Veronica E Harutunian

Armenian legend holds that a person’s last breath contains their soul, whereupon an angel is sent by God to capture that last breath and carry it to Heaven.

Veronica Elizabeth Harutunian, 63, experienced a gentle and peaceful surrender on Dec. 27, 2022 following a year-long battle with an aggressive lung cancer, fought with the same stubborn resolve that came to mark her character. Although deemed to be in remission, she succumbed to the residual effects from treatment.

Enduring 30 rounds of radiation on her left lung, interspersed with chemotherapy, over a six-week period, and 12 rounds of brain radiation to halt a metastasizing spread…she drove herself to the treatments, often accompanied by her loving daughter, Jennifer.

Born in Waukegan on Jan. 5, 1959, the second child of Mchitar and Rose Harutunian, her early life found an active involvement with the St. Paul Armenian Apostolic Church, singing in the church’s choir, with her sister, Lisa. It also started a lifelong appreciation for Keyma, an Armenian dish made with finely-ground sirloin steak and bulgur wheat.

Her name honored two strong maternal figures: her grandmother, Veron Mangoian, a seminal member of the Waukegan Armenian community, a leader with the Armenian Relief Fund, and St. Paul Armenian Apostolic Church; and her aunt, Elizabeth, St. Paul’s National Representative Assembly delegate for many years at the annual Eastern Prelacy meetings, and Ladies Guild member.

That strength and compassionate foundation led her to a career in nursing, working at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital near Great Lakes for more than three decades, and a subsequent career in home health care. Along the way, lifelong bonds of friendship were forged with many of her colleagues whom she and Jennifer truly treasured.

Educational achievements brought happiness and smiles on a shining winter evening at the College of Lake County Grayslake campus, where surrounded by family, she received an Associate of Arts degree in Nursing. Years later, her academic diligence was rewarded with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Nursing from the University of Colorado at Denver.

Victor Borge, the Danish concert pianist, would often conclude his tour of the piano, saying, “You will notice down by my feet, there are three pedals, and many people ask me about the middle pedal, and what it does. I can now tell you…it is there to separate the other two.”

So, it is with the middle child of a three-child family: there to separate the other two. It is a place which some will say gets overshadowed by the other two, but it also allows time to flourish without the glare and develop a special, unique, singular beauty.

Veronica would laugh with Victor Borge, Red Skelton…the cornier the jokes were, the better. They were easy and comforting, like the dreams we all have and seek inside.

She loved her daughter, Jennifer, a partner in many adventures together that made wonderful, lasting memories. There wasn’t a restaurant or dog park in the area which they couldn’t give you a review on, with special trips to places that would last all day.

In a fit of wild enthusiasm last summer, she attended a tailgate cookout, and then, a Milwaukee Brewers baseball game, just to yell at the players…just like her Aunt Betty did, at Chicago White Sox games. Family apples are never far from the tree.

The Brewers staff treated her like royalty that night, just as the nurses at Advocate Condell Libertyville and Advocate Lutheran General Park Ridge hospitals did, in providing the compassionate care she ultimately deserved, in the last weeks.

We believe that her last breath brought not only one angel, but many angels…family members that came for her, and helped guide her to a new place of peace where she can roam with her dog, Max.

She will always be with us, the memory of her will not fade. One day, when it’s time, she will be the angel that comes from Heaven.

Veronica is survived by her daughter, Jennifer Harutunian; brother, Gregory Harutunian; sister, Lisa Swenson (Randy); nephew, Sgt. Christopher Bookout (Ilse); niece, Aly Arora (Ankur); great-niece Emila Bookout; great-nephew Arjun Arora; cousins, Susie Feinberg (Barry), Tina Mangoian (Al Gonzalez); Mitchell Kenoian (Jean), Ashot Harutyunyan, Ashkyen Avagyan, Yelena Harutyunyan, Nune Dondonyan, Abraham Ghukasyan, Robert Ghukasyan, Karen Ghukasyan, Hayk Ghukasyan; second cousins, Melissa Feinberg, Melanie Feinberg, Tim Friscia (Karina), Bryan Friscia: third cousins, Emily Friscia, and Clark Friscia.

She was preceded in death by her father and mother, Mchitar and Rose Harutunian; grandfather and grandmother, Manoog and Veronica Mangoian, Avag and Arshaluys Harutyunyan; uncles Karl Mangoian, Hachig Mangoian, Grisha Harutyunyan, Raffik Harutyunyan, Shmavon Harutyunyan; aunts Soucy Mangoian, Elizabeth Mangoian, Adeline Mangoian, Yelena Harutyunyan, and Emma Ghukasyan.

A chapel and celebration service will be held at 1:00 p.m., Thursday, January 5, at All Saints Cemetery, 3300 Springbrook Road, Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin.