DR. ARNETIA MAASHA
HUMANITARIAN & LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT
POSTHUMUS AWARD
The Late
DR. ARNETIA MAASHA
Dr. Arnetia Maasha was born and raised in Tampa, Florida. She was a graduate of St. Peter Claver Catholic School and Middleton High School Class of 1960. She continued her education at St. Petersburg Junior College, City College of New York and earned MSW and PhD degrees from Columbia University in New York. She married Dr. Ntungwa Maasha in 1972 and they had two sons, Rumaasha and Mutaamba.
In 1978, the family moved to Liberia, West Africa where both parents were initially Professors at the University of Liberia. Dr. Arnetia Maasha first taught courses in Psychology and Education at Teachers College and rose to become Testing Director for the University of Liberia, responsible for designing and administering the UL entrance exam throughout Liberia. In this capacity, she traveled extensively throughout Liberia, visiting every county and practically all the high schools in the country. She later taught at St. Patrick’s High School for a year before becoming Training Director for the US Peace Corps, responsible for the orientation and training of US Peace Corps volunteers who came to serve throughout Liberia. She was active in both the American Women in Liberia (AWIL) and the International Women’s Club, helping to provide scholarships for young Liberian female scholars to successfully complete degrees at the University of Liberia.
Upon the family’s return to the United States after nearly a decade in Liberia, she was a social worker for the Glynn County School System in Brunswick, Georgia for almost 30 years, continuing her lifelong passion for helping children in need and encouraging their education. Dedicated to her Catholic faith, daily Mass and prayer were central to her life. She was commissioned as a lector in May 1982 at Sacred Heart Cathedral in the Archdiocese of Monrovia and would later train future lectors.
A pivotal moment in her life was meeting Mother Teresa at a conference in Hong Kong in 1986. Years later, she would spend a month in Calcutta, India volunteering with the Missionaries of Charity there. She also made several Marian pilgrimages to Mexico, France, Portugal and Israel. She loved to travel and visited every state in the United States and over 30 countries on six continents. She was active in many charitable, arts, social support and alumni organizations throughout her life and was a lifetime member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.
After quietly battling cancer in her last years, Dr. Arnetia Maasha passed away peacefully on September 8, 2017 in Douglas, GA at the age of 74.
SFAA-USA's NOTE: To honor the wishes of the late Dr. Arnetia Maasha, the Maasha Family donated $34,225.00 to SFAA-USA, with instructions to apply $7,500.00 to our A2S Program and $26,725.00 to the Rebuilding of St. Patrick's. When the construction of St. Patrick's is complete, the science laboratory will be named DR. ARNETIA MAASHA SCIENCE LABORATORY. The gallery below contains a few memorable pictures of Dr. Maasha, including her meeting Mother Teresa.
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