and Joan met at an Irish dance in Chicago on March 8, 1964. They got married a year later on September 4, 1965. He got his master’s degree in physical chemistry from DePaul in 1967, before they moved to Ames, Iowa where he got his Ph.D. degree in physical chemistry from Iowa State in 1970.
He worked his whole way through college and graduated with no debt. After college, he was a research specialist for Dow Chemical in Midland, Michigan 1970-1973. He was a senior process engineer with Baker Perkins in Saginaw from 1973 to 1987. In 1987, he moved the family down to Brighton where he worked for Thermofil for many years and then finally Rhetech in Whitmore Lake. After his retirement in 2013, he began teaching part time at Lawrence Tech in Southfield, Michigan, He taught chemistry and lab for five years and though he worked harder than he did all the years as a research engineer, he loved teaching. He only retired from teaching in 2018 because he had been diagnosed with congestive heart failure.
The three primary things which truly identified his character all his life were that he was a man of faith, a man of learning, and he was a family man.
He had a strong devotion to the Infant of Prague from the time that he and Joan lost an infant daughter, Tamara, to a childhood illness. That devotion to the Infant guided him through his whole life and gave him strength every day as he and many others worked very hard to purchase and set up a chapel in Bay City, MI in honor of the Infant of Prague. This was a crowning accomplishment that he took pride in all his life.
His love of science, chemistry, math – these were things that brought a spark to his eye and skip in his step. He had this ALLGEEEBRA song that he would sing when it was time to help his kids with their homework in the evenings.
Family was the most important thing to him. He was happiest when he was surrounded by all of his loved ones. There were many Christmases and birthdays where the best part of it all was the joy of being together. He often was the one leading the laughter and fun. Anywhere he went, he never met any strangers. He took an interest in everyone and was always eager to share stories about his family with everyone.
Towards the last year or two of his life through the very end, he went out of his way to tell his family how much he loved and appreciated them. In every way, he was a very good man who lived a wonderful life and was adored by his family.
Funeral Mass will be held at St. Joseph's Church, 3521 4th St, Wayne, MI 48184, on Wednesday, Decemeber 2nd, 2020 at 11 AM, with gathering to begin at 9 AM. A Rosary will begin at 10:30 AM.
Reception will follow mass with light refreshments.
Interment at St. John's Catholic Cemetery in Howell will take place following.
Previous Events
Visitation
Wednesday
2
Dec
9:00 AM12/2/2020 9:00:00 AM
- 10:30 AM
12/2/2020 10:30:00 AM
St. Joseph Church
3521 4th St. Wayne, MI 48184
St. Joseph Church
3521 4th St.Wayne48184MI
United States
Service
Wednesday
2
Dec
10:30 AM12/2/2020 10:30:00 AM
- 11:00 AM
12/2/2020 11:00:00 AM
