DIANA A. SHIRIN

Diana Arlene Shirin was born in Detroit, Michigan on March 29, 1940 to Hratch and Queenie Tcherkoyan. She was the younger sister of Gregory Tcherkoyan, affectionately known as “Cookie.” When she was a young girl, her family traveled to California and settled in Fresno. She attended Roosevelt High School, graduating with the Class of 1957, and then continued her education at Fresno State College. She pursued her teaching credential and graduated on January 26, 1962.

Diana had quite a lengthy career in teaching. She started her career at Lone Star Elementary School in the Sanger Unified School District. After that, she transferred to the Fresno Unified School District and spent her early years teaching at Alice Birney Elementary School. Soon after, she moved again and spent the bulk of her career teaching Kindergarten at Dailey Elementary School. She enjoyed keeping in contact with several of her fellow teachers from Dailey, long after retirement. She made such an impact in teaching that she was nominated for the 1999 Jean Gromis Memorial Award for Kindergarten Teacher of the Year. Her career of shaping young minds is also memorialized by a brick on the Honor Wall at the Kremen School of Education and Human Development at California State University Fresno.

Diana married the love of her life, Richard, on February 8, 1964 at Holy Trinity Church. They were married for 54 wonderful years. Their favorite hobbies were playing Bridge with Diana’s brother Greg and sister-in-law Seta, and taking various cruises during their retirement years. Diana and Richard had two children, Cynthia and Roger; two grandchildren, Kaylee and Riley, and also two grand-dogs named Makita and Sandy. Richard preceded her in death in July, 2018. It was six months prior to that when Diana & Richard made their new home at The Vineyards Independent Living Community at the California Armenian Home. Diana established a new life at The Vineyards after Richard's passing. She made many new friends, as well as reacquainted with several old friends, and spent 9 years there. She enjoyed that it was close to her family, and would frequently come back to her East Lowe Avenue house for Sunday dinners with Cynthia and Scott, who moved in after she and Richard moved out.

Diana was honored with the 2014 Mother of the Year Award from Holy Trinity Church. She enjoyed volunteering at the church several days per week. In addition to serving in the Ladies’ Aid and Trinity Guild over the years, she also worked in the office as a full-time volunteer and in the kitchen whenever needed. She loved the camaraderie with the other ladies that served so faithfully with her. She also enjoyed selling raffle tickets at the church picnic every year, and loved participating in many church events.

When not working or volunteering, Diana would like to relax by the window in her kitchen drinking coffee and working out Sudoku and other crossword puzzles. She also enjoyed watching a good comedy movie and the Game Show Network. Above all else, she loved to spend time with family when they would come over to visit.

Diana has been a positive influence in her children’s and grandchildren’s lives. Her daughter Cynthia has followed in her footsteps with it comes to volunteer work and her granddaughter Kaylee is an ordained pastor at Coquille Foursquare Church and leads the worship team, in addition to many other church duties. She loved seeing her grandson Riley grow up and hearing about his travels; loved to discuss with her son-in-law her opinions of different kinds of dark roast coffees and politics; and always looked forward to talking to her son Roger every Sunday at 8 am about his life in Utah.

Diana will certainly be missed by all. She was truly a kind-hearted soul. Heaven is certainly celebrating its gain, and she is now in the loving presence of Jesus for eternity. Funeral Services will be held on Friday, May 15, 2026 at Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church, 2226 Ventura Ave, Fresno with interment at Masis Ararat Cemetery, 250 N Hughes Ave, Fresno. A luncheon will immediately follow, back at Holy Trinity Church social hall.