3. 1908 August 31: William Saroyan is born in
Fresno, California, to Armenak and Takoohi
Saroyan.
1911 Armenak dies in Campbell, California.
William, his brother, Henry; and his sisters,
Zabel and Cosette, are place in the Fred Finch
Home, a Methodist orphanage in Oakland.
Takoohi goes to work as a domestic servant.
1925 After repeated disciplinary
expulsions, William leaves Fresno
Technical high school without a
diploma, and works in the vineyards and
in his uncle, Aram Saroyan’s law office.
4. 1926 William leaves Fresno for Los
Angeles, a brief stint in the California
National Guard, and, after a short
reconciliation with his family, goes to
San Francisco, where he works as a
clerk-typist with the Southern Pacific
Company. 1927 Henry brings
Takoohi, Zabel, and Cosette to live in
San Francisco.
5. 1933 Hairenik publishes his
poetry, his first stories , and a sketch
of Grandmother Lucy, Noneh. In
October, William translates his
sketch for a novel, Trapeze Over the
Universe, into the short-story
masterpiece ‘The Daring Young Man
on the Flying Trapeze.’ William first
ventures into Los Angeles and
San Francisco literary society.
6.
7. 1944 In February, Saroyan ships out for Army
duty in Europe. In London, he circulates in
literary society, and simultaneously writes the
propaganda novel, The Adventures of Wesley
Jackson, and a journal of its composition ,
The Adventures of William Saroyan.
1945 Saroyan is hospitalized in
Luxembourg, returned to the United
States, and released from the Army in
September.
8. In 1943, Saroyan married actress Carol
Marcus also known as Carol Grace), with
whom he had two children, Aram, who
became an author and published a book
about his father, and Lucy, who became an
actress
9.
10. 1981 William
Saroyan dies of
cancer in the
Veteran’s Hospital
in Fresno, on May
18. By his
request, half of his
ashes are interned
in Fresno, the
other half in
Armenia.
