Aida Kerekes Obituary (1939 - 2020)

Aida K Kerekes (April 20, 1939 - January 19, 2020) Aida's life was an epic for the ages, one of excitement and rich love, one that spanned the globe and lit a million hearts with warmth, joy and hope. This is not simply poetic exaggeration. Anyone who knew Aida marveled at her capacity to make instant friends with anyone, in any setting, on any part of the planet. If you never met her, you might think that just means she was incredibly friendly and gregarious. That would be like saying the sun produces light - completely insufficient to express the blazing reality. Those who knew Aida can tell you stories of her myriad of fascinating friendships, such with her grocer in Australia or a soil scientist in Iran or the tapas vendor in Spain or the kindergarten teacher in Germany or the banker in Tennessee. And literally many tens of thousands more. Hers was a smile and a face that everyone responded to, everyone wanted to get to know. And she always lifted up everyone around her, made them stronger, gave them joy, helped them trust their own capacity to hope and love, to handle pain and adversity. And that typically began within just the first five minutes of talking to her, leading to life-long friendships. Her unique capacity to light the souls of total strangers fit her life's journey perfectly. Her epic journey had four major chapters - first growing up in Tehran, then living all over the planet with three children and her first husband, then even more adventures with her second husband and two more children, and finally her travel adventures while living in Tucson area. Her first chapter started in the Middle East. Aida was born in Tehran on April 20, 1939 and educated in many schools. Born into a warm loving Armenian culture to parents Mardross and Rosa Kachadourian, she grew up with many close relatives in the area, her immediate closest family being her parents, her grandmother Asniv, her younger sister Angel, and their young cousin Ilene as practically another sister. Mardross was a truck driver who died when his children were still young, leaving Rosa and Asniv to raise the children. From the start as a child, Aida was a fiercely joyful bright personality, instigating her siblings and friends to adventures in and out of school, a tomboy clambering the flat roofs of Tehran, and insatiably curious of what the world had to offer. Tehran at the time was a bustling cosmopolitan melting pot of advancement, arts and industry, a global destination undergoing a golden renaissance that had captured the world's imagination. People from all over the world had come to Tehran. In this setting the young Aida developed from tomboy into a glamourous sophisticated Mod woman, while befriending people of all cultures who had moved there from countries ranging from Russia to France to, of course, the USA. In her early 20s, Aida taught herself shorthand and started working as an office assistant for a world renowned agricultural scientist Carl Frederick Kraenzel, befriending him and his wife Peggy, who then introduced her to their son Ted on a leave from the Merchant Marines. Ted was stunned by this hip, alluring, sophisticated, smart, independent, fashionable young woman. This started the second chapter of Aida's grand epic. In 1957, love quickly bloomed into a marriage and a period of global adventure when Ted became a traveling engineer for B.F. Goodrich. Over the next twenty four years they lived in numerous countries and states including San Paulo in Brazil, Wietersberg Germany, Liessam Germany, Melbourne Australia, Tehran Iran, Akron & Canton Ohio, Oneida Tennessee, and Frederick Oklahoma - all while raising two daughters (Susan & Lillian) and a son (Carl). Aida loved engaging every community she moved into, whether going to culinary schools and becoming the perfect cosmopolitan jet-set hostess for her husband's sleek corporate parties in Frankfurt Germany, or becoming the adored scout leader in the Yarra Batman District of Melbourne Australia and Bad Godesberg Germany, or feeding people with her incredible culinary talents at the restaurants she opened in Tennessee and Oklahoma, or singing in church choirs in the United Methodist Church in Oneida Tennessee, or even being the avid driver of a Volkswagon Rabbit sports car giving free rides to friends in Melbourne Australia. Her kids loved getting in that car with her and saying "Kick it mom! Kick it!", and she'd peel rubber out of the driveway, laughing to their delighted shrieks. This second chapter ended when Ted died suddenly in 1981 when they were living in Frederick Oklahoma. Aida worked many jobs to ensure her children lacked for nothing, that they completed high school and could attend college. In addition to her restaurants, Rivendell in Oneida Tennessee and Aida's Supper Club at Harpers in Frederick Oklahoma, Aida worked at a bank in