From: Jean Isteero – [email protected]
Jean went to Egypt in 1963 and taught at American School for Girls. She married Rev. Dr. Albert Isterro in 1964. In May 2011 a group of friends of the late Dr. Martha A. Roy (Schutz Class of 1932) went to see her grave and were very disturbed by the condition of the cemetery and formed the American Cemetery Committee. Its ultimate goal is to make the Cemetery the lovely resting place it was meant to be to honor all those who worked years of their lives for the good of Egypt: missionaries, researchers, artists and educators amongst many others. She is sharing some current news from the Cemetery Committee.
Dedication Service – American Cemetery in Cairo
The Friends of the American Cemetery gathered on May 20, 2017, to install and dedicate three new monuments for individuals buried and memorialized in the cemetery. One was former Danish Consul Ernst Mozart Brandt. Another was Emma Cushman, a nurse and missionary who helped save Armenian children at the time of the genocide. Albert and Gloria Lion died in a plane crash in Egypt; their burial was symbolic, as their bodies could not be recovered.
Rev. Kirsten Fryer, Pastor of St. Andrew’s Church conducted the dedication ceremony. Those in attendance were Nazli Rizk, Diana van Bogaert, Greg Olson, Rev. Colin Johnston, photojournalist Jayson Casper, and Dorte Zaalouk of the Danish Embassy.
The Synod of the Nile was represented by Rev. John Yaqoub, who is responsible for the American Cemetery within the Synod Properties. He made the arrangements for personnel to have the cemetery open for us, and brought with him Engineer Nagy Takla, who has volunteered his time to the Synod, and has shown an interest in helping with logistical and engineering matters at the Cemetery. One of these issues is the use of empty land area and of the burial niches prepared and donated by the convent. Repair of grave markers will be an ongoing concern, which the May 20 event has helped advance.
Eng. Nagy has also offered to engage the services of marble workers with whom he deals.
Emma Darling Cushman Born July 28, 1864, Burlington, New York Died January 1, 1931, Cairo
Emma Darling Cushman, American nurse and missionary, saved the lives of thousands of Armenian children during the Armenian genocide. Born in 1864 in New York State, Emma studied nursing in college and in 1900 traveled to Turkey, where she helped run the American Hospital in Konya with the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions. When WWI broke out in 1914 and foreigners were ordered to leave the country, Emma refused. She continued operating the hospital and was granted the title “Acting Consul of the Allies and Neutral Nations.” Emma began rescuing Armenian orphans off the streets, placing them in safe homes and basements. When she ran out of hiding places, she turned her hospital into an orphanage, which eventually held over 1,000 children who would have otherwise faced near-certain death. Following the end of the war, Emma established a home and school for some 3,000 refugee children in Corinth, Greece. Emma died of kidney failure in Cairo, where she had traveled from Greece to spend Christmas with some of her former charges. In 2016, a group of 8th grade students at Royal Valley Middle School in Mayetta, Kansas created a documentary about Emma’s life, winning a prize from the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes. These students had the honor to write the inscription for Emma’s headstone that is being dedicated today.
Albert Lion, Jr and Gloria Elizabeth Lion (born Amburgh) Born September 10, 1910, Baltimore, Maryland (Albert) Born September 21, 1918, St. Joseph, Missouri (Gloria)
Died May 12, 1963, Zahweiin, Shebin El Kanater, Qalubiyya
Albert and Gloria Lion were an American couple who were touring Egypt at the time of their deaths. The Lions were prominent supporters of the Baltimore community, especially the Museum of Art, as well as other charitable causes. The Lions were especially interested in collecting art and donated several beautiful works to the Baltimore Museum. It was their passion for art, writes their daughter Margo Lion, a prize winning theater producer in New York City that drew them to extend their time at Cairo Museum, causing them to take the fateful plane trip to meet their ship on time in Alexandria. All 34 persons on their flight perished when it crashed a few minutes after take-off. Their burials on May 18, 1963 were symbolic, as their bodies were never recovered from the crash site.
Ernst Mozart Kristian Brandt Born November 14, 1885, Copenhagen, Denmark Died 9 January 1960, Cairo
Ernst Brandt was born in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1885. According to his grandson Jesper Brandt, professor emeritus at Roskilde University in Denmark. Ernst came to Egypt at the age of 20, where he settled and worked as an independent businessman, first in Cairo and later in Alexandria. In 1926, he became the Danish Consul and later General Consul. In 1949, Ernst purchased a villa in Dokki in the name of wife from his second marriage, Thelxinoy Brandt (1896-1968). Ernst died in 1960. Thelxinoy, who continued to live in Dokki until her death in 1968, is also buried in the American Cemetery.
Jean Isterro also shared this information –
Walter McClennen and his wife Carol have written a book about Clem Scott, who taught with the American Mission in Iran and Egypt. He taught at Ramses College. AVALABLE ON AMAZON: Remembering Clem – A Good American in Iran
REMEMBERING CLEM – A GOOD AMERICAN IN IRAN
Walter McClennen
Thirty Years of Christian Service – 1948-1978, The Letters of Clement Scott, Jr., to His Family
Clement Scott, Jr. served with the American Presbyterian Mission in Iran from 1948 to 1978. An unimaginable accident during army training in April 1942 prevented him from serving his country as a soldier during World War II. After the war ended, he studied for two years at the Hartford Theological Seminary preparing to be a missionary teacher. In August of 1948, he shipped out from New York City to Iran to serve as a member of the American Mission in Tehran. He made it his life goal to serve the people of Iran – particularly the poor and the needy. For the remaining thirty-six years of his life, Clement taught in Mission schools, assisted in Mission hospitals and led Mission response efforts in the rebuilding of the town of Esmatabad in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake in 1962. After retiring from the American Mission in Iran, Clement chose to continue serving others – this time in Cairo, from 1979 to 1985, as a Volunteer with the American Mission in Egypt.
Clement went out into the world with a humble view. The Christian message of serving others was central to his life and his work. He was an American with an open mind. He sought to understand the people of another land and to always serve them well and with respect. His story is one of simple human dignity and it is told herein via hundreds of letters he wrote home to his parents, sisters and his extended family.
Walter McClennen has had an interest in preserving small corners of history that are hidden away in personal family correspondence. Between 2006 and 2008, Clement Scott’s two sisters entrusted close to 650 of their brother’s letters to McClennen hoping that he would preserve Clement Scott’s personal life story. In this volume, McClennen presents a comprehensive picture of the adult life of Clement Scott, Jr., both for family – and for scholars who are interested in mid-twentieth century Iran. The book offers much to those who are interested in the history of Americans living and working in Iran. It also will help to inform those interested in Presbyterian Missionary life in its later days. In this book, Clem’s life is commemorated by his own words through decades of loving family correspondence. Clem’s story is a part of the American story – with something to be learned by all who read it.