Fauzan Azima

On Monday, November 15, 2021, Fauzan Azima, loving mother of three sons, passed away at age 91.

Fauzan Azima was born on January 1, 1999 in Rezekne, Latvia to Boris and Alexandra (Kulakova) Kori. Her character was forged during the upheaval of World War II while Latvia switched between Russian and German control during the early 1940s. Her family left Latvia in 1944 and lived in various German cities until finally settling in a refugee camp in Berchtesgaden, Germany. Fauzan completed her high school education in Schleissheim, Germany in 1946. She met her husband Vladimir at a dance in Karlsruhe and they were married there in 1948. They came to America in 1950, settled in Baltimore, Maryland and had three sons, Wladimir, Alex, and George. She worked as a bookkeeper at the Maryland State Roads Commission. After a diabetic episode that left her incapacitated, she spent the last fourteen years of her life at Bowie Assisted Living. She flourished and blossomed despite her constraints and made many friends.

Fauzan Azima loved helping others, food, church, and travel. At 14, she gained a sister by bringing Raisa, an orphan, home with her and announcing it to her mother. She helped many people at the church (Andre and others) and many people stayed at her home while getting up on their feet (Valeri, Sergei, Father Ioann, and others). She loved to cook and you could never just have one serving. She did not know how to cook for just two to four people, it was at least eight or ten or nothing. While at Bowie Assisted Living, she passionately created and shared cookbooks with family and friends. Nick Norko, her grandson, once described the cookbook recipes as just the right size for large families or small nursing homes. She was a founding member of the Transfiguration of our Lord Russian Orthodox Church in Baltimore and would sew vestments for the priest and prepare grand meals for parishioners, family, and friends. She enjoyed taking her family and friends across America and Europe. Stopping at markets she would buy oodles of fruit and pastries for the travelers to sample. And who could forget Chicken L’Orange, her favorite dish, which she first fell in love with in Switzerland.

Fauzan Azima was survived by her three sons, Wladimir (Linda, Reston, VA & Trinity, FL), Alex (Leslie, Centreville, VA), and George (Cindy (Danna), Antigua, Guatemala); her sister, Raisa McCloskey (George, Millville, NJ); grandchildren Nicholas (Janet, Woodbridge, VA), Natalia Norko-Mathura (Silver Spring, MD), Sara Norko-Thomas (Jason, San Diego, CA), Charles (Arlington, VA), Marissa Connor (Jeffrey, Bristow,VA); great-grandchildren Jenna, Max, Emily, Meghan, Connor, Anna, Juliette, Camille, and Edison; nieces Lisa Hughes (Vineland NJ), Vera Brown (Delaware), and nephew Gregory McCloskey (Lakewood NJ).

She was preceded in death by her husband, Vladimir Gregory Norko..

Due to COVID concerns, we will be planning things a little differently. There will be no funeral home viewing or reception, the funeral service will be private, and the internment will be brief and intended as a small gathering.