خاص جبلنا ماغازين – بنسلفانيا

في لقاء عائلي جمعه بها في منزلها بمدينة ولكسبري في ولاية بنسلفانيا الأميركية، أراد كاهن رعية كنيسة مار أنطونيوس ومار جرجس المارونية في ولكسبري الخوري حنا كرم تسجيل حكاية السيدة اللبنانية الأصل مي توماس (البالغة من العمر 92 عاماً) بالفيديو، بعدما كان استضافها في احتفال خصصته الكنيسة العام الماضي للاحتفال بإرثها اللبناني، وقد تحدثت السيدة توماس في الاحتفال عن تجربة والدتها الناجية من سفينة التيتانيك التي غرقت عام 1912 في المحيط الأطلسي في أشهر رحلة بحرية باتجاه الولايات المتحدة.

تعود أصول مي توماس إلى بلدة حردين البترونية التي خسرت عدداً كبيراً من أبنائها على متن التيتانيك، وكان عدد من هؤلاء الضحايا في طريقهم للالتقاء بأقارب لهم في ولكسبري وغيرها من المدن الأميركية التي شكلت في تلك المرحلة مناطق تجمع للبنانيين الآتين إلى العالم الجديد.

مي توماس التي ظلت تعنى بوالدتها "تمين طنوس خوري" (عُرفت فيما بعد باسم ثيلما توماس) حتى وفاتها، تبدأ حديثها (في الفيديو المرفق) بسرد لحظات غرق السفينة وما عانته والدتها في تلك الليلة المشؤومة حيث انتُشلت من السفينة ونقلت إلى قارب نجاة من دون طفلها ذات الثلاثة أشهر الذي بقي بين ذراعي أخيها تشارلز الذي عهد به بعد ذلك إلى سيدة مجهولة في قارب آخر، حيث كانت أولوية الإنقاذ للنساء والأطفال.

وفي الفيديو، تتطرق مي توماس أيضاً إلى الممثل الأميركي – اللبناني الأصل – الشهير داني توماس، الذي تفخر بمساهمتها في عمله المشرّف على مدى 32 سنة لتأسيس مستشفى سانت جود لرعاية الأطفال المصابين بالسرطان، وتمكنت من جمع أموال طائلة من محسنين لصالح مشروعه الإنساني.

The night of the sinking, Charles, who heard the thud when they hit the iceberg, quickly went to Thelma's (Tamin) room and told her to get warm clothes on and to wrap the baby up warmly. "Something is wrong, and we are needed on deck," he told her. When they got to the deck, people were everywhere, and life boats were being filled. One of the men in charge tried to put Thelma on a life boat but she was hysterical and did not want to leave her brother. It was very confusing & frightening since she did not speak English. Charles translated that she must go without him. She still refused. In the chaos someone put her in the life boat and lowered it before she could get baby Assad from her brother! She was nearly out of her mind crying for him and her brother, what a terrifying ordeal it must have been for her.
Luckily Charles entrusted the baby to a lady in another life boat who promised to take care of the baby until he could be reunited with his mother. Sadly, Charles Thomas did not survive, and his body was never found.
There was a man in Thelma's life boat dressed as a woman. At first the women in the boat were appalled. They were all in a state of shock and could not row away from the sinking ship fast enough, however, the man rowed them to safety and saved them from being pulled under when the ship went completely under the water. After that, they were thankful that he had been in their lifeboat. Thelma was in a state of severe shock and spent several weeks in the hospital in NY. 
Once she was stable she was reunited with her baby Assad. he was still wrapped in the same blanket from that fateful night. Thelma was also reunited with her husband Alexander, who had stayed behind to mind the business. They went on to have a total of 10 children, three are still alive today. Mae, one of the three, loves to talk about her mother's experience. She said her mother never went near another body of water in her life, not even a lake.

"Uncle Charles had already settled in Wilkes-Barre with my father, Alexander Thomas. They opened a wholesale fruit market on Northampton Street. But both still had families back in Lebanon".

"So, when Charles decided to visit his wife and four children, my father asked him to bring back his wife and their infant son." Like the other immigrants, Charles, age 31, and Thelma, 16, paid about 7 pounds each ($800 today) for their tickets, which included railway passage from Beirut".

"Other families in the group were: Betros Khalil, 25, and his 20-year-old wife, Zahie; Mrs. Omine Moubarek, 26, and her two sons, Gerios, 7, and Halim, 3; Hanna Samaan, 40, who was accompanied by his two sons, Elias, 17, and Yousseff, 16; Antoni Yazbeck, 27, and his 15-year-old bride, Salini and Betros Seman, 10, who was accompanied by an uncle from Waterbury, Ct. There were also four voyagers who were traveling alone: Borak Hannah, 27; Brenton Harry, 24; Mrs. Mantoura Moussa, 35 and Gerios Youssiff, 45".

"All these passengers came from Hardin, Lebanon, an isolated village nestled in the thick woodland between the snow-cliffed mountains near the coastal town of Batroun. Most of them were farmers or laborers and had a tough time making a living."

~Mae Thomas (The Citizens’ Voice website)

~Mae Thomas with Jabalna Magazine's editor Fadia Samaan in an event at St Anthony & St George Maronite Church in Wilkes Barre - 2017