Mary Anne Marshbourne Saadeh

As the afternoon sun began to fade Thursday, September 4, 2025, Mary Anne Marshbourne Saadeh took her final earthly breaths and we began mourning the loss of our light in the darkness, our beloved sister, aunt, great-aunt, and friend to so many more. At the same time, we are comforted knowing that our angel on Earth certainly returned home to rest in the arms of God.

Mary Anne was the fourth of six children born to George Warren Marshbourne, Sr. and Willie Helen Privette Marshbourne. She greeted life October 27, 1935, with a spirit of undaunted adventure and optimism that led her far and wide from the days of balancing on rolling barrels in the backyard pastures of her childhood home in the small town of Spring Hope, North Carolina.

She left home for her undergraduate studies in Greenville, North Carolina at East Carolina College, and then took a big leap to graduate programs at The University of Tennessee and The University of Michigan where she completed the degrees and coursework necessary to become a Registered Dietitian. Ultimately, her life’s journey led her to Florida, first to West Palm Beach and then to Jacksonville where a chance meeting to look at an apartment led to more than forty-five years of marriage to her love, Anwar Saadeh, who preceded her in death in 2017.

That meeting, and subsequent marriage in 1970, changed the trajectory of her life’s adventure in several ways – she traveled the United States and the world with Anwar, she learned about the food and the culture of the Middle East through the eyes of Anwar and his family, she soon even shifted her work focus from full time dietitian to their shared passion for rehabilitating neighboring properties into rental units. Mary Anne and Anwar created a rental community of simple but affordable housing for their neighbors and embraced a lifetime of radical hospitality. Managing their rental properties was not merely a job or financial pursuit for Mary Anne, but a mission rooted in her Christian faith and fueled by her optimism that with guidance and basic needs met, all people are capable of great things. She was known to be firm and decisive, but her heart was always a soft-landing place for those in need. She was available any time of day or night to their rental neighbors to offer support, guidance, and often a detailed plan to empower each person to move forward and find personal success.

Mary Anne was known for having high expectations of others, but those expectations were never higher than those she had for herself. Whether it was making hundreds of pimiento cheese sandwiches to sell at Spring Hope High School fundraisers as a student, serving the broader Jacksonville community on various city advisory committees, or supporting organizations dear to her heart like The Jacksonville Arboretum, St. Johns Riverkeeper, The Garden Club of Jacksonville, The Women’s Club of Jacksonville, Jacksonville Historic Society, and First Coast Tiger Bay, Mary Anne poured her heart with reckless abandon into the communities where she lived and the people she loved.

While ultimately Alzheimer’s stole her memory, it could not steal the force of nature that was her heart for this world. It came as a surprise to no one when Mary Anne received a humanitarian award for the many ways she cared for her neighbors during her time as a resident of the memory care unit at The Windsor San Pablo. Our hearts are broken at the loss of her voice, her smile, her hugs and her physical presence in our lives, but at the same time our hearts have all been fortified by her love, her life and her legacy and for that we give thanks to God.

Mary Anne is survived by two sisters, Helen Marshbourne Bissette and Betty Marshbourne Lewis (both of North Carolina), nieces, nephews, great-nephews, a widespread community of friends and an abundance of former tenants who felt like family.

A special word of gratitude from our family to Aura Soto and Shelley Cain who made sure every day that Mary Anne was taken care of with compassion, respect, and the abundant love she deserved as Alzheimer's continued its march of destruction through her mind and body. We also want to thank the numerous caregivers who supported Mary Anne on this unexpected adventure – especially Robin Soloman, her personal caregiver for more than a year and a half, along with the many staff and caregivers at The Windsor San Pablo and Community Hospice who loved our Mary Anne with all their hearts in these final years. The memories we have of the many kindnesses and unconditional love extended to her when she was most vulnerable in this world will carry us forward.

A graveside service will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, October 4th at the Oakdale Cemetery in Spring Hope, North Carolina. For those wishing to honor Mary Anne's memory in Jacksonville, we hope you'll take time to sit on the memorial bench at The Jacksonville Arboretum that currently honors Anwar's memory and will soon have a plaque added to include Mary Anne. Take time to reflect on your gratitude for Mary Anne and your memories of all the ways Mary Anne enhanced your life - it's a place where we can all feel close to her memory. You can also honor Mary Anne's memory by participating in one of the many St. Johns Riverkeeper events in the coming months - we all know she loved the river as much as she loved her family, friends, and neighbors. (https://stjohnsriverkeeper.org/events/)

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the following organizations in memory of Mary Anne:

The Foundation of Community Hospice & Palliative Care: mail donations to 4266 Sunbeam Road, Jacksonville, Florida 32257 or give online via https://thefoundationcares.org/give

The St. Johns Riverkeeper: For those who would like to make a memorial gift, donations can be mailed to: St. Johns Riverkeeper, 2800 University Boulevard North, Jacksonville, Florida 32211 or give online via https://stjohnsriverkeeper.org/join-give/tribute/

The Jacksonville Arboretum: https://jacksonvillearboretum.org/donate