Obituary: Lori Ayanian, 77, Former Matawan Board of Education Member

The following was submitted by Day Funeral Home: 

Lori (Chesna) Ayanian died of complications of heart disease on Nov. 19, 2013 at the age of 77.   

A resident of Matawan, New Jersey since 1963, she was born on June 10, 1936 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. She received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from Syracuse University in 1959, where she was elected to the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing.   

She and her husband of 54 years, Zaven S. Ayanian, MD, were married on June 6, 1959 in Syracuse, New York. She worked as a nursing instructor at the Robert Packer Hospital in Sayre, Pennsylvania before she and her husband moved to Matawan to join Matawan Medical Associates and raise their family.  

Mrs. Ayanian was a strong supporter of public education as a path to opportunity and of lifelong learning through public libraries. Her first job as a teenager was in the Scranton public library. She was an avid and wide ranging reader who enjoyed daily visits to the public library in Matawan. She served as a member of the Matawan-Aberdeen Board of Education, President of the Broad Street Elementary School PTA, board member of the Matawan-Aberdeen Public Library, and member of the Friends of the Library. 

She was a volunteer leader in local community health organizations, serving as a long-time advisory board member of the Community YMCA Family and Youth Services, founding director of the Bayshore Community Hospital volunteer program, and co-founder of the Monmouth County Boy Scouts Medical Explorer program at Bayshore Community Hospital. She was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Matawan for nearly 50 years.

A loving and deeply devoted wife, mother, grandmother, and friend, she adored her 10 grandchildren. She is survived by her husband; son John and daughter-in-law Anne Ayanian of Ann Arbor, Michigan and their children Katherine, Matthew, and Caroline; son Mark and daughter-in-law Maral Ayanian of Belmont, Massachusetts and their children Lori, Joseph, Nayiri, and Shant; and daughter Susan and son-in-law Daniel Pereles of Potomac, Maryland and their children Luke, Grace, and Noah.

A memorial service and celebration of her life will be held on Dec. 21 at 2 PM at the First Presbyterian Church of Matawan. 

Donations may be made in Mrs. Ayanian’s memory to the Parker Family Health Center which she supported and where her husband has been a long-time physician volunteer (www.parkerfamilyhealthcenter.org, 211 Shrewsbury Avenue, Red Bank, NJ 07701), the Community YMCA (www.cymca.org, 166 Main Street, Matawan, NJ 07747), or the Dean Edith Smith Endowed Scholarship Fund which she established to honor her nursing mentor at Syracuse University (falk.syr.edu/Department/Commemorative.aspx). 

Day Funeral Home, 361 Maple Place, Keyport, was entrusted with the cremation arrangements.