Christine Sykes Williams Ayoub

Ayoub—Christine Sykes Williams Ayoub, 102, on July 18, 2024, in State College, Pa. Christine was born on February 7, 1922, to William Lloyd Garrison Williams and Anne Sykes Williams in Cincinnati, Ohio. Christine joined her older sister, Hester, with whom she remained close throughout their lives. Christine was descended from generations of Quakers.

Christine grew up in Montreal, Quebec, near McGill University, where her father was a mathematics professor. She spent a year in an Italian boarding school when her mother was in Italy to pursue her piano studies. Her father wanted Christine to learn French, so she alternated between attending French and English schools until she entered Trafalgar High School for Girls in Montreal. Christine graduated from Bryn Mawr College in Bryn Mawr, Pa., at the top of her class, and went on to Radcliffe in Cambridge, Mass., for her master’s degree; to McGill for a second master’s; and to Yale for her doctorate—the only woman in her class. Finally, she arrived at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J., where she would pass Albert Einstein in the hall from time to time. Christine returned to Bryn Mawr for her seventy-fifth reunion, leading the parade as the oldest graduate present.

On July 1, 1950, Christine married Raymond Ayoub, one of her father’s students at McGill. In 1952, the Ayoubs moved to State College, Pa., where Ray and Christine joined the Penn State Mathematics Department faculty. In 1953, their daughter, Cynthia Anne, was born, and almost three years later, her sister, Daphne Nazeera.

Shortly after settling in State College, Christine and Ray became members of State College Meeting, where they were active until health issues intervened. Christine was welcoming to new attendees, often sharing hospitality at her dinner table. She served for many years on the Worship and Ministry Committee and the Finance Committee, and was treasurer. She was especially attracted to the Quaker testimonies of simplicity and integrity.

For years Christine led the Oral History Project, which documented senior meeting members’ memories of important times in their lives.This project led to Christine editing the book Memories of the Quaker Past: Stories of Thirty-seven Senior Quakers in 2014, when she was 92 years old. That same year she convinced her daughters to accompany her to China, inspired by the stories of conscientious objectors who had served there.

Christine and Ray took a number of sabbaticals, including to Oxford, England, where Hester lived. In 1984, the Ayoubs took early retirement from Penn State to teach in the Middle East. They spent 1984–85 in Saudi Arabia and 1986–87 in Bethlehem. Subsequent years were spent in Morocco, Syria, and finally in Jordan in 1995.

In 1985, the Ayoubs began work on the founding of a Quaker-directed retirement community in State College. They were one of four couples who steered the creation of Foxdale Village, which opened in 1990. In 1997, the Ayoubs moved into a Foxdale cottage. Christine expanded her oral history work to include the stories of her Foxdale friends. She also served as a dedicated volunteer in the VITA program, assisting people who needed help with their income taxes.

At the time of Ray’s death in 2013, they had been happily married for 62 years. As her 100th birthday approached, Christine took great pleasure in assisting her daughters plan a birthday party. Christine will be remembered for her wry sense of humor, her sweetness, her generosity, her intellectual curiosity.

Christine was predeceased by her husband, Ray Ayoub.

She is survived by two children, Cynthia Harris and Daphne Schreiber (Robert); four grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; many nieces, grandnieces and -nephews, and great-grandnieces and -nephews; and a host of cousins.