Mabel was a lifelong member of St. Anthony of Padua. She became such a pillar of St. Anthony’s community that every new priest was said to receive the “Mabel Blessing” upon arriving at the parish.
In 1922, Mabel Howatt emigrated to the United States from Batroun, Lebanon with her family. She was only seven years old, and during her voyage, Mabel became very sick. The crew wanted to throw her overboard, and after her father vehemently protested, she was masked and quarantined for the remainder of the trip. Mabel never forgot the fear of being separated from her family, nor the feeling of wearing a mask, and she vowed never to endure that again.
Upon arriving in Cincinnati, the Howatt family joined other Lebanese immigrants in the East 4th Street neighborhood where her father ran Fountain Drug Company which became Howatt’s Pharmacy. Mabel and her siblings, older brother Albert and younger sister Rhoda (“Ruth”), lived in the East 4th Street neighborhood for their entire lives, most of those years in the Phelps Apartment Building. Mabel attended Notre Dame High School on 6th Street where she graduated in 1933. She worked in retail and finance and eventually as an executive assistant at U.S. Bank where she took great joy in monitoring the markets and making investments.
The Catholic, Maronite faith was central in Mabel’s life. She attended daily Mass at St. Xavier in downtown Cincinnati, and on weekends, she and Rhoda would go to St. Anthony of Padua with many other Lebanese immigrants who worshiped in the Maronite tradition. Mabel became such a pillar of St. Anthony’s community that every new priest was said to receive the “Mabel Blessing” upon arriving at the parish.
St. Anthony was also the parish home of a young Lebanese family, the Mezhers, who had a blond, curly-haired baby named Michael. Mabel and the young family grew close and enjoyed Sundays, holidays, and special occasions together. The two sisters who never married and lived together were a part of the Mezher family until their deaths.
Michael says that as Mabel began to think about her life’s journey and the institutions, communities, and people that were most important to her, she remembered her time with the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur and the lessons of gratitude and simplicity she learned from them. Mabel generously left the Sisters a substantial gift from her estate. Her wise investments also allowed for the formation of the Mabel T. and Rhoda J. Howatt Foundation, which is now lovingly managed by Kathleen and Michael Mezher Sr., and a dear friend of the Howatt family, Patrick Garry.
According to Michael, Mabel attributed her longevity to having little stress in her life. “Mabel could have had a lot more things in her life, but she was very content and comfortable with what she did have.,” he said. “She spoke her mind and was comfortable with what she had to say. She knew that being part of a community was the purest way to live life.”
Mabel was an icon, a blessing to her community, according to Michael. “She treated people well and was tough but always coming from the right place,” he said. At her 100th birthday celebration at St. Anthony’s, family and friends knew “she wasn’t going anywhere soon!”
Mabel passed away on March 14, 2020, at 106 years old. On that same day, panicked shoppers began emptying shelves as the anxiety over Covid began to accelerate. Eventually, everyone would begin wearing masks to prevent the spread of illness. But not Mabel. Not again.