Zeina Anis Rawdah (BBA ‘76, MBA ‘79) died on February 10 of
a sudden heart attack at the age of 51. Zeina moved to the United States (Washington, DC) in 1984 and stayed there until 2002, when she decided to rejoin her family and friends in Lebanon, where she contributed much of her time to many charities, among them the Children's International Summer Villages (CISV), the Village Welfare Society, and the Beirut Public Library. Zeina studied the piano for most of her school years and was a lover of classical music. A familiar figure on campus, she always attended the cultural events held at AUB. A letter to Zeina, dedicated to her memory by Rula Baalbaki,
AUB instructor of English, on behalf of the Ahliah class of ‘73, and many of
those who knew and loved her. The morning of February 14, 2005 Zeina, Yesterday’s words of wisdom on my little calendar said,” Nobody has ever measured, even the poets, how much a heart can hold.” But we all know how much love your heart held. Love and pride. Not for yourself, but for others around you. We were little girls in the sixties, classmates and friends since we were five, and it was always your little friend this or that who was the prettiest, smartest, or most popular. You were a mere thread that bound the members of that young sorority together by taking a back seat and extending limitless support, love, and a sense of self-worth to all. But you never cared to partake of those sentiments yourself. You thrived on the amounts of love, success, and recognition your loved ones received and were content to watch them blossom surrounded by those sentiments. But you never did any of that intentionally. It was just part of your nature. You simply wanted a little bit of everyone in your immediate life, so you cultivated an enduring sense of pride in people around you. A pride which endured for years and years. It saw us through our childhood, young teens, mid-teens and adulthood. In your world it was OK to spend time helping a friend settle down in a new job or home, even if that help left you no time to attend to your own health or the petty social expectations, such as getting your hair cut or updating your wardrobe. In your world it was OK to rack your brains figuring out what kind of hobbies a friend should take up, which would still leave her time to enjoy the one thousand other things she was doing, even if you weren’t really indulging in any hobbies yourself. In your world it was OK to lobby for a cause or project that a friend adopted or got involved in, even if it took precedence over the many, often times more important, causes or projects you dreamed of. You supported your loved ones without giving the least thought to whether or not they supported you. True, you did not know you were really integral in our lives, careers, and hopes. I’m not sure WE knew. It took an untimely and sudden death for your loved ones to realize how much support they lost by losing you. I hope you know that too.
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