Yolanda Antonia Ounanian

Yolanda Antonia Leparulo Ounanian (“Loni”), 72, of Menifee, CA, reposed on 1 March, 2023 after three year battle with cancer. Loni was born on the 21st of July, 1950 to Antonio and Teresa (Cappo) Leparulo in West Orange, New Jersey. After graduating from high school in 1966, she went on to complete a bachelor's degree in chemistry at the College of Saint Elizabeth in Morristown, NJ shortly before she turned 19. She then completed her Medical Degree at Albany College of Medicine in 1973. She completed two years of pediatric residency at Valley Health in Phoenix, AZ, then did two years of child psychiatry at UCLA with the intention to practice as a child psychiatrist. However, she decided to shift her focus back to pediatrics and did an additional year at Children’s hospital of Los Angeles, beginning a nearly 40-year career as a pediatrician. It was while she was in her psychiatric residency at the Brentwood Veterans’ Hospital psychiatric ward that she met her husband, Leroy Ounanian. They married in 1977 and went on to have two children, Serena (Ounanian) Enke and Steven Ounanian . In 2008, Loni was received into the Orthodox Christian Church. In 2014, Loni retired and spent her time serving her parish of Saint Andrew Orthodox Church, traveling with her beloved husband and spending quality time with her five grandchildren. In her retirement she became an avid seamstress and particularly enjoyed making baptismal robes for her own parish as well as others. Loni was predeceased by her siblings Luigi, Vincenzo, Angelo, and Carolina. She is survived by her husband Leroy, her daughter Serena and husband Erich, her son Steven and wife Joanne (Wardrop), and her grandchildren Elena, Dmitri, Seraphima, Johannes, and Ruben. Services will be held at Saint Andrew Orthodox Church on 4 March at 10am.

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