Patricia Elizabeth Bartevian is famous in Boston because of her age and her antique/ consignment shop, the Bartevian, adjacent to Emerson College on Boylston Street. Even at the age of 102, she spends every Monday-Saturday in her antique shop but comes home to Newton every night. Her family’s origin story, like many, begins with immigration, coming across the Atlantic Ocean and through states, but ends in Newton, where her family found a place to call home.
Along the way, the Bartevian sisters moved to Hollywood, where they were known as the Hickory Sisters, a performance group. They signed with the McConkey Music Corporation. After years of performing, the sisters returned to Massachusetts, at their parents’ request, to help with their antique business.
“Look at her. At 102, she comes to work every day,” said Bob Poirier when he arrived at the antiques shop with a rose and grapes to wish Bartevian a happy 102nd birthday on September 23.
Poirier recalls walking past Bartevian’s antique shop a couple of years ago and thinking, “I got to [go] in there. It’s like meeting the past.”
All during her birthday at the shop, Bartevian received phone calls from people wishing her happy birthday, and a few others delivered cards and flowers. According to Bartevian, she’s been receiving phone calls and gifts days before her birthday. Last year, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu presented her with a certificate of recognition: “In recognition of surpassing a century with strength, wisdom, and courage as a remarkable woman. Celebrating 101 years of spreading love and joy, may you continue to inspire us all.”
At 102, Bartevian, remembers her life’s journey, which she’s documented in her two books — The Bartevians: A Boston Family and Who Were The Hickory Sisters. It’s a story she shares with most of the customers who come to her store, and many even buy her books, which she signs. With each visitor, she shares a similar story…
Bartevian and her sister, Priscilla Genevieve Bartevian, were born to Gregory Bartevian and Vera May Retan. Their father, an Armenian, immigrated to Boston at 19 years old, leaving the Ottoman Empire. Five years after arriving, in 1910, he opened his antique shop, where he met Bartevian’s mother. Her mother attended Oberlin College and, upon returning to Massachusetts, worked as a secretary to the editor of the Atlantic Monthly. During her lunch breaks, she would visit Gregory’s antique store.
Bartevian writes in her book, The Bartevians: A Boston Family, “[Vera] discovered an interest in the art of finding and selling antiques. She also discovered a particular interest in Gregory Bartevian, store owner and art expert. True love found, they became engaged to marry.”
They married on October 5, 1922, in the Second Church in West Newton. A year later, Bartevian was born, and her sister was born in 1925. The sisters attended Underwood Elementary School, Bigelow Middle School, and Newton High School (on the site of what is now Newton North High School).
“My father wanted my sister and me to go to the good schools, and at that time, the Newton schools were the best in the country. So he bought a house in Newton, and for the 1930s until now, 2025, I have lived in the same house in Newton,” explains Bartevian.
Bartevian’s mother was born to Frederick Smith Retan and Iretta May Hight, who were born in Michigan but eventually settled in Newton. She remembers visiting her grandparents’ home in West Newton growing up. According to Bartevian, Retan was an agent for the Home Life Insurance Company and eventually became its president. At their Newton home, Bartevian claims her grandparents hosted the “Every Saturday Literary Club,” where literary giants like F. Scott Fitzgerald met to discuss literature. Her grandparents’ home no longer remains in the family.
“They built houses to last in those days, and they had character and quality; the stuff they have now is just a box with a window,” says Bartevian, referring to her family home.
She recalls the fun she had at home, “In those days, [we] didn’t have TV, so you made your own entertainment. And we used to make our own costumes, and put our own plays, and we used to paint, and we used to carve, all kinds of arts we did…and music.”
Bartevian is the last surviving member of her family. When she dies, her family’s antique shop, home, and a farm in New Hampshire will continue as the Bartevian Nonprofit Family Trust, so that her family’s legacy continues. Her entire family is buried in the Newton Cemetery and Arboretum., and Bartevian plans to be buried there someday with her family, next to her sister Priscilla.
