Celia Cohan

La Mesa, California - Celia Cohan passed away on Friday, July 22, 2022, at the age of 87. She died peacefully, after battling Interstitial Lung Disease. She was a loving wife, mother of four, and grandmother of eleven.

Celia was born in Colton, California on September 14, 1934, to Jose Roano and Ramona (Duran) Roano. She was the middle of three children, she has joined her older sister Maria Adelina “Adeline” and younger brother Joseph Ramon “Ray” in heaven. Her father passed away when she was very young, and they moved to Tijuana, Mexico. After ten years, the family returned to America, where she attended Sweetwater Union High School in National City, California. After graduating High School, she worked for the Sweetwater Union School Board.

She met Christopher John Cohan a real-life “rocket scientist”, who came to San Diego on a Summer internship, at General Dynamics Aerospace Corporation, in 1957. They were married on Saturday, April 12, 1958.

They established a home in La Mesa California, overlooking 200-acre Murray Reservoir, with a spectacular view of Cowles Mountain, the very prominent and tallest mountain in San Diego. They resided there for almost 60 years, where they raised and nurtured their four children: Christopher “Chris”, Elizabeth “Liza”, Michael “Mike” and Joseph “Joe”, and watched them grow and flourish.

After her youngest child Joe began elementary school, Celia registered for college, graduating from San Diego State University, and earning her master’s degree in accounting from Central Michigan University. She then earned her CPA license and began working as a government defense contract auditor. They were very active with Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church, where the children attended parochial school.

Chris is married to Elena with three children Stephanie, Bryce and Kevin.
Liza is married to Tom with two children Stefan and Erik.
Mike is married to Regina with three children Hannah, Claire (preceded her in death) and Spencer.
Joe is married to Katherine with three children Matthew, Abigail and Robert.

She enjoyed watching the hummingbirds and other songbirds who visited her backyard, working on challenging jigsaw puzzles, sewing, knitting, crocheting and oil painting. After retirement Celia and Chris enjoyed traveling the world, visiting every continent (except Antarctica), almost every US National Park and numerous countries around the globe.

Celia was best known as Mom to her children and their spouses. She watched with pride as they moved off to far and exotic locations such as Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Hawaii, Sweden, Korea, Japan, and Minami-Tori-Shima a tropical atoll in the Pacific. Her favorite moniker, however, was Grandma and her eyes would light up with love, joy and pride when speaking of her grandchildren, Stephanie, Kevin, Bryce, Stefan, Erik, Hannah, Spencer, Claire, Matthew, Abby and Robert.

Celia is survived by her loving husband of 64 years, Christopher, along with her children and grandchildren,

She is also survived by her Brother-in-law William Cohan and numerous nieces and nephews.