Samuel Sophy Joseph

Samuel Sophy Joseph was our clown prince. Always entertaining at every family function, he was the designated dancer among the brothers. Photos and films exist of him dancing with his mother, his sister and various sisters-in-law. Although any family function wasn't complete until Uncle Sammy danced with a full glass on his head. The laughter equaled the amazement. And every holiday at the dinner table, we would wait for his whiskey ritual. Taking a shot of Canadian Whiskey, he would contort his face and we would be in stitches. A lifelong bachelor, he did spend 30 plus years with Dorothy Ward, a former Rockette, and a woman we all welcomed as an aunt. Uncle Sam was also one of the founding members of the Camelback Golf Outing between Lebanese contingents from Detroit and Cleveland. Until I was fifteen, Uncle Sam lived with us. To hear him speak was another experience altogether as he would butcher the English language. In his eulogy, I wrote the following poem for him entitled THE KING OF THE MOMENT. 

We were his gifted children

bestowed by his caring brothers and sister

upon his unassuming life .

In return, we were presented

a clown prince in mismatched clothes -

the light in the room emanating from him.

As he would prance across the floor

he was the king of the moment

a whiskey glass his crown –

And we, his loyal subjects

would laugh in time to his rhythmic belly.

When he spoke,

the circles of his English dizzied us -

we were hung by his every word…

Love lived in the glint of his eye

and in the crook of his smile…

Did we ever really know the man

who was granted access to a father’s love

by a family overflowing with the riches of its seed?

We were his chosen children -

but who can speak of his hopes and fears?

Who can solve the mystery of his quiet hours 

that only he himself knew?

Heaven holds those answers now.

Death is the pendulum 

swinging twixt a grin and a tear 

The earth holds his bones now.

And in the end -

we were not surprised 

that his great heart gave out –

it was the part he used the most…