This is Mom's Bio from my point of View. Some facts I do not know and some facts I heard from her and from other family members...........

Birth and Growing Up:

Samia was born on November 7, 1949 in Alexandria Egypt to a loving Mother, Amina Othman Rady and a loving father, Mohamed Youssef Nasr. Her father was an Engineer and her mother was a teacher. She has an older brother Abdel Salam (Solom) and a few years later her younger brother, Awny was born. Samia lived in Moharram bek, a very well know and prestigious district in Alexandria, back in the days. The building she lived in belonged to her maternal grandfather Mr Othman Rady, a well known and famous lawyer, at the time. She lived there with some of her maternal aunts, uncles and her cousins. She had 13 uncles and Aunts, 3 of which had died when they were just babies. So 5 uncles and 4 Aunts.....

Education:

She attended Nursery school, "Green" with her brother Awny, then on to 3 national schools unlike her brothers and this is because her mother was Deputy at the time and wanted her at the same school as she was working. Her brothers both attended Language Schools. After graduating school she pursued her passion of music and athletics and attended Physical Education College for Girls, where she was one of the top students. I remember her telling me the only subject she was really bad at was Gymnastics because she had hard bones and she was not that elastic. I proudly say that I have that, as well. After graduation she decided to do her Grad studies in Physiotherapy and she got a chance to travel to the UK. She was 21 at the time. And how she got her parents to approve of that is beyond me. She wouldn't let me go study at AUC when it was like 2 hours away from Alex because I was only 16. She regretted it after that, though:)) Anyway so she went to the UK and to study in English she needed certain hours of English courses which she started taking and at the same time she had to get a job there. She worked at a famous Restaurant at the time as a Shift Manager and years passed by and she never pursued her original career but became a very successful Branch Manager to that restaurant. She was happy and her brothers often visited. Her brother Awny worked there for a while, as well, when he was not studying.

Love Life and Marriage:

One day, on the subway she met an old friend and neighbor, Azza Bassiouny and they decided to be roommates and one year when Samia was going to visit Egypt, Azza gave her some letters to deliver to her family. So she set up a meeting with Azza's brother to meet him by the tram station to deliver the letters. Hamada was his name. Yes, my father! He fell head over heels and decided that he will marry this beautiful young woman. And it happened; they got engaged and soon had their Katb Ketab Party in Egypt. She wore 2 outfits that day. She also discovered that her fiance's name was Abdel Hamid!! ::))) Samia then went back to London and Hamada followed her and because of certain circumstances they had to have the wedding ceremony in the London. Mohamed Khan, the late director was actually one of their friends there. who attended the wedding. After 2 years and a half, Hamada decided that they should go back to Egypt. Samia was not thrilled about the decision but had to stick to her husband. They went back and started preparing their apartment which they faced problems with, but that's a whole other story, and when I think about it it makes me sad....but anyway it was all good and they had their apartment ready just in time.

Career

Samia and Hamada were looking for jobs when they returned to Egypt. Hamada found one at GUPCO oil company where he had to travel to the Red Sea for one week and take one week off. Amina, Samia's mom, found an ad in the newspaper about them needing a Kitchen Supervisor at Schutz American School. Given Samia's background in catering, she went , got interview and got the job. This was in the late 70's. As the school year started, she discovered that she was pregnant with her first baby. And as the year was coming to an end and she was about to take her maternity leave, Mrs Meloy approached her to work as a lifeguard during the Summer Program and was shocked that Samia was telling her she was in her 8th month and will be taking her maternity leave soon. She was so thin, no one could tell she was pregnant.

After Samia became Kitchen Supervisor for several years, she, then, shifted to be the Staff Services, Operations and Maintenance Manager. A job that now 3 people hold at Schutz......Superwoman, I tell you....she was, indeed!

Samia was so dedicated to her job that some summers we would beg her to come home early but she would return home at 2 and 3 in the morning, making sure everything goes smoothly with Summer maintenance and that Staff and Faculty when they arrive, find everything PERFECT! She was always looking for perfection! Unfortunately, she was not well appreciated as she should have been. I remember my brother, at his Senior Graduation in 2005, saying and I quote: " Mom, I hated your job because it always took you away from us!" It's a lesson for everyone to learn. Work will cost your family and health! Don't be too involved in it. Take a break!

Samia retired in 2009. She had worked at Schutz for 30+ years!

