Obituary of Seta Tcherkoyan, 89
Seta Margaret (Sherinian) Tcherkoyan.
– Seta Margaret (Sherinian) Tcherkoyan left this life on Oct. 8, 2023, to rejoin her beloved husband Greg. She missed him deeply for almost precisely one year. Seta was born on Jan. 11, 1934, in Cliffside Park, New Jersey. She was the firstborn child to her parents Harry and Juliette, both of whom immigrated to the U.S. after escaping the Armenian genocide in Turkey. Their life was immersed in the extended family who arrived in this country one at a time, immigrants seeking safety for themselves and their children. This identity was a powerful experience for a little girl with a foreign-sounding first name and a non-English first language. She knew what it felt like to be an outsider; and her whole life long, she had a heart for refugees and immigrants from anywhere.
Seta had two younger brothers Harry (always known in the family as ‘Junior’) and Dennis. In 1948 they moved to Oakland, and the community she is surrounded by still. The Sherinians were one of the founding families of St. Vartan Armenian Apostolic Church. Seta attended Oakland High School, but her closest friends and companions were the Armenian youth she knew through the ACYO. Many of her lifelong friends were people she had known as a teenager.
Seta defied her father and the expectations of women in her day and began college at U.C. Berkeley. And then she met Greg and everything changed. They were married at 20; their first child, Kathi, arrived when they were just 21. Patti and Kirsti were born soon after, during the five years they lived in North Hollywood establishing their own family. Their house payment was $102 a month, an impossible-sounding stretch on Greg’s salary. And still Seta managed to save something every month for investment, for their future.
Seta and Greg built a life in Moraga, shaped around their children, extended family, good friends, and the church they were deeply committed to. She was an energetic mother, a regular volunteer, a ready friend. She found meaning and purpose in a faith nurtured by Bible Study Fellowship. When her children were a little bit older, she went to work as a bookkeeper; her quick mind and unfailing common sense led her to become controller for a chain of well-known gift stores in the East Bay.
When her grandchildren were born, four granddaughters, Seta devoted herself to them with the same lively spirit she had poured into her children. She and Greg offered their time and their home generously. They were always happy to gather there not only with children and grandchildren but with extended family, friends, and neighbors.
Seta was generous; she was kind; she was a dependable, always-ready-to-listen friend to many. For the last several months she lived at Creston Village in Paso Robles, an assisted living facility where she became a trusted friend and confidante to staff and residents both. She will be deeply missed by many.
Seta is survived by her daughters Kathi, Patti (Jerry), and Kirsti; granddaughters Stacey, Caeti, Nicole, and Krista; great-granddaughter Francesca; brother Harry Sherinian Jr. and sister-in-law Diana Shirin; and many nieces, nephews and cousins. You were part of her story; she is part of yours. The funeral service is Friday, Oct. 20, at 11 a.m., at St. Vartan Armenian Church, 650 Spruce Street, Oakland. Donations are welcome, in lieu of flowers, to one of Seta and Greg’s favorite charities: Doctors Without Borders.
Published by East Bay Times from Oct. 13 to Oct. 15, 2023.
From Legacy.com.
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