Andrea Martin was born in 1947 in Portland , Maine , the eldest of three children of Sybil A. ( '' née '' Manoogian ) and John Papazian Martin ( . Her paternal grandparents were Armenian immigrants who moved to the U.S. from the Ottoman Empire to escape the Armenian Genocide . Her grandfather changed the family ’s name from Papazian to Martin . Her maternal grandparents were Armenians from Yerevan and Istanbul . Her father owned Martin 's Foods , a grocery store chain
Armenian Genocide
Armenian Genocide
Andrea Martin