G'pa Nader

We found out late last night that Marcel’s G'pa passed away last night. He was 81 years old, And an amazing man!

The last time I seen G’pa was during the 2006 war. We went to tell him goodbye…and he was sad and holding my hand tight (I literally had to pull myself away from him). I would always tease Marcel and tell him that g’pa loved me more….but the truth is, I was blessed to have just known him and he had so much love to go around.



The photo to the top left of Marcel (as a teen) is his namesake G'ma Marcelle



He was the only male of his parents and had 2 sons and 4 daughters with his wife (who Marcel was named after) Marcelle. He was married for 18 years until she passed away from breast cancer. So he raised his children all on his own. His oldest son Joseph was in his upper teens…and his youngest daughter Dayan was only about 5 years old.



His oldest daughter Josephine was about 13 years old and took on the responsibility of taking care of her siblings, preparing all the meals, laundry and housecleaning.

G’pa was in the Lebanese Army his whole life and retired in 1986.
He was the most devout catholic I think I may have ever known. He was always sitting in his chair at home reading the bible or praying the rosary…he prayed so much. Facing him was the photo of his wife that hangs on the wall. All of his children were married and had children, and he even became a great G’pa during his life.
Last night as Marcel and I were in bed….we were just talking about some of the funny things G’pa would say in different situations, and Marcel told me some stories he had of G’pa from years ago.
No one ever came back from death to let us know the truth about what’s next…but if anyone deserves to be reunited with his wife, his parents, his grandchild who passed away as young child…its G’pa!
I wish we could be in Lebanon with the rest of the family and celebrate his life! Unfortunately we cant…but he will always be in our hearts.
We were awake at midnight last night looking for a photo I took with G’pa on a new years eve…we had hats on and eye masks. We couldn’t find it…but when I do, I’ll post it.