Large family descended from Lebanese immigrants gathers from across region, nation & world for overdue reunion at Boyce Park

Four generations of a family with roots in Lebanon that today spans from the Alle-Kiski Valley, across the U.S. and to Brazil gathered at Boyce Park in Plum on Saturday for a reunion some of them said was too long in coming.

The more than 150 people expected at the Boyce Park Four Seasons Lodge can trace their ancestry to Lebanese immigrants Salim Coury and Selma Asaf, who settled in Pittsburgh before moving to Arnold following the Great Depression.

Six of their seven children — four sons, three daughters — had families with a combined 44 children. That includes their daughter, Elizabeth, who with Thomas Kail had a dozen children they raised in Bethel Park, and a son, William, who with his wife Lillian Misko Coury, raised 10 kids in Arnold.

The desire to bring the family together — for the first time in 25 to 30 years — came after the funeral for Lillian Coury, who was 90 when she died March 31, 2024, said Suzanne Thomas, 64, a member of the family who lives in Carnegie.

“We talked about how terrible it was that we only got together for funerals anymore,” said Marilyn Suschak, 68, of Arnold, whose mother, Anna, was one of Salim and Selma’s three daughters. “We thought it would be a great idea to have a reunion.”

While they used social media to reach members of the family, they had to go back to mailings and word-of-mouth to reach those who don’t use it.

Salim Coury was born in 1890 and died in 1954, while his wife, Selma, was born in 1894 and died in 1981. While Salim died two years before Suschak was born, she knew her grandmother well. She recalled what her grandmother did for her after she broke her leg in a motorcycle accident when she was 16.

“She was at my house very day for a year-and-a-half,” she said. “She’d bang on my window if I didn’t answer the door to make sure I was doing something. I had to be active.”

Suschak said her grandparents came to America for money they could send back home; they originally were not intending to stay.

“He just liked the way it was here,” she said. “There was food and work to be had.”

Asked what she thinks Salim and Selma would think of the enduring legacy of their family, Suschak said, “I think that they would love it. Family was important to them.”

While many of the family still live in the Pittsburgh area, Suzanne Thomas’ sister, Barbara, came from Los Angeles. Her other sister, Selma, and her husband, Allan Comp, came from the Washington, D.C. area, while her brother, Solly, and his wife, Janet, came from Virginia.

From another part of the family, descending from John Coury and Alda Earney, Rick Zeolla and his son, Nicholas, traveled from Texas.

Not appearing on the family tree growing from Salim and Selma is Andrea Curi, 54, of Sao Palo, Brazil. Her grandfather was a brother of Salim. As they immigrated, the spelling of the family’s name was changed.

Curi, who coaches synchronized swimming, arrived in the U.S. on Tuesday and was planning to leave Sunday. She was staying with family in Saxonburg.

Before Saturday, Curi said it had been more than 25 years since she’d seen this part of her family. She became aware of the reunion after someone asked if she had seen a Facebook group created for it.

Curi said her late father, Antonio Joao Curi, who died in 2007, would be proud that she was there representing their part of the family.

“It’s so special to be here,” she said. “I feel connected.”

The family planned to do a lot of talking and catching up, sharing and making memories, enjoying food, and playing games.

And when the day came to an end, as Suzanne Thomas said, there would be the long Lebanese goodbyes.

Lillie Leonardi, 69, one of William and Lillian Coury’s 10 children, is a retired police officer and FBI agent who was the first female police officer in Arnold.

“I wanted my grandchildren to make new memories and see how large a family they belong to,” she said.

At the entry to the lodge, beside the family tree, were images of every member of the family who has passed.

“I can feel all the ones that went before us,” Lillie Leonardi said, “proud that we’ve maintained what we were taught about family.”