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Missing Mommy

It has been at least eight years since Siew-Nya Ang saw an R-rated movie. Ms. Ang relished family time and since her daughters Jeanee, 8, and Winnee, 4, were too young for movies with grown-up themes, she only watched family-oriented films.

Ms. Ang, 37, also discouraged her husband, Kui-Liong Lee, from doing yardwork when he could be spending time with the family. "She would say: 'Wake up early in the morning. You can mow the lawn when we're asleep,' " Mr. Lee said.

On weekdays, Ms. Ang left for her job as a technical analyst at Marsh USA while her family was sleeping. But every morning around 8, she called home to make sure her girls were properly equipped to handle a day of school and dance, piano, ice skating or gymnastics lessons.

Since Sept. 11, the girls say good night to a picture of Ms. Ang, which hangs on the bedroom wall. Some nights, they complain to it, too. "Sometimes I have to let them know that Mommy is in heaven and other than that I just don't know what to say," Mr. Lee said. "Sometimes if they say 'I want mommy,' I can't do anything."

Profile published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on November 23, 2001.

Siew-Nya Ang, 37, always studying

Siew-Nya Ang's daughters were asleep in the mornings when she left their East Brunswick home to catch the bus to Lower Manhattan. So, Siew-Nya Ang always called to say hello, and to check their homework, when she arrived at her desk in the World Trade Center at 8 a.m.

She wanted the girls to do well in school, and to have all the opportunities that she never did as a child in Malaysia.

"She always wanted to dress them up and make them princesses, and to have them learn everything they can," said her husband, Kui-Liong "Jay" Lee. "She thought they should explore everything."

Siew-Nya Ang encouraged Winnee, 4, and Jeanee, 7, in hobbies of all kinds, and happily shuttled them between ice-skating sessions and dance rehearsals, piano lessons and French class.

Siew-Nya Ang, 37, cherished time with her family, and fulfilled her own dream of buying a home just two months ago, when she and her husband purchased a house with a big backyard, near the girls' school.

"Some of our clothing, we haven't unpacked yet. We don't even have all the furniture yet," said Kui-Liong Lee. "We were looking forward to a bright future."

Siew-Nya Ang, a technical analyst for two years for Marsh USA, was on the 95th floor of the North Tower when a hijacked passenger plane slammed into the building.

When she was 18 years old, Siew-Nya Ang left home in Penang, Malaysia, to study in Canada. Three years later, she arrived in the United States to study electrical engineering at the University of Southwestern Louisiana.

There, she met Kui-Liong Lee, and after graduating, the couple moved to Piscataway, where Siew-Nya Ang began working at DTK Computer Inc. Five years later, she took a job at General Electric in Edison, and then spent two years at Dow Jones in South Brunswick.

Siew-Nya Ang never ceased her education, her husband said. She was always studying industry magazines. She earned additional professional certificates, and was quickly promoted in her department at Marsh.

Also surviving are her father, Ah-Bah Ang of Malaysia; brothers Kee Sang Ang, Kee Su Ang, Kee Tong Ang and Kee Kheng Ang, all of Malaysia; sisters Tye Lay Ang, Ean Knin Ang, Ah Kee Ang and Ean Chin Ang, all of Malaysia.



Profile by Dore Carroll published in THE STAR-LEDGER.