George Keeler is a Professor of Journalism and the Communications Department's Chairman at the University of La Verne. Right off the bat, people don’t think that George is Armenian because of his last name, but he is. His mother comes from the Sarafian family. His grandfather was the founder the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU), which is an organization that preserves and promotes the Armenian identity and heritage through educational, cultural and humanitarian programs.

As a child, George grew up with the story of  “Little Sarkis.” Sarkis was his grandfather’s sister’s child. They were part of the death marches that the Turks lead and early on it became clear to Sarkis’ mother that they were going to be murdered. To save him, she yelled, “Run Sarkis, run!”  He began to run and managed to get away as his mother shielded the bullets with her body. Because of his mother, Sarkis survived.

Besides the tragedies of the lost lives during the Genocide, like the one of his family, George believes that the other great tragedy was the dispersion of the Armenian people. In order to survive, Armenians had to move to different countries, leaving them to abandon their homeland, but they never stopped being Armenian. “Families lived in foreign countries and they took their Armenian culture with them.”

The Genocide was just as dramatic and forceful as the Jewish Holocaust and George feels that “the Genocide should be remembered for more than just Hitler saying, ‘Who nowadays remembers the annihilation of the Armenians.’ ” It still amazes him that the Turks deny the fact that it happened and that all the evidence and pictures were fabricated.

He only has one wish for the future of the Armenian people and that is “that Armenians get together and build great cultural icons that show strength and to keep the Armenian culture going.”