Isaac K. Doe, Sr. – TLC Africa

Sunrise: February 17, 1929 – Sunset: February 22, 2025

“For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands” (Corinthians 5:1)

The Doe, Kyne, and Cheeks families regret to announce the homegoing of Isaac K. Doe, Sr., our beloved father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, who transitioned peacefully on February 22, 2025, in Edison, NJ.

Isaac Karbeju Doe was born in Pobacan Village, Cape Palmas, Liberia, the third of his parent’s four children. And while little is known about the details of his early life, what’s clear is that his exposure to the customs and traditions of his village profoundly shaped his character. These formative years would become the bedrock of his values and fuel his aspirations when, as a young man, he ventured beyond the countryside and into the capital city of Monrovia — eager to find his way in the wider world.

In 1954, through the generosity of Liberia’s then-President William V.S. Tubman, and the sponsorship of a Pentecostal mission established in the country, Isaac was able to travel to the U.S. with the intention of studying for the ministry, booking passage on a cargo ship (the primary mode of transoceanic travel at the time) and spending roughly two weeks at sea. [In later years, he would fulfill that early ambition — becoming an ordained minister through the United Holy Church of America and serving as an elder at various churches throughout his life.]

After arriving in Harlem, NY, and securing the housing arranged for him by the mission, Isaac found work as a doorman at a building on Fifth Ave along Central Park in Manhattan’s Upper East Side. In December 1956, after saving enough to arrange for their travel, Isaac was joined in New York by his wife, Mary, and infant daughter, Edythe — named in honor of the missionary that helped enable his journey to America.

Soon thereafter, Isaac moved his family to Brooklyn and fathered four additional children — all boys: Alexander, Isaac, Jr., Abraham and Andrew. (He also worked for several years as a taxi driver, until landing the job with the United States Postal Service that he would hold until his retirement in 1994.) It was during this initial decade in the U.S. that he and Mary also made what would become the most consequential decision of their lives in the States: the 1963 purchase of a brownstone at 18 Park Place, near the western border of Park Slope, Brooklyn.

Throughout the 60s — in testament to his wife Mary’s enterprising nature — the house doubled as a for-profit boarding home for numerous Liberian students attending New York City schools. And in the ensuing decades, 18 Park Place would provide shelter for family and friends from West Africa, host countless holiday dinners, gatherings, birthday parties and graduation celebrations. [It’s also revealing to note that, during the riots following both the MLK, Jr. and RFK assassinations, as well as the Son of Sam rampage that plagued New York, Isaac and his wife turned off all the house lights in the hopes of increasing the family’s security.]

In 1970, fulfilling a promise he’d made to himself years earlier, Isaac travelled back to his homeland with his entire family in tow. There, his children met his siblings, Arthur and Lucy, as well as several of their cousins, for the first time. (His youngest brother, James, was already in the U.S.)

In recounting the details of their month-long visit, his daughter, Edythe, mentioned that upon arriving at the home village, they encountered one inhabitant who, when he realized that Isaac and Mary had returned, ran into the nearby bush. Within minutes, a throng of Grebo tribespeople emerged from the surrounding foliage, running towards them, cheering with excitement and shedding tears of joy as they all reunited. Days later, a cow was slaughtered at a celebratory feast in their honor.

A decade later, Isaac would return to Liberia with his youngest son, Andrew (who was a toddler during the initial visit) — as he was deeply committed to ensuring that all his children had an opportunity to visit his homeland and have firsthand experience of their roots.

In the late 1980s, with his children grown and the house largely empty, Isaac sold the house, and ultimately relocated to New Jersey, where he would remain — retired and devoted to his faith and church — until his death.

Isaac – affectionately known as “Dad” to his children and oldest grandchildren — was an uncomplicated man of faith and shared few words with those outside of his circle of comfort and familiarity. Largely self-taught, he was a voracious consumer of news — faithfully viewing evening news broadcasts, maintaining a subscription to U.S. News and World Report for decades, and keeping abreast of contemporary developments in domestic politics and world affairs. In his later years, he also began taking piano lessons — becoming a skilled beginner whose self-guided practice sessions playing gospel standards would echo through the house on select weekday evenings and Saturday afternoons.

A stoic and unemotional man, Isaac — a widower and single parent following the death of his wife, Mary — demonstrated his love for family through his steady presence, commitment, consistency and reliability: cooking dinner every night (okra sauce was his staple); exhibiting a tireless work ethic (rarely vacationing, hardly ever taking sick days, and driving to/from Brooklyn and NJ every day for a year until his transfer was approved); buying fresh-made bagels and White Castle burgers for the household after returning from church on Sunday afternoons (with and without cheese); generously tipping his grandchildren when they ran store errands on his behalf (usually any change left over from the transactions); and ensuring that there were always cashews and a box or two of Pop Tarts (blueberry and strawberry) on the kitchen table.

Isaac also possessed an uncanny command of English, as well as biblical scripture and wisdom: cautioning his children against the perils of dishonesty and the dangers of using absolute terms like “all,” “every,” and “always”; and modeling his belief that one should “train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6)

In the final years of his life, Isaac, by now a resident at NJ nursing home — bedridden and wheelchair-bound following complications from surgery to correct a back condition, but still remarkably lucid and coherent for a man his age — maintained his longtime passion for watching “Law & Order” and “Jeopardy,” frequently joined by Andrew.

Isaac was an easygoing man — a strong advocate of pacifism and modesty: intentionally avoiding conflict and confrontation, and willing to endure discomfort rather than cause or create any inconvenience. In the words of his son, Abraham: “his life was an education in religious faith, the importance of a strong work ethic, and responsibility to one’s children.”

He leaves to mourn his death, his children: Edythe, Abraham (daughter-in-law Audrey) and Andrew; five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren; his lifelong friend and brother-in-spirit, James Wilson, and a host of other friends and acquaintances throughout the U.S. and Liberia.

Isaac was pre-deceased by his wife, Mary, his two eldest sons, Alexander and Isaac, Jr., his parents and his siblings, Arthur, Lucy and James. May his soul rest in eternal peace.

FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS ARE AS FOLLOWS:

Funeral Service:

Sunday, March 23, 2025

Viewing: 10:30am–11:30am

Program: 11:30am–12:45pm

Greater Mount Zion Church

43 Johnson Ave

Cranford, NJ 07016

Repast:

Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post #335

479 South Ave E

Cranford, NJ 07016