Richard Senekerim Dohanian

Richard “Rick” Senekerim Dohanian, 90, beloved husband of Wendy (Bonnette) Dohanian of Kansas City, Missouri passed peacefully at home on December 14, 2022. He was born July 5, 1932 in Somerville, Massachusetts, the son of the late Luke and Irene (Savian) Dohanian. He graduated from Newton High School in 1950, and then served in the military during the Korean War, stationed in Japan where he played trumpet in the Army Band. Along with his regular band duties, he was part of a post World War II peacetime initiative to forge friendships with Japanese musicians.

On returning home Rick enrolled in the Great Books Program at Saint John’s College in Annapolis, graduating in 1960. He was recruited into the corporate world, but later found his place in food service. He managed restaurants in Chicago, La Jolla, and Atlanta before opening his own small steak house with English-style tavern in Hanover, New Hampshire: The Bull’s Eye, in 1970. He was proprietor, cook, and friend to the town and Dartmouth College community.

The college students whom Rick hired over the years referred to him as the “Kitchen Socrates” because of the lively philosophical discussions that took place as he grilled prime steaks, chops, burgers,and brats for his guests. His no-nonsense expectations of excellence from his suppliers, workers, and patrons was not always immediately appreciated, but those who listened to him often gleaned wisdom from his consul. On the 25th anniversary of the closing of The Bull’s Eye, a longtime friend wrote this about his time working there:

“Rick, I wonder if you ever take the time to know how many young lives you saved
from failure and excess? The realities which you put daily on display gave us all at 
least a glimpse of ageless truths revealed from time to time. You were often and all
at once Plato, Socrates, Seneca, Montaigne and Nietzsche, all in the disguise of a
cook. Some rose on occasion to take everlasting note of the love you freely gave
and the lessons you offered - in the morning around the King’s table - but sometimes
late at night with too much beer… I never knew the truth back then and just didn’t
have the patience to learn. Almost forty-two years later, I get it. I love you as much
as I’ve been able to love anyone; you are a Great Man. You have been one of the
very few great gifts I’ve known.”

This is the remarkable man Wendy recognized while enrolled as a philosophy student at Dartmouth, which compelled her to abandon academia for the flesh and blood dialectic of Rick’s kitchen and tavern. She took a seat at the “King’s Table” and worked with him until he closed The Bull’s Eye in 1986. They were married in 1987 and immediately fulfilled Rick’s longtime desire to sail his Tartan 30 from Lake Champlain to the Bahamas. His love for the water confirmed, and all his efforts to open another restaurant thwarted by the New England Recession, they returned to Fort Pierce, Florida and lived on the sailboat and then a small trawler while he worked in boatyards. In 2001 health issues forced his retirement and brought him back on land. They lived near the coast in Pascagoula, Mississippi until Hurricane Katrina blew them to Kansas City, Missouri in 2008. There he and Wendy became helpers within the Institute of Christ the King apostolate of Old Saint Patrick Oratory. 

Throughout the years, friends knew of Rick’s philosophical interest in the Logos. It was the title of his corporation, the name of his sailboat, and the letters on his car plates. It expressed his belief in the Truth which gives Order, Place, Purpose, and Beauty to the Universe. In his retirement this quest turned theological and was fulfilled in the Traditional Mass and Faith of the Holy Roman Catholic Church. He made his profession in 2010. In addition to his interests in music, sailing, and cooking; Rick appreciated driving fine sports cars, building model airplanes, and enjoying quality beers.

Richard’s most important work began with the onset of dementia in 2015. Even as this disease waged war on his mind, he remained grateful, cheerful, and prayerful; offering his sufferings in the Divine Will for the Lord’s greater glory in the Church and the world. A special grace was that he never lost his dry sense of humor, which delighted Wendy to the end. He passed peacefully as the hymn Rerum Deus Tenax Vigour describes with “The brightness of a holy deathbed blending with dawning glories of the eternal day.”

Richard is survived by Wendy, nephews Dana (Christine) Russian and Robert (Susan) Giacchetti; nieces Amy Russian and Nicola (Scott) McIntosh; and stepson David McEachern. He was predeceased by all his siblings: Robert Dohanian, Zabelle Russian and Cynthia Giacchetti (Michael) Lucey, and his nephew Jeffrey (Elisabeth Ames) Russian.

Richard’s devotion to the Logos manifested in Christ the King may be honored by donations to the Shrine of Christ the King Restoration Fund, Chicago, Illinois: https://institute-christ-king.org/restoration

A visitation will be held on Friday, December 30th from 6-8 pm at Amos Family Funeral Home, 10901 Johnson Drive, Shawnee, Kansas 66203.  A rosary will be prayed at 7:30 pm.  Requiem Mass will take place on Saturday, December 31st at 9:30 AM at Old St. Patrick Oratory, 806 Cherry St, Kansas City, Missouri 64106.  Interment at St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery in Shawnee, Kansas.  Following the committal service, all Old St. Patrick parishioners, family and friends are invited to the reception.

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