Helen Emily Samarzich

SAMARZICH, Helen Emily
Died peacefully on October 8, 2005. She was born in Ohio to Yugoslavian immigrants Mary and Joseph Vukelic and moved to San Francisco, where she graduated from Balboa High School and met the love of her life, Warren Samarzich, at a Yugoslavian church dance. After Warren graduated from Santa Clara University, they were married in 1943, living in San Francisco, Gilroy and Carlsbad, and while Warren served in the Navy as a Seabee, in Warwick, Rhode Island. In 1958 they established permanent residence in Sacramento, where Warren was a supervising bridge engineer for the State of California. He passed away in 1984. Helen is remembered for great cooking, elegant dinner parties, professional flower arrangements, oil painting, and piano and accordion playing skills. She was past president of the American Society of Civil Engineers Ladies Auxiliary, a brownie scout leader, and was active in PTA. She is survived by her children, Cheryl and Wayne of Sacramento; cousin Barbara Cerutti of San Rafael; and nieces Nadine Radovich of San Francisco and Danica Cuckovich of Greenwood. The Samarzich family extends special thanks to Helen's devoted physician and personal friend Richard Chun; her cardiologists Daniel Ebenezer and Jawahar Desai, the dedicated nurses and staff of Sutter Roseville Hospital and the Mercy Hospital Acute Rehabilitation Center, and Tim McCarthy and staff at McCarthy Physical Therapy in Roseville. Private services will be held in San Francisco. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Sutter Roseville Medical Center Foundation, 1 Medical Plaza, Roseville, CA 95661, or American Society of Civil Engineers Scholarship Fund, 19 Spinner Point Ct., Sacramento, CA 95831.