Northern Virginia Catholic community mourns loss of local students

Published: 2007-04-23

ARLINGTON, Va. (CNS) -- Six of the victims of the April 16 shooting at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg were from northern Virginia, and at least three were Catholic. One of the Catholic victims, Reema Samaha, 18, of Chantilly was remembered by a former grade-school teacher of hers as a sweet young lady who was well-thought-of by her peers and the community. Patricia Kobrya, principal at St. Timothy School in Chantilly, taught Samaha fourth-grade science. Samaha graduated from the school in 2002. "There cannot have been any young lady sweeter," Kobrya told the Arlington Catholic Herald, newspaper of the Arlington Diocese. "She was a wonderful student, kind of quiet -- at least quiet in fourth grade -- but she made friends easily." Samaha, a member of Holy Transfiguration Melkite Parish in McLean, was one of the 32 victims of student gunman Seung-Hui Cho, who turned his gun on himself as police closed in on the scene of the tragedy. The two other Catholic victims from northern Virginia were Mary Read, 19, of Annandale, a member of St. Mary of Sorrows Parish in Fairfax, and Daniel Cueva, 21, who with his mother, Betty, of Woodbridge, had been attending Mass at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Lake Ridge.

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