Chookasian first became involved with music through singing at local churches and in musical programs at her high school, notably appearing as Buttercup in her school's production of "H.M.S. Pinafore". After high school she began studying singing seriously with Philip Manuel and Gavin Williamson, both with whom she took lessons for almost twenty years. In her late teens she started earning money singing for churches and on the radio. In 1941, at the age of twenty, she married George Gavejian who was a friend of her older brother. They had a very happy marriage that lasted for forty-six years, ending when Gavejian died in 1987. They had several children and eleven grandchildren together.