Mary Anne Marshbourne Saadeh

1935 - 2025

Mary Anne Marshbourne Saadeh, 89, returned home to the arms of God Thursday, September 4th and we began mourning the loss of our light in the darkness, our beloved sister, aunt, great-aunt, and friend. Born October 27th, 1935, in Spring Hope, NC, Mary Anne was the fourth of six children born to George Warren Marshbourne, Sr and Willie Helen Privette Marshbourne. She greeted life with a spirit of undaunted adventure and optimism that led her far and wide from the days of balancing on rolling barrels in the backyard pastures of her childhood home in Spring Hope, NC.

Ultimately, her life's journey led her to Florida, first to West Palm Beach and then to Jacksonville where a chance meeting to look at an apartment led to more than forty-five years of marriage to her love, Anwar Saadeh who preceded her in death in 2017. That meeting, and subsequent marriage in 1970, changed the trajectory of her life's adventure in several ways - she traveled the United States and the world with Anwar and shifted her work focus from full time Registered Dietitian to their shared passion for rehabilitating neighboring properties into rental units. Mary Anne and Anwar created a community of simple but affordable housing for their neighbors and embraced a lifetime of radical hospitality. Managing their rental properties was not merely a job or financial pursuit for Mary Anne, but a mission rooted in her Christian faith and fueled by her optimism that with guidance and basic needs met, all people are capable of great things. She was available any time of day or night to their rental neighbors to offer support, guidance, and often a detailed plan to empower each person to move forward and find personal success.

Mary Anne was known for having high expectations of others, but those expectations were never higher than those she had for herself. Whether it was making hundreds of pimiento cheese sandwiches to sell at Spring Hope High School fundraisers as a student, serving the broader Jacksonville community on various city advisory committees, or supporting organizations dear to her heart like The Jacksonville Arboretum, St. Johns Riverkeeper, The Garden Club of Jacksonville, The Women's Club of Jacksonville, Jacksonville Historic Society, and First Coast Tiger Bay, Mary Anne poured her heart with reckless abandon into the communities where she lived and the people she loved.

While ultimately Alzheimer's stole her memory, it could not steal the force of nature that was her heart for this world. It came as a surprise to no one when Mary Anne received a humanitarian award for the many ways she cared for her neighbors during her time as a resident of the memory care unit at The Windsor San Pablo. Our hearts are broken at the loss of her voice, her smile, her hugs and her physical presence in our lives, but at the same time our hearts have all been fortified by her love, her life and her legacy and for that we give thanks to God.

Mary Anne is survived by two sisters, Helen Marshbourne Bissette and Betty Marshbourne Lewis (both of NC), nieces, nephews, great-nephews, a widespread community of friends and an abundance of former tenants who felt like family.

A graveside service will be held at 10am on October 4th at the Oakdale Cemetery in Spring Hope, NC.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the following organizations in memory of Mary Anne:

The Foundation of Community Hospice & Palliative Care: mail donations to 4266 Sunbeam Road, Jacksonville, FL 32257 or give online via https://thefoundationcares.org/give

The St. Johns Riverkeeper: For those who would like to make a memorial gift, donations can be mailed to: St. Johns Riverkeeper, 2800 University Blvd North, Jacksonville, FL 32211 or give online via https://stjohnsriverkeeper.org/join-give/tribute/

The Jacksonville Arboretum: https://jacksonvillearboretum.org/donate