By Karen Andrew
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Former Silverton resident Sofea Jacobs Meyer died Monday at the Madeira Health Care Center. She was three days short of her 95th birthday.

Mrs. Meyer grew up in Ithaca, N.Y. As the oldest of nine children, she helped raise her siblings. When she was 15, she married Leo Jacobs, and the couple moved to Tonawanda, N.Y., where they raised five children.

To help support her family, she crocheted, made and sold hankies and doilies and sold ironing board covers and Avon products. She also worked in an ice cream cone factory and for the post office during World War II.

Mrs. Meyer was of Syrian heritage, and after her husband's death in 1952, she traveled to Syria with her father to visit her husband's family.

Her son, George Jacobs of Madeira, said his mother was a giver and helped many people during her lifetime.

"One night while staying at her in-laws' in Syria, she was awakened by horrible screaming and was told it was a teenage boy who lived down the mountain in the village," said Mr. Jacobs. "He had an abscessed tooth, and his family did not have money to visit a dentist. The next morning she found out where he lived, and she took him on a donkey to the city of Tartous, where she took him to a dentist. Everybody in the village thought she was a goddess because she helped him and other villagers."

In Tonawanda, N.Y., she was a member of the Syrian/Lebanese Club. For her 90th birthday, many of her friends from the club came to Cincinnati to help her celebrate.

In the late 1950s, she moved to Cincinnati where her children had already relocated. Her two sons, George and James, were both educators in the Cincinnati Public Schools.

She and her daughter, Marsha Stewart of Amberley Village, traveled to Baghdad in 1963 to spend a year with James and his family while he was working as a consultant to the Iraq Ministry of Education. James later returned to Cincinnati and served as CPS superintendent from 1976 until the time of his death in 1985.

After their visit to Baghdad, Mrs. Meyer and her daughter traveled extensively in Europe. Upon her return, she met Henry Meyer, whom she married in 1964.

"Everybody loved this lady. She worked hard all her life and was a tremendous mother," said Mr. Jacobs. "If you visited her, you could not leave until she gave you something, such as food. She was not educated in the classroom, but she was brilliant. She could speak and write Arabic and was comfortable traveling in the Middle East."

Mrs. Meyer was a member of the Sycamore Senior Center. She was also an avid gardener and received a Most Beautiful Garden award in 1987 from the City of Silverton.

In addition to her first husband and son, James, she was preceded in death by her second husband in 1980 and a daughter, Mary Newhand, in 1986.

In addition to her son, George, and daughter, Marsha, she is survived by another daughter, Virginia Mueller of Deer Park; her brother, Tony Johns of Glens Falls, N.Y.; three sisters, Mary Berutti of Washington, D.C., Julie Mead of Pompano Beach, Fla., and Virginia Canestaro of Ithaca, N.Y.; 16 grandchildren, 44 great grandchildren and 13 great-great grandchildren.

A memorial service has been held.

Memorials: VITAS Healthcare Corp. of Ohio, 11500 Northlake Drive, Suite 400, Cincinnati 45249.

E-mail kandrew@enquirer.com