Antoinette Abo Kassem
December 2, 1940 – November 15, 2022
PRAYER SERVICE: Sunday, November 20th, 7:00PM, at St. Mary Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church, 10303 Boyd St.
DIVINE LITURGY: Monday, November 21st, 12:30PM, at St. Mary Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church.
Memorials are suggested to the church.
Antoinette Abo Kassem, age 81 years of Omaha, Nebraska, went peacefully to his heavenly home on November 15, 2022. Antoinette was born on December 2, 1940, in Damascus, Syria, to George Abo Kassem and Mary Shallesh. She became the oldest child after her parents lost two of her siblings after birth.
Antoinette was brought up with traditional values and learned the skills that a woman of her era should have: cooking, sewing, knitting, and embroidery. She became an elementary school teacher and was a favorite at the school she taught. On September 17, 1961, at the age of 19, she married her husband Eid Abouissa and raised and educated her seven children in Damascus, Syria, until the year 2000. She moved to the USA with her husband and lived in Biloxi, Mississippi, until 2005. After hurricane Katrina she left Biloxi and moved to Omaha, Nebraska, to be close to her kids.
Antoinette was a warm, compassionate, and vibrant woman who always went out of her way to help others no matter what. She was a proud and dignified woman who had a passion for life. She had a wonderful sense of humor which endeared her to everyone she came in contact with, and it is a great testament to her nature that she formed so many long-lasting friendships over the years.
She was blessed to have shared her life with her husband of 58 years, Eid Abou Issa, who passed away on December 9th, 2019, in Omaha, Nebraska; her seven children: Sana Abouessa (husband, Nick Rhee), of Fairfax, Virginia; Ruweida Abou Issa, of Omaha Nebraska; Loudi Abou Issa (husband Akaram Alkhras), Stockholm, Sweden; Waffa Abouessa, Omaha, Nebraska; Mirna Abouessa (husband, Amid Haddad), Vienna, Austria; Ziad Abouessa (wife, Michlen Abo Assalley), of Omaha, Nebraska; Roula Abouissa (husband, Bassem William), of Dublin, Ohio; and seven grandchildren: George Alkhras, Lina Alkhras, Merrell William, Julia William; Alexius Haddad, Elina Abouessa and Sana Abouessa; and her siblings: Anton Abo Kassem and his family, Syria; Lila Abo Kassem and her family, Texas USA; Razkallha Abo Kassem and family, Syria; Faddie Abo Kassem.
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