Dr. Sany Abraham

Sany Abraham, 88, passed away on Saturday, September 18, 2021 in Austin, Texas surrounded by her family. Baptized as Sara Varghese, she was born on September 17, 1933 in Vaikom, Kerala India to Mathew and Kunjamma Varghese. She was the eldest of nine siblings.

Sany graduated from Maharajas College, Cochin, India and then went on to Trivandrum Medical College, as one of a select few women to join in the 3rd batch.

She met her husband, John, in Trivandrum in 1956, at a mutual relative’s house. What followed was a 5-year courtship that ended up in marriage in 1961, a “love” marriage that was extremely unusual for their time.

Sany is survived by her son Jay Abraham (Anne Mathew) of Chicago, daughter Dr. Ann Abraham of Austin, and son, Lisbi Abraham (Karen) of Cary, NC; and five grandchildren Summer, Devin, Silas, Leila and Kira. She is also survived by seven of her siblings, three of them in Texas; Mary Roy (Kacey) of Austin, Roy Chirayil (Annie) of South Lake, TX and Rajan (Sara) Chirayil of Plano.

After marriage, Sany remained in India for 2 years with their young son, while her husband, John, went to Canada for graduate studies. She soon followed and completed her residency in Internal Medicine. In 1970, with only $6 each, she and John immigrated to the United States, settling in Cranston, Rhode Island where she worked as, and eventually retired as, the Clinical Director for the State of Rhode Island Medical Center. She and John retired to Austin in 1998, first living in River Place, then moving to Lake Pointe before becoming founding members of Longhorn Village in Steiner Ranch.

In addition to her career, Sany had many interests. She was a deeply religious woman. She enjoyed spending time with friends and playing the card game 56. She loved growing flowering plants and made macrame plant holders to show them off. Her skills included cake-decorating and paper crafts. She became well known for creating and sharing origami butterflies and flowers, which by now have spread around the world. After she moved to Longhorn Village, she broadened her creative skills by learning acrylic and oil painting, giving many of her loved ones a painting which now decorates their homes. She also honed her skills at Wii bowling, where she won a couple of championships, and learned to play Mahjongg. She was quite active in many of the exercise classes at Longhorn Village and was the first in the pool every morning.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to ICON Charities, P O Box 552, Bettendorf, IA 52722. http://iconcharities.org