Georgette Rahal

Georgette Rahal, cherished mother of Mark and Viviane, passed to her place in heaven on the evening of 31 December 2021, in her own home in Montréal, Québec, Canada.

Her departure was sudden: she had had a wonderful New Year’s Eve dinner with her children one hour earlier, when she was glowing and full of life.

She is survived by her two children, Mark and Viviane, her brother the Very Reverend Joseph Rahal (ret), her sisters Samira and Angel, and nieces and nephews in Canada, the United States, Europe and the Middle East.

Closer to home, Georgette leaves behind beloved close friends who are like family. A testament to her abundant kindness and positive nature, she made friends wherever she went and kept them for life.

A rich yet challenging life that spanned decades and continents. Born in Damascus, Syria on the 17th of November 1931, she would soon move to Canada and the eastern townships in the early 1950s. There, she built a successful retail shoe store in the town of Richmond, Québec, before moving to Montréal in the early 1960s. In this first stint as a Montrealer, she worked in accounting and bookkeeping, while also writing a weekly recipe and cooking column for a local newspaper. Cooking and hosting would be lifelong passions, which she accomplished to great acclaim right up until her last dinner with her children on the night of her passing.

1968 was a seminal year: on a trip back to the middle east to visit her parents, she met the future father of her children. She remained in Lebanon for twelve years. The latter of those years were spent raising her two children in the throes of civil war. Between the civil war and a difficult situation at home, she saw that there isn’t a promising future for her children; she wants to give them a chance at a better life.

And so it was that, in a bold act of courage fraught with dangers, she got on a plane and moved to Montréal: two kids, three suitcases and one mom. The year was 1980, and she was beginning a new life, from scratch, at age 48.

Georgette’s distinguishing traits come into play at this stage: industriousness, love, duty, labour, courage, selflessness. All delivered with her lifelong class, elegance, dignity and grace. She did what life demanded, no matter what it took. This period, leading to today, saw the joy she is known for flourish.

She proceeded to raise her two children as a single mom in a new society. She found work and developed a new career in womens’ fashion; found her kids a school and enlisted them in multiple afterschool activities; moved from a room to a studio apartment to slowly larger apartments, as her family’s needs grew. Culminating in the place she acquired and stayed in up until her last day, a place she built into the warm, welcoming anchor of a home that she had always envisioned.

Yes, functionally and aesthetically -- she got an interior designer and matched the furniture to the paint to the art. But mainly -- and this became clearer after her passing -- she built it on the foundation of the values that she understood, in her wisdom, to underpin life:

Joy - Family - Generosity - Friends - Sharing - Contentment - Love.

Oh so much love. To everyone that passed through her home, for an hour or for a lifetime, they were enveloped in love, light and more love.

To Give was Georgette’s natural state. She gave of herself to her work, her family, her friends, her community and church. She volunteered for twenty years at the Centre ABC food bank, making close friends along the way. While sitting on the board of the St-Nicholas Church womens’ auxiliary, she helped many people and organisations in need. She engaged herself fully in her work, and excelled at it. After her retirement, fashion retailers that knew her asked her to continue working, and she worked into her 70s, helping build up other high-end retailers.

She gave to her family, near and far, in good times and in bad. She did the same with her friends. It was never a consideration for Georgette whether or not to do so. She was the kind of person who would hop on a plane or get in the car and go help a friend or relative in need, or to help them mark important life moments.

As her childrens’ careers saw them move, she kept on giving, travelling to Philadelphia, Boston, Halifax or San Diego to help them with their needs there, to make their transitions easier. She also found her own joy in each of these places; she ended up making friends and building secondary lives for herself in those cities as well.

Georgette didn’t know how important she was, not just to her close relations, but seemingly to anyone that got to know her throughout the years. She was pure love.

She was a content and happy person all her life, but seemingly more so in her later years. As a good friend described it: ‘Despite the many hard challenges she experienced in life, her heart never hardened”.

Georgette left this world peacefully, looking like an angel, dignified and graceful in her final rest, just as she was in life.

And we leave you with but a small sampling of the words sent by her friends and family worldwide upon her passing:

"This is how we thought of her. Always dignified and gracious. I am still in shock."

"Memory Eternal to a classy and beautiful lady."

"I'm so sad I won't get the chance to sit and talk with her again."

“She was indeed a wonderful and dignified woman, warm, affectionate and kind.”

“Honest and forthright”

"Elle était une femme extraordinaire et d’une gentillesse infinie. Une grande dame"

“She was a sweet nice loving woman that I’ll never forget.”

"I can measure her immense character by the children she raised. The gifts she left behind."

"C’était une femme trop modeste pour ce qu’elle était. Je sais à quel point cette dame était plus grande que toute."

“ [She] left an impression of positivity, elegance and kindness.”

“She always spoke of her kids with pride and joy,”

“For me it was her smile, I will never forget her smile.”

“Elle avait une belle personnalité. Une grande dame. Dans d’autres circonstances, elle aurait pu être une reine!”

In lieu of flowers, charitable donations may be made to Centre ABC, the food bank and community services organization where she volunteered for the past 20 years (www.centreabc.org).