Questions, Few Answers Yet, in Wake of Deadly Car Crash

As police continue their investigation into Monday’s fatal crash, the family of the two victims, a Danville woman and her mother, faced having to make arrangements for their memorial service while dealing with the enormity of their loss.

“These two were the backbone of the family. I don’t know what we’ll do without them,” said Mo Ghezavat about his wife of 33 years, Elham Pirdavari.

The 51-year-old mother of two adult children was driving in an SUV with her mother, Mahimdokht Dowlati, 72, on Brookside Drive on Monday. At about 4:20 p.m. their silver Dodge Durango was going south at the Sycamore Valley Road intersection when it was broadsided by a red Toyota pickup traveling west on Sycamore Valley Road.

Pirdavari died at the scene and Dowlati died later that afternoon at John Muir Medical Center.

“She was my guardian angel,” Ghezavat said Wednesday morning about his wife, whom he had known since they were childhood neighbors in their native Iran.

Pirdavari was an extremely loving wife and mother, he said. Besides looking after her family, she was also well known around town for paying home visits to local seniors and preparing homemade meals for them, especially for those who also came from Iran and craved Persian cuisine.

“She was doing God’s work,” Ghezavat said. “I don’t know why He would take her.” 

Danvlle police Lt. Jeff Moule said his department was carefully looking into what led to the accident and wouldn’t release any further information until officers had completed the investigation.

He said the driver of the pickup, a 32-year-old Walnut Creek man, was expected to survive. He is hospitalized at Eden Valley Medical Center in Castro Valley. So far, there is no indication that alcohol or drug use were a factor.

City officials are looking into concerns raised by residents about traffic and speeding on Sycamore Valley Road. Danville Mayor Karen Stepper said she is encouraged by the community’s response, including

People coming forward is important, Stepper said: “We like to have neighborhood participation. It’s good. It helps.”

Beyond that, the mayor couldn’t comment on the accident because it is still under investigation.  Stepper did say, though, she was upset by the news: “What a tragedy,” she said. “It’s very sad.”

Ghezavat can't believe his wife would have done anything to cause the collision. He said she was an extremely cautious person who would never start driving unless she was sure every passenger had his or her seat belt on. That’s just one of the many ways she was conscientious about taking care of other people, he said. 

He said his wife was 17 years old and he was 18 when she followed him to the United States in 1977. He had come to study in the Bay Area in the years before the 1979 Iranian revolution.

The two decided to stay in the United States and study computer science at Chico State University. Ghezavat said his wife was brilliant and worked for a time in computer science until she decided to stay home and become a full-time mother.

He said he worked a lot and credits her with doing an excellent job raising their son, Ali, 27, and daughter, Shadeh, 25. He said she was extremely proud of her two children and was always planning in her head both their weddings.

Prior to moving to Danville in 1999, the family lived in Cupertino. Pirdavari’s interest in spending time with elderly people came from grieving her father's death about eight years ago.

She had missed many years with her parents because they were living in Iran and it has always been difficult to travel between the two countries, particularly during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.

Shortly before he died, he had come to the United States for a vacation, then returned home.

“She decided to do all she could to help older persons,” Ghezavat said. “If they couldn’t get to the store to buy medicine, she would go buy medicine. She would take them to doctors. Many of these folks are from the Farsi community. She would make them food.”

Pirdavari was close with her mother and sisters back in Iran. Over the past few years, Dowlati would spend half the year in Iran and half in Danville. Dowlati accompanied Pirdavari when she visited seniors.

“Her mother was her biggest supporter,” Ghezavat said.

Patch will update this story when the family is able to release information about a memorial service