ahaikRemembering Aggie Haik

By Jonita Barram

When my “Aunt Aggie” found out I write sometimes, she asked me to write her biography, because “people need to hear this story.” Aggie Haik never ceased to be amazed by God’s abundant grace, spiritual and material provisions, faithfulness, and direction. On July 25, 2016, God called Aggie Home. She was 81. I still had her story on my computer, and because she wanted her story told so God would get all the glory, here it is.

Aggie was born to Zeky and Marjy Haik, immigrants from Homs, Syria. Zeky grew up in a Catholic home, although he and Marjy did not raise their children Catholic. They settled in Paterson, New Jersey, where Zeky opened his own business as a weaver. He and Marjy had a son and two daughters, naming their youngest Agnes Jamily after one of her grandmothers. Aggie, as she preferred to be known, acquired a solid work ethic from her father, who taught both of his daughters to weave.

The family lost Marjy when Aggie was 14. Being family oriented, Zeky waited until Aggie had finished high school before remarrying and moving to Brooklyn. Aggie then applied for college in New York. She said that when her mother died, her grades died too. Because of those grades and in the providence of God, only one college accepted her: Houghton. Aggie had enough money for six weeks of school. After that, she didn’t know what she would do. But in her third week at the Christian college, Aggie accepted the Lord as her Savior.