Amal Bilal

Amal was born to Bechara and Adele Ghanem, the youngest of their eight children: Leila, Assine, Abraham, Rashed, Marie, Wedad, and Kenneth. At the time of Amal’s birth, the Arab-Israeli War made conditions dangerous for the Ghanem family in Lebanon. So her birth was not recorded until April 12, 1949, sometime after her actual birthday. Amal sometimes joked that if she only knew when her real birthday was, she could have gotten her “senior citizen benefits” earlier.

About this time, her eldest sister Leila had been learning Bible truths from one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. This initially upset her mother Adele. Leila asked some missionaries to visit Adele and they used one of the 10 commandments, that she should not use images in worship, to reason with her. Adele was deeply affected by this information. She began to listen to Bible truths and immediately disposed of all her images. This caused quite a stir in their town of Sidon, Lebanon. The Ghanem family began studying and became the first Jehovah’s Witnesses in their town. The meetings were held in their home. The family enjoyed learning from and working with many missionaries who came to serve in their area.

In 1957 they had the privilege of attending a convention in Beirut and Fred Franz was one of the speakers. During the intermission, Brother Franz was having lunch and young Amal wanted to do something nice for him. She brought him a bottle of Coca-Cola. She was so happy that she could show hospitality to him. In 1965, when Amal was a teenager, she herself decided to become one of Jehovah’s Witnesses and was baptized in that same location.

Another turning point for the Ghanem family came in 1966. In the early 1900’s, Amal’s grandfather, Milheim Ghanem, had immigrated with his three oldest children to Boston, Massachusetts in the United States where his sisters were already living. He returned to Lebanon to bring his wife and the rest of his children, but World War I broke out and it was unsafe for them to travel. Later, his health declined and he was not able to bring the rest of the family.

The siblings grew up apart and were not reunited until Bechara traveled to Boston to meet them in the late 1950’s. Without telling anyone in the family, Bechara’s sister secretly petitioned for United States residency in the United States for his family. As a result, one day in Sidon in 1966 a black limousine with American flags pulled up to their house. Again, this caused quite a stir in their town because many had not seen a limousine before. Out stepped a representative from the U.S. embassy with the news that their petition for residency had been approved. They were surprised and unsure what to do. The family decided it would be a good opportunity, and thought if they were unhappy, they could always return. Kenny and Amal, the two youngest children, were under 18 at the time so they went with their parents to Lawrence, Massachusetts outside Boston. It was a challenging time because they did not speak English. They only spoke Arabic and French. But they liked the country so they learned English and made friends in the congregation who helped make the transition easier.

In 1972, Amal returned to Lebanon to visit her family. Nadim Bilal, a widower, was traveling to Europe and the Middle East with his daughter Ramona. He was brought by Najib Salem to the house of the Ghanem family, where the brother knew the beautiful Amal was visiting her family. Nadim was impressed with Amal’s fluent English since she had been living in the States and Amal patiently listened while Nadim explained why their retaining wall was built incorrectly. Najib Salem suggested it was time to leave and wanted to take Nadim to another family that also had an unmarried daughter. Nadim said, “Enough! She’s the one for me.” He cancelled the rest of the trip and spent the remaining time in Lebanon. He gave her money to buy whatever she wanted for the wedding and said that he would set things up in Chicago where he was living and come back for her, and that was that.

Amal fell in love with Nadim because he was a spiritual man. They were married October 7, 1972. The wedding was small and included just the Ghanem family. Amal’s brother Rashed married them and her sister Assine was the maid of honor. The rest of the family was in the U.S. Nadim and Amal traveled back to Chicago and Nadim had a wedding reception there to introduce her to his congregation and friends.

In 1974 Amal gave birth to their first daughter, Leah, and then in 1975 to their second daughter, Rachel. In 1986 the family moved to San Diego, California where Nadim’s mother and two of Nadim’s brothers, Sid and Ralph, were already living. Nadim and Amal really liked the climate and scenery there. It reminded them of Lebanon with its mountains and ocean views and its abundance and variety of agriculture. In 1987 the family settled in San Marcos and joined the West San Marcos Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses which Nadim and Amal supported faithfully until their deaths. They were fixtures in the ministry and especially public Witnessing at both Palomar College and Cal State San Marcos. Amal always enjoyed working with the older ones and supported them by auxiliary pioneering and driving them in field service. She was also successful in telephone Witnessing, even continuing it through the pandemic on Zoom, telling jokes between phone calls. When the Arabic group came to West San Marcos, Amal also enjoyed attending the meetings with them and sharing the Bible’s message in her native language.

Amal was a devoted wife, mother, and grandmother. She was also very protective. When Rachel needed to take a class that was only offered at night on the college campus, Amal was concerned for her safety since this was before anyone had a cell phone. She insisted on registering for and attending the class with her. Eventually Amal could see that Rachel would be relatively safe and stopped attending. However, she had made such a good impression on the class that the professor told Rachel if Amal would just show up on the last day he would give her a passing grade!

Amal was also known for her cooking and hospitality. She loved to entertain friends and family. Nadim and Amal hosted many friends in full time service and opened their home for many gatherings, showers, and parties.

Nadim and Amal had just celebrated their 52nd wedding anniversary when he passed away in death on November 3, 2024. Amal is survived by her sister Marie Mezher, her daughter Leah (Carlos) Bertizlian and their son Charlie, her daughter Rachel (Alan) Stutler and their children Julia and Andrew, her step-son Ralph (Kim) Bilal and their children Autumn and Heath, step-daughter Ramona (Robert) Saunders and their children Kathryn, Sara, Kelly, and John, nieces, nephews, in-laws, and many friends.

Memorial Service:

Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses

1111 La Moree Rd, San Marcos, California 92078

April 5, 2025 at 5:00 PST

Zoom Meeting ID: 607 400 1914 Password: Westsm