Habtemariam Negassi Tesfamichael

Habtemariam Negassi Tesfamichael (January 1, 1959—January 14, 2023)

MILWAUKEE—Habtemariam Negassi Tesfamichael, age 64, from the village of Adi Naamen, Eritrea, passed away after a short illness on January 14, 2023 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. Born on January 1, 1959, he is the son of Negassi Tesfamichael and Gumesh Ghebreamlak.

Despite losing both of his parents at a young age, Habtemariam was determined to make a better life for himself and saw education as the way to do so. He was always at the top of his class and loved learning, even though his schooling was cut short after seventh grade due to the Eritrean War of Independence.

As a teenager, Habtemariam left Eritrea to work in Sudan with Doctors Without Borders, where he learned to love working with patients. This furthered his determination to continue his education, even if he had to go across the globe.

In December 1982, Habtemariam arrived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA as a refugee who had never experienced a cold, snowy winter before. Having already known Tigrinya, Amharic and Arabic, he learned English as his fourth language.

Habtemariam quickly passed his GED test and took classes at the Milwaukee Area Technical College before enrolling as an undergraduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1985. After just two years at UW-Milwaukee, Habtemariam was directly admitted into the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Pharmacy, where he graduated in 1990.

After completing school, Habtemariam worked as a pharmacist for 10 years at Family Health Plan before getting hired at Walgreens, where he worked for the last 22 years.

Habtemariam loved his family deeply. Habtemariam married Azieb Ghebreigziabher on May 21, 1995 in Asmara, Eritrea. They later had two children. Habtemariam encouraged his children to love learning and excel in school as he did. Habtemariam worked so hard to give his son and daughter better opportunities than he had, and was so proud of their academic and professional success in law and medicine.

In addition to spending time with family, Habtemariam loved going for walks at Milwaukee’s lakefront nearly every day. He enjoyed hiking at state and national parks and traveling across the country and the world—having most recently traveled to Italy.

Habtemariam is preceded in death by his parents, Negassi and Gumesh, as well as his hero and grandfather Tesfamichael Adhanom.

He is survived by his wife of 27 years, Azieb Ghebreigziabher; his son Negassi Habtemariam Tesfamichael; his daughter, Dahlia Habtemariam Tesfamichael; his parents-in-law Ghebreigziabher Adhanom and Asefash Ghebremedhin, and brother-in-law Asfaha Ghebreigziabher.

Visitation is scheduled for Saturday, January 21, 2023 at St. Cyril & Methodius Orthodox Church, 2505 S. 30th St., Milwaukee at 10:30am with a funeral service at 11am. The burial will follow at Good Hope Cemetery at 4141 S. 43rd St., Greenfield.

Habtemariam was an incredibly smart, loving, and compassionate man who lived an inspirational life. May he rest in peace.

Editor’s Note: Tigrigna translation is provided below.

ሓጺር ሕይወት ሃብተማርያን ነጋሢ ተስፋሚኣካኤል - ሚልዎኪ

ሃብተማርያም ነጋሢ ተስፋሚካኤል ካብ ወለዱ ኣቶ ነጋሢ ተስፋሚካኤልን ወይዘሮ ጉዕሜሽ ገብረኣምላኽን ብ1 ጥሪ 1959 ኣብ ዓዲ-ንኣምን፡ ኤርትራ ተወሊዱ ኣብ መበል 64 ዓመት ዕድሜኡ ድማ ብጥሪ 14 2023፡ ኣብ ከተማ ሚልዎኪ (ዊስኮንሲን) ካብዛ ዓለም ብሞት ተፈለየ።

ወለዲ ሃብተማርያም ብንእስነቱኳ እንተሞቱ፡ ንዝኽትምና በዲሁ ንሕይወቱ ዘመሓይሸሉ ዋና መማረጺ ምህሮ ምዃኑ ብምርዳእ ብሓቦን ትብዓትን ትምህርቱ ይከታተል ነበረ። መግለጺ ፍቕሪ ትምህርቱ ድማ ካብ ብጾቱ ብጸብለልታ ብልጫታት ይወስድ ነበረ። ሽሕኳ መባእታዊ ትምህርቱ ብሰንኪ ብረታዊ ጎንጺ ናጽነት ኤርትራ ኣብ ሻቡዓይ ክፍሊ ትምህርቱ እንተ ተኾልፈ፡ ኣብ ትምህርቲ ዝነበሮ ፍቕሪ ግን ኣይሃሰሰን።

ሃብተማርያም ብንእስነቱ ንሃገረ-ሱዳን ድሕሪ ምስዳድ ምስ ሓካይም ብዘይዶብ (Doctors Without Borders) ዝብል ዓለም-ለኻዊ ትካል ኣብ ሕክምና ይሰርሕ ነበረ። እዙይ ድማ ኣብ ሕክምና ምስራሕን ሕሙማት ናይ ምእላይን ፍቕሪ ኣሕደረሉ። ነዚ ባህጊዚ ንምርዋይ ድማ ዓለም ሰጊሩ ትምህርቱ ቀጸለ።

ብ1982 ወርሒ ታሕሣስ ሃበተማርያም ስደተኛ ኰይኑ ክጣየስ ናብ ከተማ ሚልዎኪ መጽአ። ቅድሚ ሽዑ ከኣ ተሞኵሮ ቁርን በረድን ኣጋጢሙዎኣ

