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WINTER
2010
27
Letters to the editor
Our heartfelt condolences go out to
Hagop Bessos and his family for the loss
of our beloved professor (BB) as we jok-
ingly nicknamed him.
Mr. Bessos a man of science, taught me
biology in 3rd secondary sometimes in
the sixties, of course I won’t mention
when, lest everyone knows how old we
are now. Once in our weekly lab session,
he bends over to show me how to use
the microscope and smelled cigarettes on
my breath. He immediately and with a
stern voice he said: “Abuhamad, you have
been smoking” and this is unacceptable,
neither for your age nor for your health.
In our next lesson he announced that for
our lab session we are to meet in front of
the Khoury Hospital building on Abdel
Aziz street. Of course the whole class
went there only to find out that he had
booked a room with a 16mm projector
where we had to watch a 30 minutes film
on the removal of a lung from a smoking
patient diagnosed with cancer. Sparing
everyone the graphic details of how the
operation went, at the end of the movie
we were all asked to throw our cigarette
packs in a trash bin in the corner of the
room. Needless to mention, none of us
dared even showing Mr. Bessos who
smoke and who did not, however I did
and made sure that he saw me.
Hagop, it only goes to show us ALL that
the serious, stern, tough man of science
recognizing way back when that ciga-
rettes KILL, was all the man of man-
kind, that took the time and made the
effort to educate us all not biology but
a whole lot more about LIFE. In other
words he simply CARED.
Sincerely,
Ramsey Abuhamad ‘71
Greetings,
After seeing the photo of the 50th Class Reunion of 1959 published in the IC Winter
Newsletter, I thought it would be great if the attached photo is published in the upcom-
ing Newsletter. It’s the Elementary School graduating class of 1953.The picture was
taken after we had spent around 4 to 6 years together and then most of us spent another
4 to 6 years until our graduation in 1959. As for me, I graduated from Illinois Institute
of Technology, Chicago majoring in Engineering Management. I worked for 40 years
with various engineering and manufacturing companies in the United States, Lebanon,
Greece, Egypt and UAE. I retired in 2001 and now enjoy life in Tucson, Arizona. My
e-mail is basman41@comcast.net.»
All the best,
Basil Mansur ‘59
L to R:
Front Row:
Hatem Husseini, Nabil Kailani, Abdel Rahim Koleilat, Walid Unsi, Elie
Sarrouh, Salim Khidr, Khalil Hakim, Sammy Ma›moun, Nabil Jaroudi.
Second Row:
Nadim Bikhazi, Salim Ghalayini, Bishr Faris, Basil Mansur, Walid Jar-
roudi, Faysal Jafar, Khalil Elias, George Estefan, Mohamed El-Dana.
Third Row:
Saleh Arakji, Marwan Hamadeh, Suhail Sarriedin, Joseph Thabit, Mo-
hamed Ballouz, Farid Tannous, Nabil Kutteh, Toni Khuri, John Baldo, Faowzi Qam-
mand, Ramzi Bikhazi, Salam Rayis.