Georgette Salem Salameh

Our Georgette Salameh passed away suddenly and unexpectedly of cardiac arrest late Wednesday night, May 3, 2017. She had recently suffered a fall, breaking her hip and was on the slow road to recovery when God called her home to be with her beloved Salem Salameh. Her passing was almost instantaneous and she left on this final journey with a very peaceful smile on her face.

She is preceded in death by her brothers, Georges, Elie, Maurice, and Zaki and survived by her sisters, Rose Majdalani, Wedad Malahi and Samira Nasralleh, as well as her four sons.

Georgette was born as the first child to Youssef and Na'ami Haykal on October 12, 1926 in Haifa, Palestine. She married Salem Salameh, of Nazareth on September 23, 1944. In the Spring of 1948, pregnant with her second son Samir (Adel), she fled Haifa to Lebanon with her mother, father, siblings, Salem and her first son Elias. When it became apparent that there would be no return to their beloved Palestine, they stayed in Beirut. There she gave birth to Ghassan and Bassam.

As a family, and like many of the Palestinian refugees, they worked hard to survive the harshness of their new lives and carve out a life of promise and hope. Salem had to go to work in Kuwait as a welder until tragedy stuck early and he lost both of his eyes in a horrific accident in the mid 1950s. Suddenly, at 28, Georgette became the head of the household and sole breadwinner, caring for her four boys, and most importantly the eyes of her Salem. Using her talent as a seamstress she worked hard and long hours to make ends meet, and ensuring that everyone was taken care of.

Through her tenacity and resilience, she became the rock of the family, and the glue that kept everyone together during the many difficult years of the 50s and 60s, until the boys were older and able to provide additional support.

Georgette continued her heroic role as the care giver and protector of Salem and the household during the onset and intensification of the Lebanese Civil War in the 70s and early 80s. In 1986 she and Salem fled their home in Lebanon, once again, and settled in California. After Salem's passing in 2002, Georgette continued to be the loving Mamma to her boys and many others who knew her, as well as Teta (Grandmother) to Ziad, Natalie, Ramzi, Tarek, Christina, Joseph and Lara, and then to her great delight, Great Grandmother to Laila and very recently Eleanor.

Her life was a struggle, but true to her spirit, she went bravely and positively forward, each day enjoying the time she had on this earth, with a smile on her face, and a laugh we will always remember.

Please join us in remembering her as she was, full of opinions, quick to interrupt, big-hearted, proud mother, generous, welcoming, her outstretched arms always ready to greet, to hug and to hold us.

Thank you, Georgette, for keeping us together and touching so many in our lives. God bless you and may you rest in peace.

In lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made in Georgette's name to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital:

https://www.stjude.org/

Arrangements under the direction of Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks Mortuary, Westlake Village, CA.