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230 Epilogue In 1951, Radia, age seventy-one, was diagnosed with liver cancer. Cancer has raised its ugly head frequently in the Rezak family. Radia’s last weeks were not pretty. She was in a great deal of pain, but, consistent with her character, she never complained. She died in Crouse-Irving Hospital with her family around her and was buried next to Habeeb in Morningside Cemetery in Syracuse. Radia went with the knowledge that she had provided her family with a fresh start and that they were becoming eminently successful. She never returned to Nazareth and never saw her parents or family there again. She was a woman of great substance and courage. It was the end of an era for the Rezak family. Radia’s determination, dedication to bettering her family, adventuresome spirit, and tenacity have always been a marvel to her descendants. How could people who did not even speak the language of their adopted land leave everything and everyone they knew and loved to relocate halfway around the world? Things must have been bad in Palestine! It is sad that they still are, albeit for different reasons. In 1994, the extended Rezak family established the Radia Khouri Rezak Family Scholarship at Alfred State College in Alfred, New York. It has assisted worthy students with financial need ever since. Radia’s three sons were highly successful. Dave was an enterprising businessman and real estate investor. In the early 1960s, he purchased several building lots in Onondaga Hill, outside Syracuse. He and Mary built a modern and spacious home on one of them. Dave retired from the store, turning it over to sons Bob, Jack, and Louis. Louis bought out his brothers and ran the entire operation himself until selling it in 1988. Dave passed on (more cancer) in 1980 at age seventy-seven, and Mary in 1991. Epilogue | 231 In 1952, Nick decided that he wanted to purchase a cabin cruiser to keep on Lake Ontario. At the same time, probably in response to Nick’s interest in a large boat, Polly expressed an interest in acquiring a vacation cottage. After a couple of years renting cottages on Tuscarora Lake, they purchased a vacation place there, about twenty-five miles southeast of Syracuse. My brother, Dave, and his family still enjoy this lovely spot. Nick’s job at the Community Chest evolved into a full-time commitment , and he eventually sold his interest in Rezak’s Silver Star Supermarket back to Dave. The Community Chest became the United Way of Syracuse and Onondaga County, and Nick became its associate executive director and then executive director. He was with the Chest/United Way for twenty-six years. Polly went back to work in 1958 for various social service agencies. She was almost as well known as Nick in the social service professions around Syracuse. In 1977, the Syracuse Federation of Women’s Clubs selected her as a “Woman of Achievement” for her volunteer leadership in 1976. She was ever so proud of this well-deserved recognition. Nick retired as executive director of the Syracuse and Onondaga County United Way in 1974, but both he and Polly served as volunteers on several social service agency boards of directors for many years of their retirement. Nick passed away in 1996, Polly in 1998, both at age eightyseven . Dick retired as a well-known oil industry researcher, professor, and author, to say nothing of his accomplishments as a navy pilot. He passed away in 2006 at age eighty-six. Florence Elsie Belcher Curnick lived longer than all the others in her generation who had immigrated to the United States. She died of “old age” in 1966 at age seventy-eight. She is buried next to Bill Curnick in Rome Cemetery. Hers was a troubled, bitter life. Nevertheless, she helped to raise successfully a competent, loving daughter who was unmarred by her mother ’s unhappiness. Florence loved her grandchildren dearly, although she always favored me over David because I look like my mother, whereas David is the spitting image of Nick. Some hurts run deep. ...

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