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Oldest Arab American Passes at Age 111
Thought to be the oldest living Arab American, Rose Homsy Haddad passed away on April 29, 2011, at the age of 111.
Born Ramza (Rose) Homsy on April 15, 1900 in Damascus, Syria, she and her family later immigrated to the United States in search of opportunities. First settling in Ellis Island by boat, the family soon moved to a suburb of Boston, where they became members of St. John of Damascus Antiochian Orthodox Church.
As previously reported on Arab Detroit, after her husband, John Haddad, passed away in 1960, Rose took it upon herself to become self sufficient. At the age of 65, she acquired a driver’s license and went on to work for many years at a local hospital. Despite increasing age, she continued driving her own car until the age of 96.
Throughout her life, she had been privileged to see much of the U.S. and Europe, and had twice traveled back to her homeland Syria; however, there is no place she would have rather been than in her home city, spending quality time with her 21 grandchildren, 34 great-grandchildren, and 2 great-great grand children.
Despite her age, her grandchildren say their grandmother had remained forever young in spirit. Grandson Richard Nawfel recalls the question most asked to him about his grandmother: “What was her secret?”
“In reality, her secret was she had no secret.” Nawfel says, “She was genuine, that was the real ingredient of her life that was so apparent.”
He goes on to add that her need for independence contributed to her long life, saying that independence was her strength and it drove her. Even in her old age, he recalled his grandmother’s independence as she’d pointed to her walker and said, “See this here? I hope to get rid of this one day.”
At the age of 111, Rose was thought to be one of six people in the world over the age of 110, and, according to her grandson, when asked the secret of her long life, she simply said, “I just keep moving.”
Arab Detroit