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Mounir Sa'Adah Obituary
LEBANON, N.H. - Mounir R. Sa'adah, 99, died July 25, 2008, at his home.
Born in Damascus, Syria, on June 18, 1909, he was the son of Raphael Sa'adah and Jameelah Khoury.
He attended preparatory school in Beirut, Lebanon, and the American University of Beirut where he wrote a master's thesis on representative politics in Lebanon. He studied theology at Near East School of Theology and Union Theological Seminary in New York. His first teaching appointment was at the AUB.
In 1937, he married Marjorie Anne Abrahamian, who died in 2002.
In 1945, he left Beirut for the United States. In 1946, he joined the founding faculty of Woodstock Country School in South Woodstock and taught history for 18 years. Rev. Sa'adah was invited to pastor the Universalist Church in Woodstock and he ministered to churches in communities including New London, Conn., and Long Beach, Miss., into his retirement.
He wrote three books about the founders of the three monotheistic religions, and published "Jesus: the Son of Man" 2005.
In 1964, he moved to the Choate School in Wallingford, Conn., where he taught history, philosophy and Arabic until his retirement in 1976.
In 1949, he and his wife were sent by the American Friends Service Committee to help organize care for Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip. In 1954, he helped incorporate the Near East Scholarship Fund, a nonprofit foundation which now supports the American University of Beirut.
Survivors include three children, David of Alexandria, Va., Jonathan of Hartford and Montreal and M. Anne Sa'adah of Dartmouth College; two brothers, Anwar of Jacksonville, Fla., and William of Lyme, N.H.; three grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, four step-grandchildren and nine step-great-grandchildren.
The funeral service will be held at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 17, at Unitarian-Universalist Church in Woodstock.
Memorial contributions may be made to Near East Scholarship Fund, in care of Carola Lea, 522 River Road, Lyme, NH 03768.
Arrangements are under the direction of the Cabot Funeral Home in Woodstock.
View the guestbook at rutlandherald.com/obits.
Memories and Condolences
for Mounir Sa'Adah
2 Entries
David & Edith Williams
July 30, 2008
We were honored to have Rev. Sa'Adah perform our wedding ceremony almost 60 years ago, at the Woodstock Universalist Church on December 23, 1948
Linda Caruso
July 30, 2008
To the children of Rev. Sa'Adah
Rev Sa'Adah spoke with the angels long before leaving this earth, for he guided my family as nobody else living on this earth could have. He was friend and guide to my grandmother, Louise Birmingham, back in the time when your minister was your counsel/psychiatrist/friend. He took her through some very rough waters and out again. They remained friends until her death in 1989. He held all of us in his heart, making us know we were going to survive, when we lost our cherished brother John Langhans in 1991. He led the congregation in the service for John, which included bringing the children of John and his neice and nephews to the altar with him, where he presented them with the sweet gardenia blossoms he brought for them. He remained at our service until we no longer needed his words. Our paths crossed again several years later when he moved to Harvest Hill in Lebanon, where my father-in-law Joe Caruso resided. What joy we took in reuniting. His mind was as sharp as a tack and there were no wasted words spent on explaining who I was. We picked up right where we left off. My husband Jay and my brother-in-law Frank enjoyed tutoring Mounir on his computer.
I am left with the most wonderful image of this man, your father, standing proud, ever smiling. His was a smile that wrapped itself around you with the first notice of his gaze upon you. He had a child-like sense of humor and loved kidding.
As a child I was captured by his accent. As an adult, that accent became the endearing signal that this gentle man was near - which filled my heart.
I am positive Rev. Sa'Adah is at this time soaring with the angels, where he now belongs. That thought shall fill the void of his presense, for me.
Kindest regards,
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