Arlene Kabakjian Mooshian
Alrene
Kabakjian & Ruth Hood
Before graduating from West Chester with a BS in Education, I met my husband Martin one Sunday in church in January 1958. I was in the choir up front and he entered with his brother and sat in the balcony at the back of the church. His intention, after a brief visit to Philadelphia, was to move to Arkansas to work with another brother, but he never made it to Arkansas. It was “love at first sight” and we were engaged 2 months later.
We’ve been married 46 years and we have 3 children and 9 grandchildren. Our family attended St. Mark’s Lutheran Church for 24 years where our children were active in the youth programs, and I sang in the choir. Our daughter Terri is married to Bob Hunt, a financial adviser. Terri keeps busy making jewelry which she sells at craft fairs. Our son Mark is a Lt. Col. in the Air Force and is currently stationed in Sacramento. Mark has 3 children. Our daughter Diana and her husband Eric Jensen are both West Chester graduates. Diana keeps very busy home schooling their 6 boys, ages 17 to 2.
After being a stay-at-home mom, I started teaching in 1967. For the first 9 years, I was a pre-school teacher at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church. For the next 2 years I was an elementary school substitute teacher for the Ridley School District. My last year of teaching was at the junior high school teaching remedial reading and remedial math. What a difficult year! The students in that Learning Improvement Program were tough guys and girls who had no interest in trying to learn anything. They wanted no part of the help I tried to give them. That was my last year of teaching!
In 1981 I started working at Swarthmore College as receptionist in the Admissions Office, where I still work full time. My love of music continues even from my elementary school days. I sang with the Ridley Community Chorus for 20 years. During the last 4 years at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, I was the organist and choir director. In 1989 we left St. Mark’s, and we started attending Aldan Union Church where I still sing in the choir.
Marty and I enjoy travelling when our work schedules permit. We especially enjoy cruising vacations. We have taken cruises to several Caribbean destinations, as well as to the British Isles, the Mediterranean, Scandinavia, and also to Alaska. We highly recommend cruising! You unpack your bags only once, and every day you wake up at a different destination. You can choose to take a shore excursion at each different port, or you can stay on board and enjoy any number of ship activities. At night there is entertainment in the showroom, and for 24 hours there is food, food, food! We’re ready to sign up again!