Kids:

Samia's first born child was born in July of the year after she stared her job at Schutz. This is just too weird because when I first started working at Cairo American College, I got pregnant with my daughter (2nd child) and had to take of for maternity at the end of the school year! Anyway...... I was born on July 12 and let's just leave it at that. It was not easy. My mom went through hell giving birth to me. My dad was away for work and my uncles and maternal grandparents were the ones who had to handle it! For her bad luck her gynecologist was traveling and she had to settle for his assistant, who had no experience and it was downhill from there. She spent 10 days getting plasma implanting because she had lost loads of blood! There was an elderly female physician that would come and check on her, Dr Omnia. My mom and grandma loved her and so I was named after her, Omnia. I was originally supposed to be named Dalia but Omnia won, after all! My best friend Dalia was supposed to be named Omnia.....weird how life is!

Anyway, I was an only child for about 2 years and a few months, when my mom found out she was pregnant again.......she had to lie down for the first few months, Dr's orders. And came one November 5 and Amira (Princess), was born. She was so tiny, that everyone predicted she was not going to make it. But she did. I remember, and don't ask me how I remember this, when I went to visit my mom at the hospital and saw that tiny wrapped in pink piece of meat, i was shocked. Why is my mom here and what is this new doll she has. To make things better for me, I found my dad coming in to the hospital with a big box and inside the big box was my first tricycle. I think I got so used to the 3 wheeler that I didn't even try 2 wheels. I do not know how to ride a bike until now.... They told me that Amira, my baby sister, was born with money in her hands, and with that money they bought me the tricycle. This was all to make me love her......I don't think it worked but then after a while I got used to that little baby and now she is my best friend and I can't live without her.

After a few years, my mom was doing a CBC and when she was going to get the results, the lady at the counter said, "MABROOK". My mom didn't comprehend, and asked her why she was congratulating her and so the lady answered, you're pregnant! WHAT? She was shocked! She was not ready to have a 3rd Child. My poor grandmother had retired early to take care of her first child and then the 2nd child came along but now a third one! She thought it would also be a girl because she adored girls and she even had a name for it, Ingy. She also had a boy's name just in case it was a boy, Tarek. little did she know but her sister in law was pregnant at the same time and had her baby a month early and the baby was named Tarek. I think they had some sort of bet. Anyway after 9 months, on May 14, the most beautiful baby was born, Ahmed, she said she would call him. I remember my father, as he was also away at the time, called at my grandma's house and I answered the phone and asked how mom was doing and what's the baby's gender, so I told him we have a baby brother named Ahmed, so he answered without thinking, Mohamed, he will be called Mohamed. Tell your mother that and I did and he was called Mohamed! So, Omnia, Amira and Mohamed...the gang was complete!

Samia and Hamada have now 3 grandchildren, also, Hamza & Salma (my Kids) and Mohamed aka Miko (Amira's kid) .

Sports and Activities:

Samia was such a dedicated mom. She put up with Amira and Mohamed going to swimming practices every single day. I would go along as well, to study or read a book. My grandma had passed away at the time and there was no where i could go but with my mom. Amira and Mohamed then got involved with other sports, Basketball and Volleyball. I remember she would sit at El Ettihad club until my brother would finish his practice in the cold weather with her black shawl. Mom would come to all our games, sometimes to ones in Cairo, Qatar....etc. I got involved in sports in High School, only. Not that I didn't like it but because I had severe allergies when I was a child and little did people know in the old days that sports are good for allergies, and don't make it worse.

Our Parents never seized the opportunity to take us around.....we went to Cairo many times when we were kids, Giza, Siwa, Sharm, Hurghada, Ras Shuqir for many times and many other places. They knew how to make us have fun!!!

Sickness and Passing away:

Mom was spending 3 months with me when I had Salma in 2013 after my maternity leave, because it was winter, the baby was tiny and she was sick. She would come to Cairo from Sunday to Thursday and go to Alex for the weekend so my father would not feel lonely. During that time she was not well and started to have some symptoms of heavy feet and tripping a lot. Before, she was diagnosed for rheumatoid, and was not really taking her medication but the matter seemed bigger. It was getting worse by the day. It went from walking with a walking Aid to not being able to stand much and a lot of tripping. Then her arms started to feel heavy. By April 2016, she went to a stage where she had lost her voice and Doctors recommended putting tubes in to feed her as swallowing organs were not functioning anymore. Samia was diagnosed earlier was CDIP and took a lot of medication for 6 months and would spend a few days in the hospital and nothing. Before her passing by a few months we discovered that it was ALS. We even sent her to Thailand with Amira to have physiotherapy and some surgery done but nothing. On the morning of April 14, 2016, she went into a seizure and her body gave in at 2:45 AM.

So many people were shocked and could not believe that she left us but I know she is watching over us all the time and her spirit is there just looking down on each one of us. Those who loved her will always remember her Forever!