HOW TO POST YOUR MEMORY OF Leila Abu-Saba

This is a an online memory book blog for family, friends, and colleagues of Leila Abu-Saba.

All are welcome to contribute remembrances.

PLEASE EMAIL YOUR STORY TO: leilaabusabamemorial@gmail.com. We will post new notes as frequently as possible. Thank you in advance for your patience.

In conjunction with Mills College, the family has created the Leila Abu-Saba Memorial Award to be given annually to a Mills MFA student whose work embodies the spirit of exuberance, vitality, and social engagement that runs through Leila’s writing. Contributions to the award in Leila’s honor are welcome. Donation checks may be written to Mills College directly with “Leila Abu-Saba” on the memo line, and mailed to: Mills College, Office of Institutional Advancement, 5000 MacArthur Boulevard, CA 94613. Thank you.

IF YOU WISH TO SEND A MESSAGE OF CONDOLENCE TO THE FAMILY: Please click on the “Condolences” link above and leave a comment.

A Heart for Lebanon

I just received an email about Leila’s passing from someone who went to the American Community School in Beirut. I did not know her first hand but we had corresponded back in 2005 and a few occasions after that, most recently in early 2008. When we first corresponded I learned that her father had been a student of my father in Sidon at Gerard when dad taught there in the late 40s. She gave her dad my dad’s phone number and they spoke on the phone.

Leila also told me that when she was eight and living in Mieh Mieh, after I had left Sidon she would go to our house and read our books. In particular she remembers The Three Musketeers. I read her blogs from time to time.

My condolences on her passing to her family. She was a special person with a heart for Lebanon, the Middle East and its many peoples.

Phil Hanna
Columbia, Kentucky

Pancakes

I’d been reading Leila’s writing for a while before I realized that her family had become part of the Sequoia community. Because I’d decided that we were like-minded after reading what she’d had to say, I thought it was pretty lucky for me that now our kids were going to be at the same school. So, I figured out who she was and introduced myself. She was open and cheerful and joked about her changing look due to hats and wigs, instantly putting me at ease. We had many friendly encounters during the year.

At the school’s pancake breakfast last spring I took this photo and sent it to her. She wrote back right away with not just a quick thanks, but with this message:

“I love it! There’s something about the pancake breakfast that just makes me really happy. School kitchen with working stove, real dishes & cutlery, Dads busy – and that the club is seventy years old! It’s the best of American community life. I was a childless bohemian for so long that this sort of thing feels like a buried part of our past recovered and refurbished. My kids just adore these school events, too. It’s old-fashioned fun at bargain prices.”

I didn’t know Leila very well, or for very long, but I wanted to. I am very sorry for her family’s loss.