A STORY
Once upon a time, there was a young Mr. Panosian who was looking forward to watching his first parade. Nathan Daniel Panosian is the first Sprout in the fifth generation of our family to stand in the 111 Midtown Building on Main Street in downtown Elmira, NY.
Beginning in the 1980’s, Nathan’s dad, family and friends stood in this same office window to watch many Iszard’s Christmas Wonderland parades. There was one significant problem.
The current parade route had changed and no longer proceeded down this block of North Main Street. After consideration, a plan was created to move to a new location on the current parade route.
It is time to move… time for change.
The new viewing site on this beautiful sunny day was by a park adjacent to the Chemung River. The parade soon arrived. It exceeded all our memories and expectations.
Three generations enjoyed the day because they were willing to accept change and move forward together.
The parade theme continued the following evening with grandpa and grandma enjoying a date night on Market Street in Corning, NY. Dinner at a favorite restaurant, Sorge’s, was followed by twinkles in eyes and on many parade participant’s devices during the annual Parade of Lights.
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Our parade experiences were wonderful, however, these were cold November days and nights. My mind drifted back to warmer days viewing sunrises and rolling waves on beaches. There were many summer camping weeks when waves lapped the shores at Park Station. During many clear, windy days, we viewed white caps rolling on Seneca and Cayuga Lakes. Sailboats enjoyed the challenges as they tacked left and right to move forward towards their target destinations.
Women are half of most of the stories in our family heritage.
Sometimes it takes a Mann to get the job done. Josephine Mann may have been the first of Nathan’s great, great grandparents to arrive in our region. She descended from Italian roots and arrived in Elmira over 100 years ago. Nazar Panosian, Sara Momjian, and Avak Arikian followed as three refuges from an era of ethnic cleansing in their Armenian homeland. Josephine and Avak married, and the rest is Elmira history.
The waves in our family continued with the arrival of Adelyn Bailey Walker. She was born on December 15, 2017, at the Cayuga Medical Center in Ithaca, NY, and is Nathan’s first female cousin. The 2017 Christmas Eve service, at the First United Methodist Church in Horseheads, NY, was a wonderful evening of thanksgiving and celebration.
Four generations of women joined together.
They, and two generations of Panosian men, sat in the same pew and sang “Silent Night” during the candlelight conclusion of this event .
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Nathan’s Aunt Rachel, Adelyn’s mom, is an educator in the Ithaca school district. She believes in early childhood education and was eager to join Nathan on his inaugural visit to the Corning Museum Of Glass (CMOG) in Corning, NY. Corning Inc. is a wonderful champion of growth in our region. Their investment in CMOG has created a global tourist attaction.
One of the exhibits viewed by Rachel and Adelyn highlights the beauty of the mosaic art form.
Individual pieces display their unique, special character while joining together to present a bigger picture.
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Snow became a dominate theme of our CMOG visit. Snow became a beautiful blanket on our rolling hills as we drove to Corning, NY. There are many fond memories of local sledding runs, skating rinks, and snow skiing adventures at nearby Greek Peak.
Grandma Karen’s excellent planning included arrangements for Nathan’s first hot glass experience on this cold winter day. The result was a glass snow person who hopefully will become a treasured memory for Nathan.
Nathan’s hallway farewell to CMOG friends highlights a memorable family outing.
Community and Home create lifelong memories.
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Valued community citizens include members of many local families. The Panosian family is just one of many who have served and enjoyed this area.
Please consider completing the [Survey] as an opportunity for you to share encouraging stories from your archives and to highlight pieces of our regional mosaic. Our hope is that contributions from local people will help define and display our beautiful community mosaic.
We look forward to sharing common goals and continuing to grow together.
