Zarouhi “Zow” Newton, 93, passed peacefully Aug. 1, 2026, at her Fresno home with her daughter by her side.

Zow was born Oct. 24, 1932, in the Boston area to Zevart and Mihran Chorebanian, Armenians who had immigrated to the United States. Zow and her brother Aram were raised in the Boston area, where they grew up deeply connected to their family’s heritage and Armenian values.

Always charming and at the top of her class in school, Zow was voted president of the student body at Breed Junior High and was later crowned Fresno’s “Cotton Queen.”

Zow moved with her parents to Fresno, Calif., in the late 1940s, where she attended her senior year of high school at Fresno High. She graduated with the class of 1950 and went on to attend Fresno City College. Zow loved to tell stories about having her classmates gather around to listen to her Boston accent. “They especially loved hearing words containing the letter R,” Zow often said.

As an adult, Zow continued to make Fresno her home, where, with the help of her widowed mother, “Nana,” she raised two wonderful children, Carl Newton, now of Costa Rica, and Hilari Titia Newton of Northern California. Zow was ahead of her time, a single woman who balanced her family life and her successful career as an administrative assistant to the Chancellor at Fresno City College. In her position at City College, Zow designed a new program that efficiently facilitated the college’s admissions system, among other achievements. She loved her job and the people she worked with; many of those people became lifelong friends who remained in close contact throughout her life. But if you asked Zow about her lifetime highlights, she would always mention her adult children first.

Zow is survived by Titia Newton and Carl Newton, as well as nieces and nephews and numerous friends whom she loved like family. She was preceded in death by her mother, Zevart; father, Mirhan; brother, Aram; and many of her dearest friends, including Mary Kachadoorian and Bernadine Dickoozlian.

A memorial for Zarouhi Newton will be held at 11:30 a.m., Aug. 24, 2026, at Yost and Webb Funeral Home, 1002 T Street, Fresno, Calif.