Concetta Gilda Laone Chakmak

1923 - 2025

Concetta Gilda Laone Chakmak

October 22, 1923 - May 22, 2025

Fresno, California - A quintessential life of America's Greatest Generation, Concetta Gilda Laone Chakmak, known to her grandchildren always as "Noni", passed on May 22nd.

Noni's simple philosophy of faith, perseverance, peace, and optimism led to a life full of family and abundance. She is survived by her three children John, Loretta, and Paul, seven grandchildren, and thirteen great grandchildren: all of whom she adored, as they adored her.

Noni was known for her cooking. Anything her hands touched imparted a flavor that could not be replicated. Her talent was sparked by her early years in Akron, where her parents cooked while singing old Italian songs ("Ole Sole Mio!") and making baccala at Christmas and biscotti cookies for birthdays. Her younger years are full of great American stories, complete with weekly deliveries of the iceman and milkman, Battistelli family Sunday dinners, and gaggles of cousins playing street games after school. When Noni was 14, her father Frank, an Italian "stowaway" determined to make good in America (whose blue eyes she adored) took their little family, actually the entire extended family, from Akron's dustbowl to Fresno in 1938, her home from then on.

She went to school and pursued a humble life of work: first in a smattering of small jobs and secretary work around town, and eventually at home, where her experiences through the Depression made her resourceful at homemaking. In 1941, her mother, "Katie" Battistelli Laone passed from surgery complications. For comfort, Noni would recall the times she and her half-sister Lydia kept each other warm on long, cold Depression nights, of her mother making her senior Prom dress, of slapping the face of the boy next door who got fresh with her, of their first real home in Fresno.

Coming home from work one day at the bus stop she met Hank, her Armenian husband of 68 years, and they remained together until his passing in 2012. In 1940, he was drafted into the Army and sent off for training. One day she received a telegram saying he got furlough and was coming home. "Make arrangements for a wedding," Papa said. He gave her a ruby (though she wanted a diamond) and accompanied him to Texas, where they rented a room from an older couple who gave her a single shelf on the refrigerator. Within the year, Hank was sent to Europe to fight and Noni returned to Fresno to live with his mom, Hosanna.

Their first son, John, arrived when she was 22; Hank still at war, though headed soon back to the states with a Purple Heart. By 1950, her daughter Loretta was born and they moved into their Echo Street house in the Tower District. Eventually, Hank, started his own construction business and helmed the building of many of the Central Valley's landmarks, schools, and military bases. Eventually, and with the arrival of Paul, they moved to northwest Fresno where they lived for over 50 years.

Noni expressed herself through cooking: her one-of-a-kind melding of traditional Italian and Armenian fare that would make the grandkids drive from just about anywhere for: Shish kebab, any fruit pie, lasagna, even enchiladas! She was an excellent cook but also a great seamstress yet rarely believed in her talent. Still, she would gird herself up, tell herself she could, and then make something special. A Japanese kimono with gold accents, made for Loree, ranks among those small memories she took great pride in.

She would dote on and even write poetry for her grandchildren, always full of support, love, and belief in them. Her last years were spent in the care of Loree and her husband Cary. They doted on her and she adored them like no other. Surrounded by family, she was at peace and told her stories to the constant stream of visitors who always came to see her: a true sign of a life well lived. In her final days, she spoke of seeing Hank again. (Oh, and yes, over those 68 years of marriage Hank did finally get her a diamond or two for that ruby.).

So much peace in her presence. Through any hardship, she felt blessed, that things would be ok, that life was good. A legacy worth giving.

In lieu of flowers, please donate to St. Anthony's of Padua or your favorite charity.