Frederick, McDonnel Douglas in Lawton, Zales in Tucson and eventually as a widely respected and loved Realtor with many agencies across Tucson. In 1982 she met and married John Kerekes in Lawton Oklahoma, and the third chapter of Aida's epic began. Aida embraced John's existing children Jacqueline and James as deeply her own. She and John cared for each other and helped their five kids get into the world as educated self-sufficient accomplished adults who made them both proud. In 1983, Aida and John drove son Carl across country to drop him off in Boston to attend college. They then moved from Lawton to Tucson Arizona to be closer to John's children. They became avid travelers, doing vacations to Spain, Gibraltar, Caribbean, and more, often bringing one or more of the children, and over time the families of their children. Aida started her real estate career in Tucson, then John's career as an Air Traffic Control supervisor and instructor led them to move to Kodiak Alaska in 1985, where Aida again worked as a realtor. They moved back to Tucson in 1987. Aida frequently hosted dinners for the pilots John instructed, often young men and women from other countries who had no local family. It was not uncommon for a Thanksgiving dinner to have around 10 young European pilots join the family to rejoice in Aida's cooking. The fourth chapter of Aida's epic journey started when John retired. Aida herself never truly retired - like all great realtors, she never stopped loving to help people. They moved to Oro Valley and created their perfect home with mountain views and a yard full of birdsong. From that base of operations, they travelled the planet again, often self-driven tours through many countries, and taking virtually every cruise imaginable. Aida particularly loved cruises for the chance to meet so many people while seeing so many places. She made as almost as many close friends there, as she did throughout her extensive Real Estate career. As you would expect, she was beloved in the realtor community. She constantly took classes on what was new and important for her work and her clients. As such she rapidly became a trusted resource and confidant to other realtors. She gained such a reputation for her helpful nature that she received numerous awards for outstanding accomplishment like Prudential's Top of the Rock, she was listed in the Metropolitan Who's Who Registry for Tucson, and she was frequently sought out by younger realtors for mentoring and coaching. And of course, she touched their hearts just as much as she touched the hearts of her cruise cabin stewards. So across her epic journey, Aida visited six continents and lived on five of them. No adventure was too daunting, and her feet swept her forward to be there, always curious to see things for herself. As a 24-year-old, she hiked the hills of Athens and the Parthenon with her baby boy in her arms. And as a 42-year-old, she hiked the Grand Canyon to the bottom and back up. And, at all times, she did so glamorously, in how she carried herself and met the life in front of her. She shared her love of travel by having family members and grandkids join her on many cruises, where they also got to see her turn all the heads in the formals dinners and ballrooms dances, where she dressed spectacularly and unleashed her full epic inner glamour model. Her favorite cruises were the transatlantic crossings. She spent time reading books, murder/mystery, and frequent visits to the on-board casinos. She loved to speak Portuguese in Spain from bullfights to flamenco dancing to small rooftop paella meals with wine. And just as much, she loved her early morning coffee in her backyard listening to the birds, looking at the mountains and praying her fierce love for her family and friends. These are merely a few examples of how she inhaled all that life had to offer, then breathed it back out as light and joy and strength to everyone around her. Aida passed peacefully on January 19, 2020 from acute lukemia, surrounded by her family, knowing how deeply she was loved. She is survived by her devoted husband John Kerekes, children (Susan Houseman, Lillian George, Carl Kraenzel, Jacqueline McCaulou, James Kerekes), their spouses (Randy Houseman, Eric George, Carey Erdman, Jeff McCaulou, Dani Kerekes), her sister and brother-in-law (Angel and Ernie Allen), cousin Ilene Eoff, and 7 grandsons (Jacob and Alex Houseman; Cody, Joshua, Matthew and Jason Kerekes; Ryan McCaulou) and 3 granddaughters (Sarah Houseman, Kaylin Kerekes, Lauren McCaulou). In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that donations in Aida's memory be made to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (CLICK HERE) (800-805-5856) or the American Cancer Society (CLICK HERE) (800-227-2345). Memorial cards can be sent to John Kerekes, care of Visto Funeral Home, 2285 E. Rancho Vistoso Boulevard Oro Valley, AZ 85755