In the days since Mursal’s death, the community has gathered each day to support his family. He was very open and he carried his love of God with him everywhere he went,” Ochira said. Many in the South Sudanese community in Maine knew him as a pastor who was always willing to listen and connect. Mursal was a gregarious man who liked to joke around, but he was also a constant, supportive presence who felt a responsibility to help families and guide young people, Ochira said. “They loved him and enjoyed his presence,” Kumondan said. He was always taking photos and live streaming his services on Facebook, his son said. Mursal often made time to visit people he had met in Africa while he was traveling outside of Maine. He frequently traveled across the country to preach, bringing along his wife and sons, including 9-year-old Sila, to sing and play instruments. Much of Mursal’s life revolved around his faith and his church, Our Nations Shukuru Yesu Church in Portland. He planned to go back to school this year to pursue an advanced degree, his son said. Mursal went on to earn associate’s and bachelor’s degrees in business administration and worked as a supervisor at Abbott Laboratories. They decided to stay in Maine to be close to family, said their son, Ganzi Kumondan, a 17-year-old high school senior. But because of a paperwork issue, they weren’t able to go there directly and instead came to Portland, where Mokesi’s sisters and mother were living. He and his wife, Asunta Mokesi, whom he married in Cairo in 2003, were supposed to settle in Kansas City, Missouri. Mursal was from South Sudan and came to the United States in the early 2000s as a refugee. “He was such a big leader in the community.” “I don’t know how to describe the void that’s left in the community,” said John Ochira, who knew Mursal for many years as a former president of the South Sudanese Community Association of Maine. He died unexpectedly on June 25 at Maine Medical Center surrounded by his family. The Morning Sentinel prices are: $1.30 daily, $2.30 Saturday/Sunday "Weekend Edition".Mursal, a respected member of the South Sudanese community in Maine, was known for his faith, his encouragement, and his ability to bring peace and calm to those around him. In December 2009, the newspaper was criticized for firing one of its journalists who had made negative remarks about the gay-rights group Human Rights Campaign. Frank Blethen, a descendant of Seattle Times founder Albert Blethen, a Maine native, later called the purchase "the largest and riskiest investment in our history" but a necessary move to keep the newspapers from becoming part of a corporate chain. Gannett and his heirs-no relation to the Virginia-based chain called Gannett Company-held the three Maine dailies until 1998, when they sold them to The Seattle Times Company, which rechristened the chain " Blethen Maine Newspapers". Gannett's ownership also saw the paper become less politically biased. His holdings included the Portland Press Herald and, after 1929, the Sentinel's in-county competitor, the Kennebec Journal. In 1911, a financially ailing Davis sold the paper to bond holders ten years later, it was bought by Guy Gannett, who was in the process of building a newspaper, radio and television empire in Maine. Murphy-the Waterville Morning Sentinel, within a year, grew from a three-desk operation to requiring its own building, on Silver Street. Eugene Thayer, leavened by newspaper veteran Thomas F. Senator Charles Fletcher Johnson and future mayor L. The paper is printed at the Portland Press Herald press in South Portland, Maine.įounded in 1904 by officials of the Waterville Democratic Party-Waterville mayor Cyrus Davis future U.S. The newspaper covers cities and towns in parts of Franklin, Kennebec, Penobscot and Somerset counties. The Morning Sentinel is an American daily newspaper published six mornings a week in Waterville, Maine. March 3, 1904 ( ), as Waterville Morning Sentinel Newspaper in Waterville, Maine Morning Sentinel
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