Charles "Charley" Malkassian

Charles "Charley" Malkassian passed away in Sonoma on February 8, 2021.  

Charley is survived by his wife, Kathleen "Kit" Schmidt, his children; Amber, Marie and Keith Malkassian, his step-children Logan and Bronwyn Schmidt and grandchildren; Cruz Perez, Koa Ramos and Griffin Schmidt.

A hootenanny will be celebrated in the future when it is safe.

The family prefers memorial contributions be made in his memory to Hospice of Petaluma or the Cannon School of Music.

LOVE IS Charley R. Malkassian:

Love is when You wake up in the morning to Your best Friend gazing @ You and He tells You (every single morning) “You are so beautiful. How can One wake up with such beauty?” My reply would always be “You, Charley make Me feel beautiful. Thank You.”

Love is when You and Your best Friend hug prior to every single meal You share together. It was like our prayer. Then we would sit side by side to a candlelit dinner @ home, often talking about gratitude. Charley has a long gratitude list. Charley would always wait for Me to take the first bite of food. We would sit together until we were both completely finished which means Charley would always save the last of the tastiest bites for me.  We always sat side by side (whether @ home or dining out) as well as shared the same plate.

Love is when Your best Friend anticipates Your needs, reads Your heart and mind and completely sets You up for the next moment. Charley would go through my checklist with me every morning as I’m heading out the door to work “laptop, name tag, cell phone, ear buds, water, snack, wallet, keys, masks, lab coat” then He would walk me to my car helping me carry the load.  Always the long hug before I drove off.

Love is when You’re having a really rough day @ work yet You continue to feel grounded and centered knowing that You’ll be going Home to Charley’s love. He’ll be waiting for You, ready to listen, talk and share Your stories of the day.  

Love is when Your best Friend looks @ You from across the room, makes the deepest soulful eye contact with You that You feel You’re floating in heaven, yet feeling so centered.  

Love is when Your best friend invites You to walk through Your garden together as He points out every new blossom.

Love is when Your best Friend invites You to step outside to watch the sunset, look @ the moon. Charley, prior to his retirement last April would take photos of the sunrise and share them with me with a text.  

Love is the daily gift of gab that We shared and the daily laughs and giggles. Charley has a brilliant mind, imagination and a wonderful wit that made me laugh every single day.

Love is the Man, Charley being impeccable with His word, His actions, His consistent kindness, tenderness and warmth towards me, towards everyone He encountered, his selflessness and His general enthusiasm.

Love is the natural smile He wore always. I continue to feel that floating heavenly love and warmth from Charley as I wake up this morning and find His flannel shirt sleeve wrapped around me in an embrace.  I still smell His unique scent of sandalwood, ginger, vanilla with a little hint of exotic musk. Another reason why I loved his requests for long hugs.

An important message from Charley:

“I want everyone I love and care about to know that I have no regrets, no grudges. Every chapter of my life has been rich and has brought me to this very moment of pure love and understanding.”

An important message from me:

My new pronoun is We. I will continue to represent Charley and honor Him to the best of my human ability.  I will do my best to love as He loves, to aim for the highest vibration.  I will continue many of our sweet daily rituals as well as come up with new ones to celebrate our forever epic love. I’ll will play the new 12 string guitar that He bought me just weeks ago. He encouraged me to play more music. This guitar looks like it’s sent from heaven - it’s white with sparkly gold trim and an angel wing shaped pick guard. I’ve been playing and singing ‘Comes a time by Neil Young’ every morning and night for Him. This is the song He wanted played when He was sharing His thoughts of life and death with Me a few years ago.
We have planted a Kwanzan Japanese Cherry tree in the yard - Our Charley tree with our children and grandchildren and had His favorite cookies baked by our Daughters. Charley had wanted a pink blossoming Cherry tree. He picked the spot and even prepared it with the rototiller several weeks ago. It was our plan to do this already.  A Charley tree.
We would like to celebrate Charley with a hootenanny. A Halloween hootenanny would be perfect if it’s safe to gather by then. He’s a big Halloween fan and the more zombies the better. 

A message from Us:

WE LOVE AND APPRECIATE YOU ALL, DEAR FAMILY AND FRIENDS. Thank You for celebrating love and life with Us.
Thank You for being there for life’s ups and downs. We want You to hold and hug one another every day with long meditative hugs as if it were Your last. We want You to practice self love and compassion. We thank You from the bottom of our shared heart for the outpouring of love and support over this very difficult past week.  You truly have held Us.  Again... We love You.

Kit and Charley  [❤] ️

Article Remembering Charley  

https://www.cheeseprofessor.com/blog/remembering-master-cheesemaker-charley-malkassian?fbclid=IwAR1fpwkELKp9C234ZBCB8CHi4rvGDtM6BucqJYmxcEiwPDmFvce3UBtGEmc

A hike with friends @ the beginning of our Friendship-courtship. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EPu7gl6ybVB5xWDF0ekH_LncjLFXUnEy/view?fbclid=IwAR2qVYBMaU85Wb7inT6CkFnPtSWTOx_WoSRu-V7OG8NkpJPFHjNGhYl174Y

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