Naomi Beriarmente Vujan

Naomi Beriarmente Vujan, a loving and generous wife, mother, grandmother, aunt, sister and selfless servant of Christ died peacefully in Washington on Monday, May 4 while surrounded by family. She was 83.

Naomi’s life was one filled with joyful adventure, laughter and trust in God that took her on an unlikely path from the Philippines to a lumber town in northern Canada, to Navajo reservations in the American Southwest, to rural Pennsylvania, and ultimately, to the U.S. capital.

Along the way, she built a legacy of love that will last long after her time on this earth, but for that reason will make her absence from it felt all the more deeply by her adoring husband, children, grandchildren, and all those who knew her. Naomi was at once graceful, elegant, warm and charming, yet confident, clear and exacting, holding herself to a high standard that often led those around her to do the same.

From her days as a young child, Naomi was strong and wise, displaying an industrious nature and tireless spirit that she summoned to help her mother, aunts and uncles after her father died when she was in grade school. Naomi’s diligence extended to the classroom, making her a standout student. She graduated as salutatorian from Catbalogan Samar High School and magna cum laude from Central Philippine University, opening doors to a career in healthcare that she harnessed to lift both her and her family from its humble beginnings.

Naomi’s daring solo move across the Pacific Ocean in 1966, first took her to a shocking new climate in Kapuskasing, Ontario. It also provided her with the wherewithal to support her two sisters through college back in the Philippines. By the early 1970s, they graduated and joined her in Toronto as Naomi took on greater professional responsibility there, rising to become a nursing supervisor at The Hospital for Sick Children.

In the summer of 1975, Naomi took another bold leap, driving her canary yellow Fiat 2,200 miles to help a family friend set up a new pediatric unit at a hospital on a Navajo reservation in Tuba City, Arizona. There she found both a new career calling in the Indian Health Service and the love of her life, Alexander “Lex” Vujan, a young physician from western Pennsylvania who was immediately smitten with her beautiful smile. He proposed under the stars on a camping trip.

Naomi and Lex moved back to Pennsylvania to raise their daughters and to be closer to family while doing so. It was there that Naomi became the model of an unflappable working mother. She simultaneously served as a Registered Nurse in the office of Lex’s private practice in Jamestown, PA, while also keeping the house – and the kitchen – warm and inviting. Naomi’s talents in cooking and baking soon became legendary and their home was often the center of joyful family gatherings, with frequent visits from cousins from near and far.

To her daughters, Naomi was vivacious and quick to laugh, even as she crisscrossed western PA for gymnastics meets, youth group activities and piano lessons. Naomi was always teaching, imparting her tireless work ethic, her strong moral compass, as well as a caution to not take oneself too seriously.

With their children through college, Naomi and Lex returned to the Indian Health Service in 2003, hosting countless potlucks in Crownpoint, New Mexico and taking young nurses and physicians under their wing, as others had done for them decades before. Naomi at the same time took on another challenge, as a nurse researcher for Johns Hopkins University.

In 2013, Naomi retired and she and Lex moved to Washington DC to help care for their grandson and be closer to their granddaughter in Pennsylvania. Soon, another granddaughter was on the way and Naomi embraced the role of playful family matriarch.

Over her life, Naomi was a devoted member and supporter of several congregations, including the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, the Greenville Alliance Church, Crownpoint Christian Reform Church, and Grace Merdian Hill in D.C.

Her legacy will live on most directly through members of her family and in the strong bonds she helped forge between her children, nieces and nephews now scattered across the United States and Canada.

She was, at heart, a gatherer and a convener who sensed great power in fellowship, bringing together family and friends whenever possible – and, almost always, around one of her famously elaborate and delicious dinners or desserts.

For Naomi, cooking and baking was always more than a daily task. It was her art and often, her ministry, a chance to layer together flavors and textures that brought joy. She readily shared her creations not just with family but with anyone in need of a warm dinner, whether it was through meal trains or soup kitchens.

Naomi lamented in her final years that her struggle with multiple system atrophy kept her from the kitchen. But her strength, resilience and trust in God were on display until the end.

Naomi died of complications from MSA. She is survived by her husband of 49 years, Alexander S. Vujan, her children, Andrea (Jason McCloskey) and Nicole (Aaron Davis); and her grandchildren, Penelope, Alex and Emilia. She is also survived by her youngest sister, Margery Topalian. She was predeceased by her sister Ruth Veldkamp.

Arrangements:

A private funeral service will be held with a public memorial service to follow on Sunday, June 7 at 4:00 pm at Grace Meridian Hill at 810 Shepherd Street NW, Washington, DC 20011.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Naomi’s memory can be sent to Crownpoint Christian Reform Church, P.O. Box 208, Crownpoint NM 87313 (Attention Darlene Silversmith) or Grace Meridian Hill, P.O. Box 14164, Washington DC 20044.