Marilyn Gazarian Passes Away

Marilyn Gazarian passed away on Thursday, June 14, on the island of Martha’s Vineyard. She was 93 years of age.

Born Marilyn Dorothy Edwards on August 18, 1924 in Arlington, MA, she was the daughter of Frank & Harriet Edwards, and youngest sister of Dorothy Edwards (who died of diptheria) & Rayna Edwards McCullough (who passed away in 1999). In her early 20s she married Edward Gazarian, of Somerville. They had two sons, Edward Michael & Frank Raphael. Her husband – “Big Ed” to his mates – was a chemist who served his country as an infantryman during the second World War, following which he succumbed to complications of damage done to his body, passing into rest in 1953.

Widowed with two young sons at the age of 29, Marilyn soldiered on. Steadfast in her independence, enduringly kind, and utterly devoted to her boys, Marilyn worked for many years at Edgerley & Bessom Funeral Home in Reading, MA, alongside loving & supportive friends. In the years that followed, she worked for Crimson Travel as a desk agent & eventually found her way back to Edgerley & Bessom (at which time she promptly signed her Grandson up for his first job, as the groundskeeper of that establishment). Through the reinventions that punctuated her life, her independence, kindness & devotion endured. Her faith in God, her love of music & art, and her fierce love for her family carried her through both hard & happy times.

She is survived by her sons, Edward Michael & Frank Raphael, their wives Berjouhi & Karen, her grandson Edward & his wife, Nairi, and her niece Rosalind McCullough Boyle. She lives on in their memories, always.
Family & friends will gather in honor & remembrance of Marilyn’s life during visiting hours at Douglass, Edgerley & Bessom Funeral Home in Reading, MA on Friday, June 22, from 6:30 – 8:30. Funeral services will be held the following morning, Saturday, June 23, at 11 a.m. Interment to follow at Forest Glen Cemetery, also in Reading.