Mary Isaac

Mary Isaac was born in Baghdad, Iraq. She was the eldest daughter of Allawardi and Laya Yadgar, of mata Ardeshai. She married John Isaac (Karajalu) in 1940, and worked for the Royal Air Force, in Habbaniya Iraq. Her trade was as a seamstress, and she received certificated training from the Singer Sewing Machine Company. She had 5 children: 4 grew up in RAF Habbaniya, namely Marlene, Banipal, Ashur, and Sargon Isaac, while her youngest, Ninos Isaac, was born and raised in England. After moving to England in the mid 50s, her husband continued to work for the British Ministry of Defence at Chilwell near Nottingham, while she worked in lace factories, such as Peter Kirklands in Long Eaton. Putting aside some of her earnings, and with the assistance of loans from the local Bank, she purchased a large semi-detached Victorian building (featuring 2 businesses), and fashioned it into an upscale hotel which served the East Midlands area of the United Kingdom. Europa Hotel hosted many celebrities and dignitaries including the late Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, Mar Shimun. She created a Hairdressing Salon (which her daughter, Marlene operated), and she purchased a villa in Benidorm, Spain. In recognition of her business accomplishments, she was recognised as Business Woman of the Year for the entire County. She helped her son and grandchildren attend elite private schools, such as Trent College, and provided funds for her sons to start businesses of their own. She moved to the United States in 1980, where she retired from business, and focused her energy on supporting the Assyrian American Civic Club of Turlock and the Assyrian Church of the East (Mar Addai). She served as Treasurer for the Ladies Auxiliary, and also on the Ladies Board of Directors. Mary worked exceptionally hard to make life comfortable for her children, and it was her kindness and financial generosity to both family and Assyrian church for which she will be long remembered. An expert businesswoman, she is remembered for her conversations about the trappings of what she called ‘false economies’: investing insufficient funds into speculative solutions or purchases. As a follower of Christ, she is remembered most vividly for her ability to calm all those she came into contact with. She loved Jesus, prayed and read her Aramaic New Testament daily. She was a true ‘peacemaker’ of the type which Jesus spoke in the Beatitudes, and more than anything she loved her lord and savior, Jesus Christ, and her greatest source of happiness was to be in the Church, where she could pray and praise in her native Assyrian. An irreplaceable woman, her presence will be missed by all of us.

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Mary Isaac

July 31, 1924 - September 26, 2023