By Larry Grard
WATERVILLE – Upwards of 75 people packed the Redington Museum parlor on the evening of Thursday, Jan. 10, for a presentation of Waterville’s vibrant Lebanese history, sponsored by the Waterville Historical Society.
Tom Nale and Joe Jabar, both of whom have deep roots in the city’s Lebanese history, provided informative and intriguing half-hour talks.
“What a great turnout on a lovely day,” Historical Society President said, a light-hearted remark considering the frigid temperatures outside. “We have two pillars of the community, both members of the bench, here for us.”
On Feb. 13 at 5:30 p.m., the cultural series will continue with a lecture on Franco-American Women in Waterville. There is no admission charge.
Nale spoke first on Jan. 10, detailing how his Sittoo (grandmother in Arabic) and Giddoo (grandfather), and many other Lebanese immigrants, endured the trip to the United States in the early part of the 20th century. The famine of 1918 had wiped out half the country’s 800,000 people.
“They were caged with chicken wire in the worst part of the ship with little food,” Nale said. “They sang songs.”
One group of Lebanese immigrants landed first in Canada, and traveled at night by foot to reach Waterville.
The great majority of Waterville Lebanese are Maronite (Eastern Rite) Catholics, and they were quick to organize a Maronite church of their own. The first family, that of Abraham Joseph, had come to Waterville in 1888. Two years laater, Lebanese families were attending Roman Catholic Masses at Sacred Heart and St. Francis. But by 1924, Father Awad came from the old country to establish the first Maronite church in the city. Today, the gorgeous St. Joseph Maronite Catholic C hurch on Front Street faces the Kennebec River, looking east.
The immigrants built tenements along the riverside, in an area known as “Head of Falls.” Those houses were torn down in the late 1960s.
“I can tell you where each and every house was on Head of Falls,” Nale said. “That was because I had a paper route. Me and Joe were altar boys, and we went to the church after our routes. When Joe and I were serving the church was absolutely full from front to back.”
The mills attracted most of the Lebanese, French, Polish and other immigrants to Waterville, but some Lebanese were Phoenicians, who were merchants. Al Corey had his famous music store on Main Street, and the Peter Joseph family only recently sold Joseph’s Market, which is still in business a stone’s throw from the church.
“We were all known as cousins,” Nale said. “To work on the railroad was a dream for those men. It was not hard work.”
Sen. George Mitchell became the city’s most celebrated Lebanese, although for a time his older brother, the late Johnny “Swisher” Mitchell, claimed that mantle. Swisher led undefeated Waterville High to the New England Basketball Championship in 1944.
Jabar referred to the Earl Smith “Water Village,” which explains some of the tenets of the Maronite religion. St. Maron was a monk in the hills of Lebanon.
Jabar’s father was born in Waterville in 1905, making him one of the early first-generation Lebanese. In 1922, George Jabar and Phillip Nagem became the first Lebanese boys to graduate Waterville High.
“He made $17 a week at the mill,” Jabar said of his father. “Then he got $20-$25 as a weaver. He became a union organizer in the 1930s. He was a natural.”
Those first-generation Waterville Lebanese instilled in their children the need for education.
“We had eight siblings in our family,” Jabar said. “Seven of them went to college.”
The Lebanese kids – including Swisher Mitchell – made the Boys Club their second home. Jabar said there is a 16 mm tape available of Waterville’s victory over Somerville, MA, in the New England final.
“Swisher would dribble, dribble, dribble,” said Jabar, who wasn’t a bad athlete himself in the mid-1960s. “He kept the basketball.”
The Redington Museum will be open to the public from Memorial Day week to Labor Day. Hours are 10-11 a.m. and 1-2 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday.

The Maronite Church was founded by a monk named StMaron and continues to be a tradition based on monastic practices. St Sharbel is our most recent model of a faithful servant. In the Cana Week Monday Safro the First Prayer shows the sacred focus of fasting

“FIRST PRAYER
Lord, have mercy on us and save us.
O God, may we submit to this holy fast
and accept it with all our will, with joy and good cheer; do not make us strangers to the reward given to those who fast.
Walking in the way of penitence and mortification we shall arrive in the eternal kingdom where we shall praise your glory, for ever. Amen.”

