Halīm Mubārik

Master Halīm (or Halini) Mubārik (aka William Borek) was born in Hardīn (Hardine), Ottoman Syria (modern-day Lebanon) on 15 July 1907. 

Coming from a family of Maronite Christians, he was the son of Jirjis Mubārik Bū Tannūs (b. 1874) and Amīnah Iskandar Nāsīf Abī Dāghir (b. circa 1887). He had one sibling, an elder brother named Jirjis (b. 1904).

Halīm's father emigrated to the USA in 1908 and settled in Clearfield, Pennsylvania where he ran a grocery store. A family friend, Antūn Mūsà Yazbak, who was returning to Syria to wed, was asked to escort the young Halīm, his mother Amīnah and brother Jirjis across the Atlantic upon his return. Antūn's new bride was Halīm's aunt Sīlānah, his maternal aunt.
Halīm set out from Hardīn with his mother, brother, aunt and uncle Antūn Yazbak and several others from their village bound for Beirut, from where they would travel to Marseille and then on to Cherbourg where, on 10 April 1912, they boarded the Titanic as third class passengers (joint ticket number 2661 which cost £15, 4s, 11d).

On the night of the sinking Halīm, his mother and brother met up with Antūn and Sīlānah Yazbak who accompanied them on their way to the upper decks where the women and children were able to enter a lifeboat. Antūn Yazbak was lost in the sinking.

Upon their rescue by the Carpathia and eventual arrival in New York, Amīnah and her sons were treated for shock and exposure. Coupled with that Halīm and Jirjis had contracted measles. Following recuperation the party made their way to Pennsylvania to be reunited with family and friends.

Halīm became known in America as William and he and his family settled in Clearfield, Pennsylvania where his father ran a dry goods store. He later gained a further two siblings, Roy (1916-1990) and Daniel (1918-1986). His mother, stricken with tuberculosis, bade farwell to her family and returned to Syria in September 1921 where she died the following year. The remaining family moved to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. William left school at an early age to help support his family, much to the indignation of truancy officers at the time (Pittston Gazette, 16 November 1921).

William later worked as a truck driver for a produce company and became a naturalised US citizen in December 1938. Married twice, his first wife was Mary “Margaret” Sarkis-Woppy (b. 21 December 1912)(1), the daughter of migrants Saad (Samuel) Sarkis-Woppy and Nisma (Mary) George, natives of Aarjes, Syria (modern-day Lebanon) who had emigrated to the USA around 1902. 

William and Margaret welcomed their firstborn in 1930, a daughter named Evelyn Ann (b. 11 January 1930). Margaret was seven-months pregnant with her second child when she died on 14 February 1932 due to acute peritonitis; her baby girl was delivered post-mortem by caesarean section but was stillborn as a result of umbilical strangulation.
Soon after in January 1933, William was remarried to his late wife’s younger sister, Jennie Sarkis-Woppy (b. 9 April 1914). Together they had four daughters: Lois Ann (b. 21 July 1933), Marlene (b. 4 August 1935) and Jean (b. 13 August 1941) whilst another girl, unnamed, was born prematurely in January 1940 and lived just one day. 

William and his family were settled in Observatory near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and sometime after 1940 he began operating his own produce business. He reportedly disliked talking about the Titanic disaster, unlike his elder brother George who was more amenable to discussing the topic.

William Borek died in Observatory on 29 August 1975 aged 68 following a heart attack and is buried at Christ our Redeemer Cemetery, Pittsburgh. His widow Jennie died on 15 July 2006 aged 92.