Joseph Shabo passed away at home Sunday morning at the age of 90 with his loving wife of 63 years Linda by his side. For Joe, America was a land of opportunity and religious freedom. Joe was born in Nineveh Province in Northern Iraq in 1932. He was an Assyrian Christian, a member of the Ancient Church of the East which had been established during the first century AD by the Apostle Thomas. He grew up speaking Aramaic, the language of Christ. Joe's family had originated in Hakkari in the mountains of what is now southeast Turkey in a village named Berjai that was one of many similar villages populated by Assyrians who fled northward after the destruction of the Assyrian capital of Nineveh in 612 BC. In 1915 all of the Assyrians in Hakkari were forced to flee their villages by the Turks who invaded Hakkkari. Joe's family found refuge in Iraq which was under British rule until until 1948. His father George Shabo became a Major in the British Levies whom he commanded during the attack on the RAF airbase at Habaniyah Iraq in June of 1941. Joe came to the United States in 1955 and graduated from the University of Alabama with a BSME, Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, in 1959. At the university he was honored by being selected for membership in the Pi Tau Sigma Mechanical Engineering Honorary. This is also where he met his wife Linda. In subsequent years he helped bring his parents, George and Helen, to the United States following the Iraqi Revolution. Joe came to Ampex Corporation in Opelika in 1960 and as the Project Engineer he changed the coating room processes essential to the production of magnetic tape and institutionalized maintenance procedures. Joe retired from Ampex Corporation in 1994. Joe is survived by his wife Linda, his son Daniel and his wife Becky and their daughter Emily, his son David and his wife Jessica and their children Andrea, Noah and Jonah, his son George, his son Michael and his wife Tetyana and their son Trent, and his sister Madeleine Shabo. He was preceded in death by his parents George and Helen, his brother Benjamin and his sisters Mary and Regina. A graveside memorial service will be held Friday August 5th at 10am at Memorial Park Cemetery in Auburn. In lieu of flowers donations can be made to Embrace Church. www.embraceauburn.org