Suzie Z. Gabri: A beloved matriarch
Suzie Zartar Gabri graced us with her life for 76 years. She passed away peacefully in her home surrounded by her family on Feb. 4, 2021.
Suzie was born in Tehran, Iran in 1944, the daughter of Hovannes and Varvar Gabri. She was the second of four children, the beloved sister to Yeran, Rafik, and Violette.
Suzie was a curious, studious, even-tempered child. She worked hard, earned high marks, and nurtured a loyal group of friends throughout her school years. She grew up in a close-knit Armenian family who prized generosity, kindness, and love above all. Their good humor bound them together against all life’s challenges.
Always fascinated by science, Suzie received her bachelor’s degree in biology from Tehran University with plans to become a science researcher.
In 1966, she met Martin Barseghian, a civil engineer. They married in Tehran soon thereafter and had daughters Telma and Tina.
After Martin passed away in a car accident in Tehran, Suzie moved her daughters in 1978 to Los Angeles with hopes of securing a better life and more opportunities to flourish for all of them. For the next 10 years, she obtained her teaching degree, worked full time as a teacher, and saved up to buy a house. To help each member of her extended family — mother, father, sister, brother and their families — she sponsored their visas, and welcomed them into her home to get settled and back on their feet in a new country. In the meantime she raised her daughters, instilling in them the value of education, music, art, theater, and of course, the love of the outdoors.
Suzie’s home was the very heart of the family. Every holiday, birthday, graduation, and any occasion to celebrate took place in Suzie’s home. There was always a boisterous group of cousins and aunts and uncles in the house, with fresh greens being chopped, onions carmelizing, saffron rice cooking, and ghorme sabzi, fesenjoon, kookoo, dolma, tahjin, or khoresht simmering on the stove.
Even as adults, many of her nieces and nephews have lived with Suzie during times of transition or uncertainty. She opened up her home without a second thought, offering stability and unconditional love and support whenever anyone needed it.
As a teacher, she was admired by her colleagues and beloved by her students. She was a mentor to countless educators and aids, officially and unofficially.
Suzie was determined to live a healthy, active life. As a young mother, she grew her own sprouts, added wheat germ to her meals, and made her own yogurt and cheese from scratch. In her 50s and 60s, she walked the entirety of the Los Angeles Marathon twice, and the Big Sur Half Marathon multiple times. She didn’t just walk from room to room, she either danced or pranced across.
A New Chapter
Suzie’s retirement and her grandchildren arrived at about the same time — and no coincidence. Just a few years after her granddaughters Hannah and Jacqueline were born, Suzie decided to move to Pacific Grove to be near them. She bought a home hearing distance from her grandchildrens’ laughter and settled into the new community, where she quickly made friends and developed roots. With her move to PG, she was also a short drive away to Oakland, where her granddaughter Lucine lives with her parents, and came to stay frequently for long, luxurious visits.
There are grandparents who like to observe and be passively present, and there are grandparents who love to play on the floor for hours at a time with their grandchildren. Suzie was the latter. Entire days would go by spent in her grandchildrens’ room, toys scattered everywhere, dreams analyzed, books upon books read, Armenian letters learned, crayons and reams of paper deployed for good use. She yelped at every joke and hailed each of their accomplishment to anyone who would listen. Suzie knew her granddaughters better than anyone, and they loved her better than everyone.
Suzie’s retirement was as productive and enriching as her life ever was. As she helped rear her granddaughters, Suzie also became an advocate for local community issues, including water and conservation policies. Her efforts going door to door to explain the issue, posting information on neighborhood websites, picketing, speaking at city council meetings, resulted in a satisfying victory, for which she was honored by the mayor.
Suzie’s thirst for knowledge was fed by a robust book group that meets weekly, analyzing dense tomes of nonfiction and biographies page by page, chapter by chapter — Hamilton, Fremont, Churchill, Klimt. The club meetings gave her the space to learn from the peers she admired, as well as to add her own unique points of view, which were informed by a global understanding of history. She also continued taking online college courses on topics ranging from ancient civilization and anthropology to genetics and physics, and she shared her newfound knowledge with her family. She was a lifelong teacher as well as a lifelong student.
Her love of learning also led her to travel the globe. She took her grandchildren on each of their 12th birthdays to Costa Rica, Paris, and the UK. Fascinated by all different cultures and histories, she visited Nepal, China, countries in Africa, and in Europe.
In 2018, she took a pilgrimage with her daughters and their families to Armenia, where they explored historical sites and monuments that have defined their identities. It was one of the most important and influential trips of her and her family’s lives. It was also where she got her first and only tattoo, one of Mount Ararat, along with her daughter Tina and granddaughter Hannah, on their arms.
In her last year, Suzie’s spirituality blossomed, and she was able to see herself as one with nature.
On a spectacularly clear night in Sea Ranch, California, last summer, she looked up into the Milky Way and saw herself in the stars. Suzie knew that she was as connected to the graceful oak tree framed by her living room window, as she was to every single one of her family members.
Suzie lives on in all of us, in every person whom she has encouraged, fostered confidence in, loved, learned from and taught.
She is survived by her daughters Telma Barseghian Cox and Tina Barseghian, granddaughters Hannah and Jacqueline Cox and Lucine Farnham, the sons-in-law she adored Adam Cox and Lloyd Farnham, brother and sisters, many cousins, nieces and nephews, and many many friends.
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Her family cordially asks that in lieu of flowers, please donate to one of these charities.
Ayl Arvest. Organized by people close to Suzie, this initiative is responding to the crisis in Armenia by helping families and kids who have suffered in the war. Please contact aylarvest@gmail.com.
Planned Parenthood. Suzie was the family’s matriarch, and a strong believer in women’s rights as human rights.
KAZU. Monterey’s affiliate NPR station was always playing on Suzie’s radio.
