The Ayoub Family

by Virginia Ayoub Burroughs

Mr. George Ayoub

Emil Ayoub was born in Tripoli, Syria (now Lebanon) in 1889. Because the Turkish Muslims were persecuting Christians, he emigrated to the United States in 1901 with his family, his father George and his mother Marianna, a sister-Fautine, and three brothers, Willie, James and Fred.

The port of entry was New York Harbor. When they arrived they noticed that everything was draped in black; not speaking English they did not know why. They later learned that the President of the United States, William McKinley, had been assassinated.

The family was processed through customs and immigration, and then they headed south. They settled in Eagle Lake, Weimer and the Victoria area of Texas. George Ayoub, Emil's father, opened a dry goods store in the area and did very well.

When Emil was 26 or 27, he met and married Mary Alkek of Victoria. They moved to San Benito in 1916 or 1917.

 

Emil and Mary Ayoub

E. Ayoub, an employee, T. Hyak and another employee

Emil and Tom Hyak opened a dry goods store on Robertson Street. Emil purchased the store from Hilario Garcia.

In 1929, the Great Depression hit the Valley as well as the rest of the country. It was a common practice to extend credit to farmers until their crops were harvested and taken to market, but when the Depression hit, most farmers lost everything. Emil Ayoub was forced to close his store as were many others.

Emil with three of his six children: George, Davy and Jack.

By then, Emil had bought a piece of property, 307 S. Dick Dowling St. from Mr. Welch. That is where he and Mary built their home and raised six children; George (1918), Jack (1919), David (1921), Pauline (1924), Virginia(1926), and Sam (1934).

After his store closed during the Depression, Emil had to seek other work to support his family. He worked in the local theaters, and he bought and sold produce from the produce sheds. He would buy a load of produce, load his pickup truck and drive to Corpus Christi, Victoria, or to wherever to sell it; what was leftover, he brought home to eat. Emil Ayoub helped many people morally and financially during the years of the Depression. He was loved and well respected in the community.

Emil loved to take his children and his sister Fautine & Jack Ogdee's children, Helen, George and Edward on outings to Boca Chica because it always brought back happy memories of his childhood swimming in the Mediterranean Sea.

Emil Ayoub's three oldest sons served in WWII. He passed away in 1944 before his sons returned from the war. Emil Ayoub will be remembered with the other Founding Fathers of San Benito.

 

 

 

When they came home from the war, George, Jack and David followed in the family tradition and opened Ayoub Brothers' Grocery in the same building that their father had his store.

They worked together until George and David lost interest.

Jack bought out his brothers and then formed a partnership with Tony Kashouty.

The grocery store was renamed A&K.

 

 

 

 

Tony Kashouty, Mr. Salinas and Jack Ayoub. 1946-47

George married Alma Rogers in 1940 and raised their two sons Michael (1951) and John (1954) in San Benito. George worked as a projectionist at the Arcadia and Rialto Theaters. In their retirement years, they followed their sons to Austin where they lived the remaining portions of their lives. George died in 1994 and Alma in 1995.

Jack married Virginia Zepeda of San Benito in 1950. They had three children, Jack Emil (1951), Andrew William (1953) and Mary Ann (1957). Jack eventually sold his grocery store and taking on new partners bought the International Bowling Lanes in Brownsville which he ran for many years. The partnership also bought and sold commercial real estate. Jack died in 1981 followed by his wife in 1998. Jack Emil and Andrew still live in the San Benito area and Mary Ann Allison lives with her family in Austin.

Dave Ayoub married Cleo Mead in 1947 and also raised their two sons, Charles (1951) and Rodney (1953), in San Benito. The family moved to the Houston area in the mid-1960's where Dave was employed by NASA as an electronic quality control techincian. He was proud to be on the team that brought Apollo 13 home. Cleo died in 1996 followed by Dave in 1998. Charles and Rodney and their families live in the Houston area.

George Ayoub and son, Emil, on Robertson St. in San Benito.

Pauline married Wilson Fry of San Benito in 1944. They had two children, Wilson Benjamin (1946) and Judy Lynn (1948). The family resided in San Benito until the late 1960's and then moved to Corpus Christi where Wilson died in 1984 and Pauline still lives. Their son, Ben Fry, lives in San Benito with his family while his sister Judy Wright lives in Corpus Christi with hers.

Virginia married Jackson Burroughs in 1944 and soon moved to Ft. Worth where they raised their family, two sons, Jack (1946) and Timothy (1959), and a daughter, Teresa (1957). Currently Virgie and Jackson have retired to Sunnyvale, Texas where they live nearby their daughter and her family. Jackie lives in Houston and Tim and his family in Valley Ranch.

Sam married Rachel Guerrero of Harlingen in 1960. After working as an athletic trainer for the University of Texas at Austin, they moved to Richmond, Virginia where Sam was employed by the Atlanta Braves Organization. Sam and Rachel had one son, Laurence (1961). Larry and his family, as well as, Sam and Rachel still live in Richmond.

All the Ayoub children and grandchildren have a family reunion every 2 years to celebrate the lives and special memories that Emil and Mary Ayoub made possible for them.

 

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