Maryalice Abood

Maryalice Abood, nee Abowd, died peacefully at home surrounded by her loving family in East Lansing on August 9, 2020. Maryalice was imbued with an uncommon grace and a loving spirit that drew all who came into her radius to her. She was the beloved matriarch of a large Lebanese family, which she nurtured with a mother’s deep joy.

Maryalice was born on April 10, 1939, the cherished youngest of seven children of Richard George and Alice (Elum) Abowd in Fostoria, Ohio. She attended St. Wendelin Schools, graduating in 1957. She and her dear big brother Tom Abowd were inseparable as children in Fostoria, and throughout their lives. She went on to attend Marygrove College in Detroit where she studied speech therapy and fine art, graduating in 1961. She maintained a lifelong friendship with Emily Petrarca and Judy Miller, her roommates at Marygrove.

She was introduced to her future husband, Camille Sam Abood, a law student in Detroit, on a blind date during her sophomore year. The two married in 1962 in Fostoria and settled in Camille’s hometown of Lansing. Camille often spoke adoringly of his wife to his children as “our living model of the Blessed Mother.”

They took their greatest pleasure in life in their five children (born in just over a six-year period), raising them in a happy home often the center of activity on Wagon Wheel Lane. Every neighbor looked to Maryalice for friendship and care, including her lifelong friends Fran Casper, Ellen Fata, Barb Georgi, Dee Zawacki, Elfriede Berg, and Gloria Nakfoor. Family gathered around Maryalice always, in the magnetism of her warmth and welcome.

Maryalice was a true artist whose talents were expressed with her hallmark humility. Like her mother, and her sisters Peggy and Pat who she adored, she took deep interest in arts and crafts of every kind, from watercolor painting to sewing, gardening, and decorative arts. She was a master of the art of Lebanese cuisine and hospitality, hosting a lifetime of absolutely beautiful, memorable dinners and parties for family and friends. Her attention to detail was tremendous.

Maryalice always made time for others. She volunteered and served in leadership capacities in several local organizations including the McCauley League, the St. Gerard Alter Society, St. Lawrence Hospital Gift Shop, Lansing Art Gallery, Wharton Center, The Greater Lansing Food Bank, as a volunteer tutor in the Lansing Schools and a long-time member and past president of the Ingham County Bar Auxiliary.

Her steadfast Catholic faith was at the center of Maryalice’s life. She was nourished by praying the Rosary and in attending mass wherever she was during the year and took great comfort in the Catholic Communities of Lansing (St. Gerard, St. Mary Cathedral, St. Thomas), Harbor Springs, MI (Holy Childhood of Jesus) and Naples, FL (St. William). Together with her husband, she instilled the importance of faith and family in her children and her cherished grandchildren.

Maryalice is preceded in death by her beloved parents, her husband Camille Sam Abood, Camille’s siblings Hannibal, Fredric, Hilda, Helen, and Richard; her own siblings Richard Abowd Jr. (Sara), Philip (Virginia), sister-in-law Mary Alice Abowd, brothers-in-law Simon Shaker and Theodore Saker, as well as daughter-in-law, Ruth Abood.

Maryalice's survivors include her five children Thomas J. (Amara) of Phoenix, AZ, Dr. Christopher J. of East Lansing, Dr. Richard G. (Silvia) of Naples, FL, Maureen E. (Dan) Shaheen of East Lansing, and Mary Margaret Abood of Chicago, as well as grandchildren Camille, Bennett, Ashford, John, Maria Belen, Richard, Thomas, Victoria, Ellen Nystrom, Michael Shaheen and Steven Shaheen, siblings Patricia Saker, Margaret Mary Shaker, George Abowd, and Dr. Thomas and Anne Marie Abowd, and many, many beloved nieces and nephews.

The Abood family would like to express its profound gratitude to Maryalice’s caregivers who have provided her with such loving and devoted care including Maryalice’s niece, Celine Abood Terranova, Vicky Symons, Melissa Wadley and Beth Brancels. We also thank Karen Small, R.N., of Sparrow Hospice.

All are welcome to attend the outdoor burial service at St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery, Lansing, MI on Wednesday, August 12 at 10 a.m.

Recorded video of service at https://www.facebook.com/163145830381110/videos/584471818893483/

In lieu of flowers, please consider a gift to the Greater Lansing Area Food Bank, 2116 Mint Rd., Lansing, MI 48906.

The family is being served by Gorsline Runciman Funeral Homes, East Chapel, East Lansing.

Expressions of sympathy may be made at www.greastlansing.com