Morteza Sabet

Morteza was born and raised in Tehran, Iran.  He is the oldest of five children followed by Mujtaba, Zoreh, Amir and Fiazeh. His mother Farough and father Hossien Sabet were wonderful parents to Morteza.

Morteza made good friends everywhere he went and through elementary school, high school, and beyond. He kept in touch with many of them and spent hours chatting and joking online. 

When Morteza graduated from high school, he was drafted into the Iranian Navy. He spent 2 years in the military and made good lifetime friends.

After leaving the Navy, Morteza looked for employment and found a company that was looking for Power Plant Operators to work in a new dam that was still under construction. It was located in Khuzestan, Iran, the southern part of Iran by the gulf where a 125° day was the norm. So he went to take a test that would decide whether he would be employed. And yes, he got the job offer. He wasn’t sure he wanted to live in such a hot desolate place while working as a Power Plant Operator, so his father advised him and said “Morteza, son do you see any other offers here? This is a great offer that you should consider.” Morteza, who loved and respected both his parents and especially his father, took his advice. This was one of the best decisions Morteza made for his life.

Morteza spent several years working at Dez dam as a Power Plant Operator and was one of their top employees! He made many friends both from Iran and from different countries all around the world and he kept in touch with them throughout the years. While working at Dez dam, every now and then he would drive to Tehran to spend time with his family whom he loved and enjoyed.

While working at the Dez dam, he managed to save enough money to finally start his dream of coming to America and going to a university to become an engineer. 

On the way to America, he traveled with his truck driver friend from Turkey throughout Europe exploring everywhere he went. That was such a great trip and he talked about it often!

In America, Morteza had to find work to support his student lifestyle and college expenses. He found work in jobs from cleaning up lawns to working part time at the CHP tuning up the police cars. He worked for Web Service going out to apartment sites to fix washers and dryers. Morteza had many skills that served him well. As a child, he built a radio and model cars all on his own! The owner of Web Service was so impressed by Morteza’s skills that he offered him a full-time managerial position there! Morteza was flattered but told them that he appreciated the offer but he was intent on finishing his education. Once again, he made the right choice! Morteza had a lot of ambition and an attitude that he knew he could accomplish any goal he set out to do!

When he first arrived in California, he stayed with his friend Hooshang Jalili in Santa Monica. He did not like Southern California because it was so crowded. He would say, “it’s so crowded that when you leave for the weekend to get away everybody goes with you and when you go back home, everybody goes back home with you too… you can never escape the crowds!”

Morteza decided to come to Sacramento because he heard of a good college that he could attend in a much less crowded city. That college was Consumers Community River College (CCRC). That is where Morteza and Helen met and started their life together. They didn’t know at the time that they would be together 51 beautiful years!

Morteza completed his classes at CCRC and transferred to California State University, Sacramento, where he earned a Bachelor of Sciences, Engineering. 

After graduation, Morteza became employed in the power industry, right in line with his work history, and worked as an engineer at several companies. He ended up at Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) where he worked until he retired. And again, Morteza made lifelong friends whom he kept in touch with!

Along the way, Morteza and his wife Helen had two beautiful children, Nodere and Nasreen, and two grand daughters, Olive and Ruby. Morteza loved his family and especially his grand daughters, Olive and Ruby. Morteza and Helen spent hours enjoying and babysitting their grand daughters. He built Olive and Ruby swings hanging from the front yard tree on which they spent many wonderful sunny days swinging while grandpa and grandma watched and laughed together. Good days!

Morteza loved spending time with family and he loved Persian food, Alfa Romeo cars, Apple computers and technology, making his favorite Persian dishes for family, watching NBA basketball, everything Italian (and especially Italian food), Thai and Indian food, long drives in the country especially with his Alfa on a winding road, visits and dinners with his brothers and sisters, family vacations to the Sea Gull Inn in Mendocino, Mexico, Europe, and Italy. Morteza loved life! He was a generous, smart, and loving man with a great big heart! Especially for children. “God bless all children” he said often!

Morteza was the love of Helen’s life, her best friend, confidant, teacher, and the best partner that she could ever have! They loved their time together. Some say that she was so lucky to have 51 years with him. Morteza was a one of a kind great gentleman and Helen is surely amazingly blessed to have met him that day in 1971!

WE LOVE YOU MORTEZA ❤️