Grandma Survived The Titanic

During the early years of Grandma Anna’s life in Leba­non and before she married Darwin Toma, it was a tra­dition that the siblings of the family acquired their father’s first name as their last name. In this case my grandmother’s father’s name was Joseph Rassey or Yousef Rassey. There­fore grand-mother’s maiden name was Anna Yousef until she married Darwin Toma. When grandma Anna purchased the ship fare she had inadvertently given her name as Anna Yousef and the children as Maria Yousef and George Yousef. In the United States, it was the Toma family as shown on the birth certificates of her three Sons who were born after she arrived in America. ‘Later when my father went into the grocery busi­ness, he changed the family name to Thomas.

My father George Thomas (Yousef) attended the 1982 Convention of the Titanic Historical Society in Philadelphia along with Frank Aks, Edwina MacKenzie, Eva Hart, Ruth Blanchard, Walter Lord and many others who attended.

He was also interviewed by Joan Lundon on the Good Morning America show the next day. My father appeared on many talk shows, television, and had a huge article in the Parade Magazine of the Detroit Newspaper. Each year on the anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, my father would be interviewed by local newspapers in Michigan and Phoenix, Arizona, and also live coverage on radio in both places.

In April of 1998, I was interviewed in Arizona by the Mesa Tribune newspaper. This large article was in behalf of grandma Anna, who was never interviewed about the Titanic. In fact, the stories of the Titanic surfaced after grandma’s death and every year thereafter. This book is in her memory, of her cour­age and her love for us and my love for her.

 In 1961, just two years after Phyllis and I were married, Grandma Anna asked if she could live with us. She was seventy-six years old. Those fifteen years that she lived with us were the years that she really spoke about her terrifying expe­rience on the Titanic, a ship that was advertised as unsink­able. Grandma didn’t know this, of course. To her it was a big boat that would take her to America after her days of travel­ing from a little village of Tibnin in Lebanon.

Her husband, Darwin, had saved a little money to pay for his passage to America, money he saved working in onion fields. His brother, Abraham, went with him. Their plan, as most immigrants strived for, was to earn enough to send for their families. For Darwin it was to send for his wife and two children. He had no success in this and seven years passed. Still there was not enough money for Anna and her children to join him. How could he save when he had been sending her a little money from time to time so there was not much left for saving?

Abraham, on the other hand, had saved enough since he had no one to send money to in Lebanon. He knew how sad his brother was and how much he missed his family so since he had saved enough money he would use some of it for Anna’s passage. It was to be a surprise for Darwin so he sent for his wife Anna and their children. He sent Anna a piece of paper along with enough money for the trip which said, “Dowagiac, Michigan, U.S.A.” He was going to surprise his brother Dar­win.

Anna treasured this piece of paper. It was where her hus­band lived, even though she had no idea where this place was. The paper said Dowagiac, Michigan, U.S.A., and that’s where she was going.

 During all of the years that Grandma lived with us, my wife and I asked her many questions about her trip to America.

We also asked her about her age when she married Darwin