Banoura Ayoub on her wedding day Courtesy of Terrence Carty, USA
Miss Banoura Ayoub 1, aged 14 2 from Kafr ‘Abaida, Lebanon was travelling to Columbus, USA to join her uncle in Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada. She did not know or understand English and left her parents behind in Lebanon.
She boarded the Titanic at Cherbourg as a third class passenger (ticket number 2687, �7 4s 7d) with the cousins Shawneene George Whabee, Tannous Thomas, Gerios Yousseff and Tannous Doharr. The rest of the group were bound for Youngstown. Ohio.
When the Titanic hit the iceberg, Banoura was below deck with the other third class passengers. It was only after some first class passengers came below deck urging the women and children to leave that Shawnee Abi Saab (Mrs. George Joseph Whabee) took her by the hand and went to the main deck and ultimately to Collapsible Lifeboat C. Banoura’s three male cousins remained on board the Titanic and perished in the disaster.
Banoura eventually made it to her Uncle’s home in Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada only to be turned away by her distraught Uncle. He would not allow her to stay with him after his son died.
Banoura was taken in by another woman who had immigrated from Lebanon earlier, and met the man she was to marry. Banoura married Michael Deyoub, who himself had immigrated from Tripoli, Syria on 9 September, 1912, just short of five months after the Titanic met it’s fate. Banoura was still only 14 years old at this time and Michael Deyoub was 26. While living in Owen Sound, Banoura and Michael had two children, Mary and George.
Michael and Banoura moved to Detroit, Michigan where Michael was employed at Ford Motor Company’s Rouge Assembly Plant. Michael and Banoura had five more children in Detroit, Peter, John, Ferris, Margaret and Sarah.
She never returned to Lebanon or saw her parents and despite her experience on theTitanic she loved boating. She also was a gutsy lady. Her husband, Michael, while working at Ford Motor Company’s Rouge Assembly Plant, received a cash envelope with his pay for the week. One week Michael came home without his pay, having gambled it away. Banoura got on a bus, went down to Ford’s Headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan and told her complaint to Henry Ford himself. From that day forward all subsequent pay envelopes were sent directly to her instead of being given to her husband. Michael’s days as a Gambler were over.
Michael passed prior to 1970 and Banoura died on 3 December, 1970 in Detroit.
Notes 1. Often listed as “Ayout Banoura”, also spelled “Benora”. Her correct Lebanese name was Bannura Aiyub Dahir. 2. Ages given on different documents vary. Family sources give her age at the time as 14.
References Contract Ticket List, White Star Line 1912 (National Archives, New York; NRAN-21-SDNYCIVCAS-55[279]) Michel Karam, The Lebanese in the Titanic, Beirut 2000
