El-Khouri Family Papers
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Biographical/Historical note
Joseph Maroun El-Khouri was born in 1924 in Kour, Batroun, Lebanon to Reverend Joseph Michael Maroun El-Khouri and Mariam Thomee Yazbek El-Khouri. He was one of seven children. His father, Rev. Joseph Michael Maroun El-Khouri, was a Maronite priest, and at least one sibling, Sister Victorine El-Khouri, joined religious orders.
Joseph served as a British intelligence agent and interpreter in the Middle East during World War II. In 1949, Joseph traveled to Minneapolis, Minnesota to help settle an uncle’s estate. He later met Rose Isaac while visiting relatives who lived in the large Lebanese community located in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Rose was the daughter of Thanios (Thomas) Isaac and Moura (Nora) Lawandos Isaac, who immigrated to the United States in 1912 and 1914, respectively, and married in 1917.
Joseph and Rose married in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania in 1950, and moved to Minneapolis where they operated a grocery store until 1953. Joseph was naturalized in 1954 with the help of his friend Vice President Hubert Humphrey, at the time a Minnesota senator. In 1955, Joseph and Rose moved to Andrews, North Carolina, to be closer to Rose’s sister Bessie Isaac Jabaley, who was living near her husband’s family in Copper Hill, TN. The Jabaley’s aided the El-Khouri family in establishing themselves in Andrews by making Joseph El-Khouri the manager of their department store, Jabaley’s. Joseph El-Khouri purchased and renamed the store to Khouri’s in 1965 where it remained open until 1989.
Joseph El-Khouri became a civic leader in North Carolina and served on a number of boards and service organizations including the Andrews Lion Club, Western Carolina University Board of Visitors, Cherokee County United Way, the Andrews Chamber of Commerce, and the Daniel Boone Council of Boy Scouts. Joseph El-Khouri served, with his eldest son George, as an elected delegate to the 1988 Democratic National Convention in Atlanta. In addition to these civic and political accomplishments, Joseph and Rose El-Khouri were prominent in the Catholic community in North Carolina, by holding the town’s first Catholic masses in their home and donating the land upon which the Holy Redeemer Catholic Church was built in Andrews, North Carolina.
Joseph and Rose El-Khouri had seven children: George Maron El-Khouri, Theresa El-Khouri Martin, Mariam El-Khouri Gerber, Marsha El-Khouri Shiver, Barbara El-Khouri, Catherine El-Khouri, and Anthony El-Khouri. Joseph El-Khouri passed away on July 22, 2012 and since his passing, Joseph El-Khouri’s contributions to North Carolina have been recognized locally, and his legacy has been carried forth by his children and grandchildren.
Scope/Content note
The collection consists of photographs, letters, documents, and articles relating to the life of Joseph Maroun El-Khouri, his wife Rose Isaac El-Khouri, and their children. The materials detail Joseph El-Khouri's career and community contributions as well as providing insight into multiple generations of Lebanese American family life. The collection also includes content relating to Joseph El-Khouri’s relatives in Lebanon, as well as materials from Rose Isaac El-Khouri’s family in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
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Collection Tree
This collection is a part of a larger collection that has been divided into more specific collections.
