{"id":2200,"date":"2016-03-29T07:02:15","date_gmt":"2016-03-29T07:02:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/100pillars.aua.am\/?p=2200"},"modified":"2017-10-18T09:04:12","modified_gmt":"2017-10-18T09:04:12","slug":"the-compassionate-piano-teacher-becomes-an-aua-pillar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/100pillars.aua.am\/2016\/03\/29\/the-compassionate-piano-teacher-becomes-an-aua-pillar\/","title":{"rendered":"The Compassionate Piano Teacher Becomes an AUA Pillar"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/p>\n Eleonore Aslanian, known as Elo in the Armenian Community of the Bay Area, was only three years old when her family moved from Paris, France to Tehran, Iran. Her father, Aram, a well-respected engineer, had received an invitation from the Shah of Iran to modernize the country\u2019s dated infrastructure.\u00a0 Elo\u2019s mother, Vartouhi, taught English and, thanks to her hard work and diligence, gained respect as an educator in the community. Unfortunately, soon after their relocation, the family was thrown into a tailspin due to the untimely death of Aram, at the age of 40. Vartouhi was now faced with the task of raising her children alone. Though heartbroken, Vartouhi persevered and made sure her children lacked for nothing, making education the upmost priority.<\/p>\n Fueled by the same hard working attitude and love for education as her mother, Elo began to make a name for herself in the community. At the age of thirteen, together with eight other older girls in the community, the young and vivacious Elo was instrumental in launching \u201cHye Geen<\/em>, Armenian Woman\u201d,<\/em> a group still in existence that supports the mission of empowering women as carriers of the Armenian cultural heritage. She directed a very successful high school girls\u2019 choir, which was supported by the sister of the Shah of Iran, and eventually directed the well respected choir of the Evangelical church of Tehran.<\/p>\n Elo was a sophomore in high school when she met Edward Aslanian, her future husband. They were at a large gathering and, despite being surrounded with many friends, Ed immediately noticed the young girl with the big eyes and gorgeous red hair and was keen to find out who she was. They were introduced, and the rest was a history. In the beginning, Elo\u2019s mother was not too happy with the attention that her daughter was receiving from this young Armenian man from Russia, and was against their marriage. Edward appealed to Vartouhi\u2019s love of education and, after making numerous promises that he would support Elo to continue her education, he finally won her blessing and Vartouhi conceded to their union.<\/p>\n Ed kept his promise and supported Elo as she continued her studies and received her diploma from the Conservatory of Music of Tehran with a dual major in voice and piano. Later on she then received her teaching credentials from the College of Tehran, an especially impressive feat considering she was also raising five children.<\/p>\n In 1969, the family immigrated to the United States and settled in San Francisco. Always the lifelong learner, Elo enrolled first in San Francisco City College, then San Francisco State University to pursue her master\u2019s degree in humanities and French literature. After successfully graduating from the degree program, Elo started teaching humanities at City College of San Francisco and at West Valley College in Saratoga.<\/p>\n