For one Lebanese-American family, Ayer Auto Repair a Symbol of American dream

posted on: Mar 14, 2017

By Anne O’Connor
Sentinel & Enterprise News

The well-kept cinderblock building, with two garage doors and a smattering of cars for sale, makes the business obvious; it is a place to repair your vehicle or to buy not-too-pricey transportation.

What is not obvious at first glance is the decades of work, hope and courage that Ayer Auto Repair represents. For a Lebanese-American family, this is the American dream.

Kamal Serhan works at the garage every day. He came to the U.S. five years ago ready to work, with technical training in Lebanon. He had family here. His uncle, Halim Makhlouta, sponsored him.

Ayer Auto Repair opened in June. Makhlouta had never been to the town before his broker suggested the property. The town has been great to deal with, he said.

They have a used-car sales permit, installed two lifts and spiffed up the building.

Serhan services all foreign and domestic cars and can remove small dents. His wife of one year, Marleina, helps at the garage.

Her grandmother and his mother keep an eye on baby Georges at home while the parents work. The women are visiting from Lebanon for two months.

Family ties are tight in the extended family. The business is owned by Halim and his brother Samir.

“We are hard-working people.” Makhlouta said.

Halim arrived in the United States more than three decades ago to attend school. He graduated with a civil engineering degree from Northeastern University.

“I just wanted out,” he said.

With a civil war going on there were no jobs, no work. Nothing.
Makhlouta became a U.S. citizen. While his parents were alive, he visited yearly.

“It was quite a scene,” he said of his visits back after the war. While he was growing up his family kept the children away from the conflict. They lived in Amioun El Koura, an Orthodox town north of Beirut.

Along the way, he has experienced joys and sorrows.

His first dream, to be a priest in the Greek Orthodox Church, was not to happen. His father helped him with school, but Makhlouta did not get a scholarship he needed.

He and his wife Delia, a corporate director who emigrated from South Africa, have one son, Nicholas. He is working on a degree in criminal justice at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island.

His wife helped Makhlouta learn English. He had studied the language a bit in Lebanon, but French was his second language. With her help, after a half-year intensive English course, he was ready for college.

In 2006, his father died, a world away. Makhlouta never had a chance to share the good news about the garage he and his brother opened in Gloucester.

For two years, Makhlouta battled cancer. Now, he is retired from his work as a civil engineer and has resumed playing tennis. He competes in doubles in the United States Tennis League on the North Shore.

During all this, he worked for decades to bring other family members, legally, to the United States.

His only brother, Samir, lived with him for 22 years. Samir got technical training to become a mechanic and then saved money. It took him five or six years to bring his wife to live with him.

The two brothers opened Magnolia Service Station in the Magnolia area of Gloucester.

They, in turn, helped their nephew move to the U.S. and become a legal resident. He brought his wife over and they have settled in Ayer, hoping to buy a house soon.

“We want to live, and make a living, and live the American dream,” Serhan said.

The whole family works hard to make that happen.

The garage at 85 Central St. is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon. The phone number is 978-391-4324.