Gadar Kaprielian and Garabed Parigian hailed from the village of Shepig (modern-day Yayladjuk). They were married in their native village in 1910. A year later, Garabed left for the United States, entrusting Gadar to the care of her parents back in Shepig. Like many other young Armenian immigrants, Garabed initially worked as a laborer in the United States. In 1915, the entire Armenian population of Shepig was deported. Gadar was one of the few survivors of her large family. In 1920, she was already in Urfa, and in 1923, in Aleppo. In late 1924, Gadar traveled to Marseille via Beirut. Garabed only discovered that his wife had survived in Genocide after the First World War. In the spring of 1925, he traveled to France, where he and his wife saw each other for the first time since December 1911. At the time, Gadar was a citizen of the Republic of Armenia. In 1926, she received permission to enter the United States, and the two were reunited.