ROSALYN EMERZIAN

On August 4, 1943, Rosalyn Emerzian was born with a big smile on her face, to John and Dorothy Kasaian in Fresno, CA, much to the delight of her new big sister Carolyn. They grew up together in the little white house full of love on 704 S Street. Rosalyn attended St. John's Parochial School and San Joaquin Memorial High School, receiving her first four Sacraments at St. John's Cathedral, as well as taking piano lessons. Rosalyn escaped the hot Fresno summers with her family on annual vacations to Yosemite Valley, camping on the Merced River at Camp 16 with the families of friends and relatives, and at the beach in Santa Cruz, CA. Rosalyn's birthday always seemed to conflict with these summer trips, so her mother Dorothy made sure that no matter where they were, Yosemite or Santa Cruz, Rosalyn always had her favorite birthday cake, German chocolate. I do not recollect her sharing birthday cake with the Yosemite bears. When the Kasaian family moved north of town in 1961, the boy who lived across the street often came to visit Rosalyn, who always greeted him with a huge smile. After graduating from Fresno State College, and touring Europe with her girlfriend, Carolyn Piccolo, Rosalyn started her teaching career with Fresno Unified School District at Columbia Elementary School. In 1972, Rosalyn and the boy from across the street, Jerry Emerzian, married and filled their own home with love, laughter, and two adorable little girls of their own, Jeannine and Jennifer, and later five grandchildren, Giana, Gillian, Tessa, Jaxon, and Brody, whom she adored. Rosalyn, a gourmet cook, enjoyed playing Sudoku and putting together puzzles, those really big ones with thousand pieces. Rosalyn loved her family and the large gatherings at her home for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, birthdays, wedding showers, and graduations, as well as Sunday dinners with her children and grandchildren around her were the times she especially cherished. Shortly before her time came, Fr. Ferdinand from St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church administered last rites. In her last days putting up a heroic fight, Rosalyn maintained her beautiful smile, her unsinkable spirit, and with the tender, constant loving care of her soul mate, Jerry; her daughters, Jeannine and Jennifer; and the devotion of her caregivers, Swellen Medroso, Anush Grigorian, Lilit Gregorian, Susie Gonzalez, Gloria Taylor; and her physical therapist, Russell Wells. She passed from this life on Wednesday, May 17, 2017, surrounded by friends and family in her room at Saint Agnes Medical Center Intensive Care Unit.