Rohanieh Sharghi Toloubadei

We are mourning the passing and celebrating the life of our beloved mother/grandmother, Rohanieh Sharghi Toloubadei, who passed away peacefully on June 17, 2025, in Waddell, Arizona, at the age of 91. She was lovingly cared for by her daughter, Shidokht, and son-in-law, Leslie, for several years through her final days.

Rohanieh was born on May 29, 1934, in Eshghabad, Russia. Her early life was marked by immense challenges which forged her incredible strength and resilience throughout her entire life. In mid-1938, when she was only four years old, during the Russian “Great Purge,” her mother was forced to flee with three young children, leaving our grandfather behind. He was taken to the Siberian forced labor camps, where he endured 19 years of hardship. The family bravely started from scratch in Mashhad, Iran, with our grandmother working multiple jobs to support her three young children. Our mother lost her middle sister to pneumonia at the age of 8. The family endured many hardships and had to start over several times due to natural disasters and other misfortunes. She fell in love and married the love of her life, Aminulah Toloubadei when she was about 21 years old. In a moment of incredible joy and relief, our grandfather, after nearly two decades, miraculously was released and able to return to Iran and his family when our mother was about 22 years old and had just welcomed her first child, Shervin. She subsequently had two other children, Moujan and Shidokht Toloubadei.

Our mother faced further adversity when she lost her beloved husband in an Iranian Air Force airplane crash on May 9, 1976. Two years later, with her characteristic courage, resilience and determination she embarked on a new chapter, moving to the United States in December of 1977 with her two children, Moujan and Shidokht, to join her eldest son, Shervin, in Long Island, New York. By engaging the community and building on what she had learned during her High School years in Iran, she built her language skills very quickly. She also started working tirelessly to support her family, embodying her unwavering commitment to those she loved. She was joined by her parents in New York after several years where she subsequently lost her father to cancer.

Her deep faith was a guiding light throughout her life. She was instrumental in the formation and served for many years on the Local Spiritual Assembly of Hempstead in Long Island, New York. In 1985, our mother moved to Arizona, settling in Fountain Hills with Shidokht. There, she continued her dedicated service, helping to form and serving on the Local Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Fountain Hills, contributing significantly to its growth and the spiritual life of the community. In the late 1990s to early 2000s, she moved to Anthem, helping to establish their Local Spiritual Assembly and often hosting Ruhi Classes, Feasts, and Holy Days at her home.

Our mother was always looking after others in the community, especially those who lived alone, and she visited and helped many of her friends and community members regularly. She loved participating in Baha’i events around the valley and was known for always bringing our grandmother with her to these gatherings, even driving together to Desert Rose Baha’i School on many occasions. She eventually retired from working and devoted her life to caring for our grandmother until the day she passed at the age of almost 101 years old.

Our mother had a profound love for beauty and creativity, which manifested in many ways. She possessed a melodious voice for chanting Baha’i Prayers and was often asked to chant during various Baha’i events, touching the hearts of those who listened. She also had a wonderful singing voice and a profound love for music, traveling around the world with the “Voices of Baha Choir” in the late 1990s, promoting and teaching the spiritual writings and prayers of the Baha’i Faith. She was unconditionally dedicated to her Faith and shared it with anyone and everyone she met. She found immense joy in nature, especially the mountains and hills, captivated by how their colors changed throughout the day. She had many images of sunsets on her phone, which she loved to capture, and found great happiness working in her garden planting trees and flowers, always delighting in the vibrant flowers.

Our mother is survived by her children, Shervin, Moujan (and spouse Nahid), and Shidokht (and spouse Leslie), and her cherished grandchildren, Pegah and Parsa Abbasian and Bayan Toloubadei. Her extraordinary strength, unwavering spirit, deep faith, and boundless love for her family and community will be profoundly missed and forever cherished in our hearts.

A funeral prayer will be held on June 22, 2025, at 9:00 am at Phoenix Memorial Park and Mortuary, located at 200 West Beardsley Road, Phoenix, AZ 85027.

A graveside service will follow on the same day at 10:00 am at Phoenix Memorial Park, also located at 200 West Beardsley Road, Phoenix, AZ 85027.