Mayda Araksi Hovsepyan-Baghboudrian

Mayda Araksi Hovsepyan-Baghboudrian, age 76, passed away on Friday, January 17th, 2025, at Mackenzie Health Palliative Care, in Richmond Hill, Ontario, following a sudden, unexpected, and rapid decline in health during her final week. Despite her valiant and brave effort to overcome cancer, her passing was both unforeseen and deeply heartbreaking to all who loved her.

She is survived by her devoted husband, Hajak Baghboudrian, and her loving son, Vassak (Vassag) Baghboudrian. She is also survived by her brother, Berg Hovsepyan, her sister-in-law, Sylvie Hovsepyan, and their daughter Stéphanie Hovsepyan and her family; her sister-in-law, Hélène Hovsepyan, and her sons Frédéric and Nicholas Hovsepyan; her first cousin, Tanya Emmian, and her husband, Vahé Emmian, and their son, Sevan Emmian, and his family; her aunt, Najda Bosnakian; and her sisters-in-law, Jeanette Baghboudrian and Maro Noubarian, and their husbands, Sarkis Demirdjian and Vahé Noubarian. She will also be deeply missed by her lifelong friends, Zabel Manoukian and Arpiné Saroyan, and all who were blessed to know her.

Mayda was preceded in death by her parents, Hovsep and Arpiné Hovsepyan; her eldest brother, Krikor Hovsepyan; her first cousin, Araksi Hovsepyan; and many loved ones who now welcome her into the life of Spirit.

Born on June 24th, 1948, in Istanbul, Turkey, Mayda attended Pangaltı Mkhitaryan School and Sainte Pulchérie Fransız Lisesi before immigrating to Canada. She graduated from the Académie Edith Serei in Montréal, Québec, in 1973. On February 20th, 1982, she married Hajak Baghboudrian at Sourp Hagop (Saint Jacob) Cathedral in Montréal, and together they built a loving life first in Montréal and later in Toronto, where they resided to provide their only child with a Waldorf education.

Mayda began her career as an aesthetician and makeup artist, later realizing that true beauty stems from inner wellness. Inspired by this conviction, she became a nutritionist, devoting her life to promoting health and healing. She graduated from the Packard School of Nutrition in 1992 and was a certified functional nutrition coach through the Josh Gitalis Functional Nutrition program in 2019. Her own health challenges, which started young, and ended with her facing hereditary cancer in her senior years, were the very reason she sought alternative solutions when conventional medicine offered no answers. Her experiences enabled her to deeply empathize with others facing illness, particularly those who felt abandoned or failed by allopathic care. Mayda’s compassionate understanding of suffering and her unwavering commitment to holistic wellness left an indelible mark on everyone she helped.

A woman of profound faith, Mayda was deeply rooted in her Armenian Apostolic heritage while embracing a transcendent and personal spirituality. She was profoundly influenced by the teachings of Dr. Stylianos Atteshlis, whose work enriched her understanding of Christ’s love, divine healing, and spiritual wisdom. She lived her faith through action, offering support to the abandoned, comfort to the grieving, and hope to those facing chronic illness or despair. Her dedication to nurturing others extended beyond her family, as she served as a mother figure to many.

Mayda will be especially remembered for her vibrant spirit, her boundless hospitality, her unwavering kindness, her artistic talents, her creativity with food and recipes, and her quiet strength in the face of life’s challenges. She carried the legacy of her Armenian ancestry with pride, honoring her father’s survival of the Armenian Genocide through her resilience and devotion to family and culture. She loved the music of Charles Aznavour, with Hier Encore being her favorite song of his, and her great, sometimes even mischievous sense of humor was shaped by comedy geniuses like Charlie Chaplin, Lucille Ball, and Carol Burnett.

Services were held after a three-day vigil at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, January 21st, 2025, at The Christian Community Church, 901 Rutherford Rd., Maple, ON.

Memorial contributions to help with funeral expenses in Mayda’s honor are deeply appreciated and may be sent by contacting Peaceful Transition (905-841-1900 | info@ptyork.ca) directly.

The family extends their deepest gratitude to all family, friends, extended community and healthcare professionals who accompanied Mayda through tough periods, and who helped her through difficult moments. Your compassionate care and generous support are forever ingrained in our hearts, just as Mayda's spirit of love and service to others will live on through us.

Mayda embodied the essence of this truth, always offering herself selflessly for the greater good, her actions a testament to her deep faith, her love for others, and her desire to make the world a better place. She lived with the conviction that we are all connected, and that the love we give reverberates through all of life. In her words and actions, she made clear that her life, like all lives, was not for herself alone, but for the greater evolution of the world.

"Above all, we learn that we do not live - or love or experience - for ourselves alone. All our experience feeds the universe. We are the books the dead read. Our thoughts and feelings are the works of art that brighten and instruct their lives. When we meditate (or pray) and do our spiritual practice, when we organize our lives to serve and make manifest the good, the true, and the beautiful, then we are doing so not only for ourselves but for all beings in all worlds. Truly, we are called to serve: to offer up our experience for the sake of the world's evolution. Not only do we take it all with us, we must also give it all away. When we do so, we live together with world evolution. We cannot do it alone, but only in and through and with those we love - in and through and with love. For the work of the earth is love: that the substance of the earth becomes love."
—Christopher Bamford

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