wfn.org | Notes about People

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6-November-1998 
98366 
 
    Notes about People 
 
    by Jerry L. Van Marter 
 
    On Oct.18, First Armenian Presbyterian Church of Fresno, Calif., paid 
tribute to the Rev. Bernard Guekguezian on the occasion of his 20th 
anniversary as pastor of the 100-year-old congregation. During his tenure, 
attendance at the church - the oldest Armenian religious institution in 
California - has quadrupled to an average of 400 each Sunday. 
    A native of Antioch, Turkey, Guekguezian studied at the American 
University of Beirut, Lebanon, and at the Near East School of Theology 
there.  After serving two years as a pastor in Egypt, he emigrated to the 
United States.  Having earned degrees at Fuller Theological Seminary and 
New York Theological Seminary, Guekguezian pastored churches in Worchester, 
Mass., and Paramus, N.J., before going to Fresno in 1978. 
 
                            # # # 
 
    CNN's "quote of the day" for Nov. 2 was by John Glenn, U.S. senator, 
space shuttle astronaut and Presbyterian elder: "To look out at this kind 
of creation out here and not believe in God is to me impossible.  It just 
strengthens my faith.  I wish there were words to describe what it's like." 
 
                            # # # 
 
    Shanthi Solomon, 78, founder of the Fellowship of the Least Coin (FLC), 
died Oct. 15 in Delhi, India. 
    It was the refusal of a visa by Korean authorities - preventing her 
from joining a delegation of church women - that led to her creation of the 
FLC in 1956.  Worldwide, women were asked to pray regularly for peace and 
reconciliation and to contribute the "least coin" of their currency each 
time they did.  FLC now distributes more than $300,000 annually to women's 
projects all over the world. 
    Solomon was a founding member of numerous ecumenical women's 
organizations in Asia and from 1970 to 77 served as vice president of the 
World Alliance of Reformed Churches, one of the first persons from the 
Southern Hemisphere to serve as an officer of that ecumenical body. 

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