The Joy of Cousins by Randy Couri

9/9/2026 1:03 pm

How wonderful it is to have so many cousins; it is truly a blessing! I am not just talking about immediate cousins. I am also
talking about cousins who are Lebanese and may not be closely related to each other or not at all. We all know the Lebanese
custom of calling a Lebanese acquaintance ‘cousin’ and to welcome them into our home. The closeness of Lebanese families

and Lebanese cousins is something that others are amazed about. I like to think it exemplifies to the public what a wonder-
ful life is like in a community devoted to each other.

Up to this point I have not been talking about our Peoria Itoo community. I have been talking about cousins of ours who live
in Buffalo and North Tonawanda, New York. I imagine many of you are saying, “What? I don’t have cousins in New York!”
I’m here to tell you how wrong many of you are. For at least fifty years I’ve known the family names of our relatives who live
out east. Their family names are - Abdulla, Baker, Farris, Ferris, Mangione, Moses, Padwa, Robidoux, Saliba, Stefanucci and
Verrastro. These are just the families I know of, I’m certain there are probably others.
I recently drove to Buffalo and spent five days meeting these wonderful Lebanese cousins who are descendants of Aytou,
Lebanon, the same as we are. Several families, descendants of Sarkis and Nasa Khier; Michael and Lottie Joseph, and Albert
and Kalthoon Moses held a cousin’s party that I attended. I had a wonderful time with them. I was able to help the day
before by cutting chicken breasts for jaj mishwi (chicken kabobs) and lamb shoulder for lahm mishwi. Besides the chicken
and lamb kabobs the buffet line included kusa mihshi (stuffed squash), warak inib (grape leaves), jaj mishi (stuffed chicken),
kibba sayniyyi (baked kibba), and a wide assortment of other delicious foods. At that party alone, I met forty-five to fifty
cousins! And to my great joy, I received many more hugs than I did handshakes!
Out of the ten families I contacted before leaving Peoria I was able to meet with cousins from eight of them. I also spoke on
the phone with a cousin from the ninth family but ran out of time to visit with them. Sadly, I did not locate anyone in the

tenth family. A few I met at restaurants, most of them invited me into their homes. All of them greeted me warmly, gra-
ciously and with open arms, and I was accepted as one of their own. I felt like I had known them my whole life. Up until a

month ago, I knew some in the Buffalo/North Tonawanda community were cousins of two of my aunts., Margaret (LaHood)

Couri and Delores (Anthony) Kouri. Their mothers, who were sisters, were cousins to the grandmothers of many of my new-
found cousins. But, as a bonus, at least thirty of the Buffalo - North Tonawanda cousins are a DNA match to me.

All of us who grew up in the Peoria Itoo community, and our cousins in the Buffalo – North Tonawanda areas, along with our
cousins in St. Paul and our cousins in other areas of the United States have been so blessed in our lives by the examples of

our parents and grandparents. They taught us to be proud of our Lebanese heritage and traditions. But even more import-
ant, they gave us the chance to achieve their dreams for us. Their dreams were to come to America, to be able to work hard,

to earn a living, to raise a family and to give all of us, their descendants, the opportunities that were unavailable in the old

country. Our ancestors have truly Blessed us – it is because of their Love for us, their unending Prayers for us and their Sac-
rifices and Hardships for us that taught us to become successful mothers, fathers, aunts and uncles to our own descendants.

God has blessed our ancestors and us.
P.S.: I first knew of the families who settled out east, about fifty years ago, when I noticed the pictures and names of eight
men in the World War Two picture who were from Buffalo and North Tonawanda. While I was there, I was able to visit the

graves of seven of our veterans, six served in World War Two and one was Killed in Action in Korea. It is a humbling experi-
ence to honor our veterans by visiting their final resting places, to say a prayer and place an American flag to thank them for

their service and the sacrifices they endured.