RoseMarie Giancola Khavari 1940-2026

She leaves behind her loving and devoted husband, Dr. Mohammad Khavari; her two daughters, Rhea and Afsaneh Lynne Khavari Roncka, and their respective husbands, Thomas and Jeffrey Roncka; and her two granddaughters, Samantha and Madeleine Roncka.

RoseMarie was preceded in death by her parents, Reginald and Thelma Giancola, and her brothers, Carmen and Cornell Giancola.

RoseMarie Khavari was born Jan. 29, 1940.

She grew up in Niles, attending St. Stephen from first through 12th grade. After high school, she completed her nursing degree at Trumbull Memorial Hospital in Warren.

RoseMarie focused first on pediatrics and then labor and delivery, where she met her future husband of almost 61 years, M. Khavari. The couple was married April 24, 1965, and lived in Ohio, Illinois and Wisconsin, but eventually settled down in Warren, where they raised their two daughters, Rhea and Lynne.

RoseMarie stopped working as a registered nurse after her girls were born so she could stay home and raise them while her husband explored career opportunities in Chicago and Eau Claire. However, upon her return to Warren, she noted that she soon became busier than when she worked full-time, given her volunteer roles at her daughters’ schools and as an active member of the Trumbull County Women’s Auxiliary.

RoseMarie’s love for family and generosity with her heart and time meant that she willingly broadened her caregiving role to helping her extended family. Endlessly patient, good-humored, gentle and kind, RoseMarie was mother to many. She really believed that you help family above all else, which she demonstrated most dramatically by providing daily care for both her parents for several years while they battled and eventually succumbed to cancer. As she later did during her own struggles with illness, RoseMarie handled these difficulties with her characteristic grace, patience and love.

RoseMarie balanced her caregiving side by taking great pleasure from her longstanding hobbies. She was an avid baker and cook and was always making some delicious dish or sweet for the family to eat. Everyone who knew her has wonderful memories of the house smelling of Italian and Persian food and delectable desserts. Rhea and Lynne remember coming home from school and being treated to delicious cookies warm from the oven and chatting with their mom in the kitchen about their days. RoseMarie lived long enough to pass this love of cooking down to both her granddaughters, each of whom fondly recalls getting lessons from their beloved “Nonna.” Cooking was not her only pastime and RoseMarie greatly enjoyed reading, watching movies (especially Hollywood classics), traveling far and wide across the globe with her family, and listening to music such as the Beatles, Glen Campbell, Neil Diamond and Dolly Parton. She also partook of sewing, crocheting, knitting and cross-stitch.

In 1998, shortly after retiring, the Khavaris moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico. They built their dream house and spent the next 20 happy years together, living on a 7,000-foot-tall mountain, enjoying the high desert climate, artistic community and culinary specialties of the region. These years were spent touring New Mexico, Nevada and California, and enjoying their other great loves aside, of course, from each other. RoseMarie cooked, baked and crafted while her husband painted in his personal studio attached to the house, both doing so while overlooking beautiful vistas that were their constant companions in Santa Fe. The couple also enjoyed many visits from their family and grandchildren, as well as numerous friends from Ohio.

In 2020, RoseMarie and her husband decided to come down off the mountain and move to the Jefferson Independent Living Community in Arlington, Virginia, a few minutes’ drive from their daughter, Lynne, grandchildren and RoseMarie’s cousins.

RoseMarie will be sorely missed by her husband, whole family and friends. She was an incredible person, wife, mother, aunt, sister, niece, cousin and grandmother. RoseMarie was one of those people that may have seemed quiet when you first met her, but as you got to know her, you saw her sense of humor, her strength, her patience, her love of family and friends, and above all, her kindness and compassion for others. RoseMarie always had a kind word or greeting for everyone, and when you saw her twinkling blue eyes and smile, you felt lucky that you were in her orbit. She will be missed but never forgotten, and her legacy and example live on in everyone who had the honor of meeting her.

A funeral service will be 9 a.m. Saturday, April 18, 2026, at the Joseph Rossi and Sons Funeral Home in Niles.

Burial will be in Howland Township Cemetery.

To share a memory, send a condolence or browse our selection of sympathy flowers and gifts, visit RoseMarie’s tribute page at www.josephrossifuneralhome.com.

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