Asma Boustany Saloom
| Asma Ann Boustany Saloom
(Owner of large Saloom's department store in | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 6, 1894 Deir El Kamar, Lebanon |
| Died | September 8, 1979 (aged 86) Lafayette, Louisiana Resting place: |
| Spouse | Kaliste Saloom, Sr. (married 1907-1925, his death) Children: |
Asma Ann Boustany Saloom (November 1, 1892 – September 8, 1979)[1] was a businesswoman in her adopted city of Lafayette, Louisiana.
Biography
Born in Deir El Kamar, Lebanon, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Yakout Michael Frem Boustany (pronounced BOO STANY), she arrived in Lafayette in 1907 as the bride of Kaliste Saloom, Sr. He died on February 3, 1925, and Mrs. Saloom was a widow for the remaining fifty-four years of her life.[2]
In 1910, the Salooms established a large clothing store, Saloom's, which in 1960 was cited by Lafayette Chamber of Commerce as the oldest home-owned retail establishment in continuous operation for the preceding fifty years. She was honored by the Lafayette Business and Professional Women’s Club for her career as a businesswoman and widowed parent. She donated land for the Kaliste Saloom state highway and the Kaliste Saloom Fire Station. She was involved in the League of Women Voters, St. Mary’s Orphanage Guild, and American Legion Auxiliary. She was a charter member of the Lafayette Azalea Trail and supported efforts of the Lafayette Ladies Garden Club. She was a long-term sustaining member of University of Southwestern Louisiana (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette) Foundation.[2]
The Saloom children were Alice Marie Saloom (1909-2006), Clarence Joseph (Saloom 1910-1996), Beatrice Marie Saloom (1915-1997) Mary Agnes Azar (1916-2008), Kaliste Saloom, Jr., Isabelle Ann Haik (1920-2007), and Richard George Saloom (1924-1999).[2]
As a youth, Kaliste Saloom, Jr., worked in the accounts department at Saloom's, and delivered goods to customers by bicycle or horse-drawn wagon. For forty years he was the municipal court judge in Lafayette. A highly regarded local official, he obtained national recognition and in 2016, the year before his death, inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame, based in Winnfield in north Louisiana. He was also an historian.[3] Daughter Isabelle Haik was the mother of Suzanne Haik Terrell, a former member of the New Orleans City Council, state elections commissioner, and the unsuccessful Republican candidate for United States Senator in 2002 against the Democrat Mary Landrieu.[4]
Mrs. Saloom died in Lafayette at the age of eighty-six and is interred there at the Roman Catholic St. John’s Cathedral Cemetery, along with her husband and eight children.[1][5]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Asma Ann Boustany Saloom. Findagrave.com. Retrieved on April 19, 2020.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Saloom, Anna Ann Boustany. A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography: Louisiana Historical Association. Retrieved on April 19, 2020.
- ↑ Caroline Marcello (December 4, 2017). Kaliste Saloom, Jr., a longtime Lafayette city judge and historian, dies at the age of 99. Klfy.com. Retrieved on April 19, 2020.
- ↑ Isabelle Ann Saloom Haik. Findagrave.com. Retrieved on April 20, 2020.
- ↑ “The First Families of Lafayette," Lafayette Daily Advertiser, September 9, 1979.