Corey family has deep roots

To the editor:
    When the news of the demolition of the Corey Building was received, my mother Marie (Haggerty) Corey, aunts Madeline (Corey) Stratios and Margaret (Corey) Hightshoe and “Aunt” Freda Habeeb started reminiscing about the old days in Caribou. I would like to share some of their recollections in order to appreciate my grandmother who was truly a remarkable woman of her day and in fact, any day.     Ayouka Alekel Corey immigrated to this country in 1903 from Jdeita, Lebanon. Initially settling in Lawrence, Mass., she found work in the mills. She married Thomas Corey also from Jdeita and together, they decided the mill was not for them so they found their way to Grand Falls, N.B. Eventually, they settled in Caribou. She was a longtime resident in Caribou until her death in 1958.
    The Coreys were blessed with seven children surviving children of 10. My grandfather Thomas worked hard as a peddler in order to provide for his family. He died in 1924 at the age of 40 due to complications from a simple pneumonia before the advent of antibiotics. Ayouka was only 36 and she was left with six children and one in the womb.
    She did not speak English very good. She did not read or write. Yet by all accounts she was a very smart and decent woman. She had a natural business savvy.
    The Coreys settled in Caribou in the 1920s and lived on Sweden Street, across the street from the Habeebs, another Lebanese family.
    The Coreys bought the Lyman Hotel, a clapboard building in 1920 and it eventually burned. The upstairs of the building housed the hotel and downstairs there was a large A&P Grocery Store, McGraff Insurance Company on the corner, Mr. Manship’s Barbershop, and the Style Shop owned and operated by the Coreys’ eldest son, my uncle Edward and his wife Amelia (Hobart). My aunt Margaret “Peggy” Corey worked in the store for her brother.
    Edward and Amelia made frequent trips to Boston to purchase clothes for the shop and Ayouka and Peggy would often accompany them. Peggy recalled her mother purchasing 10 dresses for her during the Depression and paying $1 a piece for them. They would stay at a rooming house that Peggy thought was just grand. They packed food and ate in the park.
    When the Lyman Hotel burned, this led to the building of the Corey Building on the same site in 1939. Being a single woman and needing a bank loan, she received the endorsement of Dr. Sincock. My own father, Frederick Corey hauled bricks in a wheel barrel during construction. During the hotel years, Mrs. Corey’s children wheeled a wagon filled with fresh linens that were laundered by her daily to the hotel.
    When we all heard of the demolition of the Corey Building, we thought it was important to share these memories of days gone by and to honor my grandmother Ayouka Alekel Corey, a truly remarkable woman.
Kathleen Corey Rahme
Methuen, Mass.