‘Lifelong volunteer’ helped Armenians
By Jim Steinberg

The Fresno Bee
June 23, 2006

Rosemarie Saghdejian of Fresno left Beirut, Lebanon, as a child,
eventually growing up to become a leader in Armenian charity around
the world and in education in Fresno.

Mrs. Saghdejian served as a board member of the international
Armenian Relief Society and the Armenian Community School in Fresno.
She founded the Trinity Adult Day Care Center in Fresno.

Mrs. Saghdejian died Saturday. She was 52.

Tatul Sonentz-Papazian, executive ARS director, said from the agency
headquarters in Massachusetts that Mrs. Saghdejian was dynamic and
committed. She worked with the Armenian Relief Society to raise funds
and involve more people in the organization’s work.

The ARS operates in 23 or 24 countries, Sonentz-Papazian says, and
Mrs. Saghdejian’s work touched people in all of them.

Yeretsgin Sossy Costanian, an ARS assistant coordinator in Fresno who
also left Beirut, came to know Mrs. Saghdejian when the two worked
together in Los Angeles.

"She had a love for humanity," Costanian says, "and she was adored
by seniors. She was like an angel."

Mrs. Saghdejian graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a
teaching credential. She moved to Los Angeles to become close to
its growing Armenian community. She received her master’s degree
from UCLA in French culture and arts, and met her husband, Abraham
"Apo" Saghdejian.

Former Fresno Mayor Jim Patterson lives around the corner from the
Saghdejians’ home, and recalls Mrs. Saghdejian helping him and,
especially, his wife, Sharon.

"She took Sharon under her wing, and treated her like a daughter,"
Patterson says. "Rose and Abe made us feel we were invited to their
dinners because we were part of the family. I loved her baklava and
humus. A regular plate would show up o-n our doorstep."

Abraham Saghdejian recalls his wife’s work for others regardless of
national boundaries: "She was generous and helpful to people all over
our community. She was a lifelong volunteer, a leader who had been
to Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh."

He referred to a disputed Armenian enclave inside the neighboring
nation of Azerbaijan.

The couple worked together with the ARS o-n a relief telethon for
victims of the 1988 Karabakh earthquake, which killed upward of 25,000
people and left 500,000 homeless.

Mrs. Saghdejian spoke fluent English, Armenian, French and some Arabic,
her husband says.

Apart from her work, Mrs. Saghdejian was an excellent cook and
hostess, he says: "She made beautiful dishes and set beautiful
tables. Congressmen remember her food."

Mrs. Saghdejian’s accomplishments and contributions could not prepare
her for the tragedy of their lives, Abraham Saghdejian says. o-n
July 14, 2004, their son, Hovig, 23, was killed in a Herndon Avenue
traffic collision.

"She was very hurt," Saghdejian says.

"She had been such a healthy woman. Then she came up with cancer in
the stomach. Grief can do anything.

"She never complained. She talked with people about their
organizations, and asked what they were doing… She brought life,
joy and happiness to people in pain."

A funeral service was held Thursday at Holy Trinity Armenian Church
in Fresno, followed by burial in Masis Ararat Cemetery.

The reporter can be reached at jsteinberg@fresnobee.com or (559)
441-6311.