Spontaneous, carefree and adventurous is how Samantha Bishun is fondly remembered.
She was born in Cayenne, French Guiana on February 24, 1988 and lived there for sixteen years before migrating to New York in August of 2004. While living in the United States, she attended Lawrence High School and later began working in her mom’s flower shop, ‘Elegant Floral Designs,’ in Queens, New York. Samantha shared her mother’s love for flowers and it is perhaps for this reason that, at the time of her passing, yellow flowers with the insignia of an ‘Om’ flooded the social media accounts of her close friends and family to honor her.
Growing up, she was very close to her mother and sister and frequently attended Mandir. She was a devout Hindu and regularly performed Havans, decorated the altar and would even sing. Her favorite bhajan was ‘Veera Hanumana’.
“Her love for her religion was very strong, she always made time for God and for temple,” remarked a friend of hers, Zaman Amin, as he remembered one of his most cherished memories of Samantha which was a visit to a Ganesh Temple.
On Diwali, one of her favorite holidays, she would usually attend Mandir and later that evening, she would have dinner with her family but not before lighting a few diyas.
Samantha was also a mother and a wife. She married the love of her life, Steve Bishun, who described their first encounter as ‘love at first sight.’ Together, they had a daughter, Sophia. Steve said that Sophia and Samantha were each other’s best friend since they shared a special bond. It was obvious that Samantha found much joy in motherhood and in her marriage.
She was also a free spirt who valued genuine friendships and was an all-round ‘people person’. She loved good conversations and celebrating life with her family and friends. Life for Samantha was a thing to be celebrated, enjoyed and lived to its fullest; and this was the way she lived.
She lived by the words of her favorite quote, “The Hardest truth of life is it’s end. And the beauty of the end is, there is a life before it. Live.”
“She was such a thoughtful person who went out of her way to bring joy to everyone that knew her.” This is according to another of her friends, Sonia Sarjoo.
She always went the extra mile for everyone in her life. She was the kind of person with whom you could have deep conversations but also endless fun since she was quite spontaneous.
She cared, not only for her friends and family, but for the community at large. Over the years, she has been a part of numerous charity events, once such being a luncheon that she helped to coordinate for families affected by Hurricane Sandy. Her zeal for life and compassion for all was matched only by her fierceness for ensuring equality and fairness.
Samantha lived a balanced and fair life and she will truly be missed by all of her friends and family. “I don’t believe that anyone dies, we just lose our physical form because we live to create memories; and by the looks of it, Samantha created more memories in her 30 years than most people do in their lifetime.” Those were the sentiments expressed by yet another one of her friends, Diane Watrous.
The friendships and bonds shared were deeply cherished and her memory will undoubtedly live on in the memories she so lovingly created.
Samantha is survived by her husband, Steve Bishun; daughter, Sophia Bishun; parents, sister, grandparents, aunts, uncles and countless friends.