So what is the expectation of the faithful during Lent?  The 1736 Synod of Mt. Lebanon states:

“Every weekday of Lent (Monday through Friday) is a day of fasting and abstinence from meat and dairy products (eggs, butter, milk, etc.) Fasting involves eating and drinking nothing at all (except water and medicine) from midnight until noon. The rest of the day normal meals can be taken, but without meat or dairy products. Dairy products are excluded because they are animal byproducts. Saturdays and Sundays are exempt from fasting and abstaining, as are the following four feast days: St. Maron – February 9, The 40 Martyrs – March 9, St. Joseph – March 19 and the Annunciation – March 25.” This is a wonderful goal but not a requirement. The requirement now is fasting on Ash Monday and Good Friday.

I like to use an analogy of tuning a musical instrument.  To be perfect one needs to use a tuning fork. But if you tune by ear it still may sound ok. This is not precise but acceptable with some. The same with these kinds of suggested practices. Following the original 1736 practices is like using a tuning fork to be precise and ultimately closer to the perfection of Creation. But the current practices are OK. Jesus does give us the freedom to choose. The consequences or rewards of those choices are subject to multiple interpretations of the Magesteruim and our prayerful reason, but in the end are a mystery. I would suggest the Magesterium has the wisdom of the ages for the most part. That is the subject of another blog.

An editorial article in our local paper by George Smith inspired me to write him a short letter. Rather an email not a letter. We don’t write letters anymore except those who want to use script to send a very kind and personal note to a friend. Anyway Georgia’s article was about starting over. The gist of his article was that we all at times in our life must start over. We reach a point where our mistakes, foibles and tragedies have overcome us and we give up at least for a moment. Then our faith takes over and some of us give up and give in and accept that no one’s perfect and that we must start again from where we know is a perfect beginning. George is an amazing man, for you see he has ALS. And even in the midst of this disease he continues to write and share his thoughts about life, the outdoors, and our great state of Maine. Remarkable, and sad. But his article says it all. For it seems to me that every morning when he wakes up and realizes he has ALS he must start over again understanding accepting living with this tragedy and trying to make lemonade from the lemons life has given him. He seems to have done a great job with this challenge. Thanks George for a great article.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/11/181108164316.htm

The message here is that face to face contact with other human beings is preferable to the superficial immediate gratification and popularity on social media. It’s ok to stay in touch with old and new friends. But as the article states social media use will have negative consequences with over use.

Saturday, August 25, 2018, I climbed the trail from Roaring Brook to Chimney Pond in Baxter State Park with my older brother Doug the III, and my younger brother Jeff. I made it to the 1 mile marker at Basin Pond which is 2.2 miles from Roaring Brook. I am disappointed I could not make it all the way to Chimney Pond but proud of my effort. Just gives me something to shoot for next year.

We three are the last in our family of origin. Our brother Rob died in 2001, at age 40, from pancreatitis, my Mom, Sally in 2004, at age 73 from emphysema and my Dad Doug Jr. in 2008 at age 82 from TTP complications. Just half of my family of origin left in 2018. We miss them all but have continued our relationship as brothers. We enjoy getting together often to eat, play family board games or hike.

It was a drizzly day, the rocks were wet and slippery so it was very slow going. Add to that the fact that I was 70 lbs heavier than the the last time I was here more than 20 years ago when we climbed with my Dad and family (see insert). It was August of 1976, Daniel was only 7 years old, Matt just out of high school. I had been working on the Brennan campaign. Dad was 70. Also with us was Doug Crate, Jeff Crate Gabe Crate, Paul Crate, Zach Crate and of course Allison who took this picture.

So here we are. I am way out of shape, my brothers wanting to continue the family tradition started many years ago by my grandfather at Camp Katahdin. When he would bring up boys from Friends Central outside Philadelphia for a 6-8 week camping experience that included climbing Mt Katahdin .

I was exhausted as we climbed. I had the great fortune of using some walking sticks loaned to me by my barber Joe at Headquarters on Main Street in Waterville. I had my hair cut the day before our trip and he mentioned he had them and that I would be welcomed to use them for support. Boy was I glad I had them. Without them I would have fallen flat on my fact. Joe has done a lot of hiking, including part of the Appalachian trail and when I told him of my goal he was happy to contribute to my effort. Thanks Joe.

Interesting conversation as we climbed the trail. Doug a Zen Contemplative Christian, Jeff an evangelical Christian and me a Maronite Catholic all had our views about spirituality, but in the end all centered on Christ. So for me it was a successful ecumenical and family affair. We also talked about wives, mostly how appreciative of them we were and of course we talked about our children. Jeff has the most grandchildren, then Doug.

A great day for the Crate Family.

Check out @StJoesinMaine’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/StJoesinMaine/status/1040950669950300160?s=09