ኣይፈልጥን ነበረ። ትግርኛን ኣምሓሪኛን ዓረብን ይፈልጥ ብምንባሩ ራብዓይ እንግሊዝኛ ወሰኸሉ። ቀልጢፉ ድማ ኣብ ሚልዎኪ ተክኒካል ኮለጅ (MATC) ናይ ካልኣይ ደረጃ መጠናቐቒ መደብ ወዲኡ ኣብኡ ናይ ዩኒቨርሲቲ ትምህርቲ ክወስድ ድሕሪ ምጽናሕ ብ1985 ናብ ዩኒቨርሲቲ ኦፍ ዊስኮንሲን-ሚልዎኪ (UW-Milwaukee) ባቸለር ኦፍ ሳይንስ ዲግሪ ዘውህቦ ትምህርቲ ንምውሳድ ተመዝገበ። ኣብ ዩኒቨርሲቲ ኦፍ ዊስኮንስን-ሚልዎኪ ንክልተ-ዓመት ምስተማህረ ድማ ዩኒቨርሲቲ ኦፍ ዊስኮንሲን-ማዲሶን ቤት-ትምህርቲ ፋርማሲ (University of Wisconsin – Madison School of Pharmacy) ተቐብሎ’ሞ ብ1990 ድማ ብናይ ፋርማሲ ዲግሪ ተመረቐ።

ትምህርቱ ምስ ወድአ፡ ሃብተማርያም ንዓሠርተ ዓመት ኣብ ፋሚሊ ሄልዝ ፕላን (Family Health Plan) ፋርማሲስቲ ኮይኑ ድሕሪ ምስራሕ ብዎልግሪንስ (Walgreens) ተቖጺሩ ንዝሓለፉ ንዕሥራን-ክለተን ዓመታት ክሳዕ ዕለተ ሞቱ ሰርሐ።

ሃበተማርያም ፈታው ስድራ-ቤቱ ነበረ። ብዕለት 21 ግንቦት 1995 ዓ.ም. ምስ ኣዜብ ገብረእግዚኣብሔር ኣብ ኣሥመራ ኤርትራ ቃልኪዳን ድሕሪ ምእሳር ክልተ ደቂ ወለዱ። ሃብተማርያም ንደቁ ፍቕሪ ትምህርቲ ፍልጠትን ንኸሕድሩ የበራትዖምን ይጽዕርን ነበረ። ንወዱን ንጓሉን ካብቲ ንሱ ዝበጽሖ ዕድላት ንላዕሊ ክረኽቡ ኣዝዩ ይጽዕር ነበረ። ብናይ ሕጊን ሕክምናን ሞያታት ምዕዋቶም ድማ ኣዝዩ ኵሩዕን ሕጉስን ነበረ።

ምስ ስዳራኡ ጊዜ ምሕላፍ ይፈቱ ነበረ፡ ከምኡ’ውን ኣብ ገምገም ቀላይ (ባሕሪ) ሚልውውኪ ክዛወርን ምንቅስቓስ ኣካላትን የዘውትር ነበረ። ኣብ ስቴትን ሃገራዊን ፓርክታት ብእግሪ ክዛወር ኣብ ውሽጢ ሃገርን ወጻኢን ታሪኻዊያን ቦታታት ምብጻሕን ምርኣይን ደስ ይብሎ ነበረ። ኣብ ቀረባ እዋን ናብ ዓዲ ጣልያን ምስ ስድራኡ በጺሑ ምምላሱ ከም ኣብነት ይጥቀስ።

ንሃብተማርያም ብሞት ዝቐደሙዎ ወለዱ፡ ነፍሰ-ኄር ነጋሥ ተስፋሚካኤልን ነፍሰ-ኄርት ጉዕሜሽን ብሓበንን ኵርዓትን ዝዝክሮም ኣቦሓጎኡ ነፈሰ-ኄር ተስፋሚካኤል ኣድኃኖም እዮም።

ኣብ መሪር ሓዝን ሞት ሃብተማርያም ዝርከቡ ስድራቤቱ፡ ናይ ዕሥራን-ሾብዓተን ዓመት በዓልቲ ቃልኪዳኑ ኣዜብ ገብረእግዚኣብሔርን፡ ወዱ ነጋሢ ሃብተማርያም ተስፋሚካኤልን ጓሉ ዳልያ ሃበተማርያም ተስፋሚካኤልን ክኾኑ እንከለዉ፡ ናይዚ መሪር ሓዘን ተኻፈልት ድማ ኣሕማኡ፡ ኣቶ ገብረእግዚኣብሔር ኣድኃኖምን ወይዘሮ ኣሰፋሽ ፈተውራሪ ገብረ-መድኅንን ዞማኡ ድማ ኣቶ ኣስፍሓ ገብረእግዚኣብሔር እዮም።

መዓልቲ ቀብሪ፡- ቀዳም ዕለት 21 ጥሪ 2023 - ሰዓት 10፡00 ቅድሚ ቀትሪ ምርኣይ፡ ሰዓት 11፡00 ቅድሚ ቀትሪ ጸሎተ ፍትሓት ኣብ St. Cyril and Methodius Orthodox Church, 2505 S. 30th St., Milwaukee, WI 53215 ቀብሪ ድማ 4141 S. 43rd St., Greenfield, WI 53220.

ሃበተማርያም ፈላጥን ኣኽባሪን ኣፍቃሪን ርኅሩኅን ሰብ፡ ሕይወቱ ድማ ንብዙሓት ኣርኣያ ነበረ።

ኣምላኽ ብርሃን ዘለዓለም ይሃቦ፡ ብሰላይ ይዕረፍ!!!