Yeghpayer Garbis was born in September 14, 1920 in Adana, Turkey. His family moved to Greece in 1921. At a young age of 10 he joined the Homenetmen movement in Greece. He quickly became a scout leader and later scoutmaster. In 1940 he met and married his wife Azad, and in 1950 they moved to Argentina, where once again he took charge of the Homenetmen scouting leadership. In 1971 he moved to the United States, first to New Jersey and then to New York, where once again he led the scouting programs in New York and New Jersey.

In 1980 he became Homenetmen of New York’s chairman and for many years its scoutmaster. In 1978 he was the overall scoutmaster for Homenetmen’s first World Jamborees which was held in Athens, Greece. He has received the heighest award and honor from the Greek Scouting Concel, and the International Scout medal of Honor from the International Boy Scouts Union. After a long illness Yeghpayer Garbis passed away on October 19, 1997, he is survived by his wife Azad and two sons Mihran and Mesrob along with his four grandchildren.