Laurette Oweida Richa

Laurette was born in 1933, she grew up with three sisters and a brother, in Ghazir, where she attended Collège des Saints-Coeurs. In the early sixties, she moved with her parents to live in Achrafieh – Rmeil. She met Sami Richa and married him in 1963, they moved to Naccache, where she stayed for the next 45 years.

Laurette was quiet, reasonable, and amiable. She was devoted to her family and children, as well as every other noble cause. She was a volunteer teacher at a private free school. She raised her children to be loving, faithful, honest, and respectful human beings.

Laurette was a great woman, she was a father and a mother to her children, after her husband traveled to the Gulf in 1978. He suffered from a stroke in 1981 and had to come back to Lebanon. Laurette stood by his side and took care of him and her children. She never complained or felt the weight of her situation. Her faith made her stronger in the face of storms, and she was an unshakable wife, and a loving mother.

Laurette volunteered with Caritas, and took care of the elderly at the church. She always donated blood to the Lebanese Red Cross.

Eight years ago, she moved to Achrafieh to be closer to her children and relatives. On the horrible August 4 afternoon, Laurette was home alone when a huge explosion happened at the Port of Beirut. She was wounded and could not ask for help.

Her son Ziad called her, but there was no network. As soon as he learned his mother was wounded, he rushed from his home in Zalka to rescue her. When he arrived, Laurette was heavily bleeding. The force of the explosion pushed her towards the glass panel that shattered all over her body, causing a severe hemorrhage. Ziad put her on one of the broken doors to evacuate her to the hospital. They arrived to Jeitawi hospital that was severely damaged by the blast, he put her on the sidewalk. Doctors and paramedics rushed immediately to her rescue. They tried to resuscitate her for more than an hour, but they couldn’t saver her. At 8:30 PM, Laurette was pronounced dead.