Labiba Sursock Thabet

There has come to us from Mr. George Baz a word on the late lamented Labiba Sursock Thabet, which we summarize as follows:

A virtuous lady of standing, she served humanity in ten associations over fifty years. Her parents' two families were noble ones, among the notables of the nation in Lebanon. She was born in Beirut in 1868 and was educated at the school of the Sisters of Nazareth for nine years.

She began her charitable struggle before her twentieth year and continued it to seventy, and she remained a discreet benefactress to the end of her life.

She presided over the family relief associations of 1915; the charitable workshops, the 'Ouvroirs,' 1916–1918, supporting 1,200 needy girls; the humanitarian shelters, 1917–1919, for thousands of children; the French-Lebanese Red Cross, 1921–1924; Al-Nahda An-Nisaiyah, 1924–1933; the Women's Union, 1925–1932; and several congresses.

To her belongs the greatest credit for uniting the peaceable associations in the country.

She married Philippe Yaacoub Thabet, one of the men of standing of Beirut and Lebanon, and they were blessed with four sons: George, Michel, Gabriel, and Edouard.

Labiba lived to see her firstborn, George Bey, a deputy for Beirut in the Lebanese Chamber of Deputies, holder of three ministries, and president of the administrative council of the charitable financial associations; and to see her virtuous daughter-in-law, Laure Khlat, dean of several associations and founder of the Women's Solidarity of the Lebanese associations.

She received the Ottoman Order of Compassion during the First World War, 1914–1918, for the efforts she expended in the cause of good.

She lived 82 years in full possession of her mental powers and her lively feeling, and God took her to Himself on February 15, 1950. May God grant us others like her.