Pritam Kaur Janjua

Born on January 21, 1915 in the village of Panchhat, District Kapurthala, Punjab, India, to mother Maha Kaur Parmar, and father Wazir Singh Parmar who alternated between home and work in Singapore for a long time.

Her family consisted of her older sister Rattan Kaur Parhar, younger sister Sawarn Kaur Janjua and brother Karam Singh Parmar

In keeping with her religious beliefs, her mother sent Pritam Kaur to Temple daily to learn reading and writing in Punjabi, as well as attending prayers every Sunday with the family.

A funny story her mother told was about a neighbor who thought the family attended Temple on Sunday just to get the sweet Parshad. He told Maha Kaur to just make it at home and save the trip.

The family continued to live in Panchhat with long absences by Pritam’s father until she reached the age of 19. During her teens, before marriage, Pritam Kaur was baptized (Amrit Pann) at Temple.

In 1934, she married Gurdial Singh Janjua (born in Pakistan), son of mother Rukman Kaur Janjua and father Manna Singh Janjua who lived in Pakistan, then moved to Nadola, Punjab, then the village of Majra Manna Singh Wala, and later still to Majri, District Fatehgarh Sahib, Punjab, India. The married couple lived with Gurdial’s parents and raised their children, Dilber Singh, Harsurat Singh, Kirpal Singh, Harkamal Singh, Tejinder Kaur, Rajinder Singh and Sarabjit Singh.

Pritam Kaur learned the value of religion and education during her up-bringing and instilled these valued in her children. She not only ran the household, but worked hard on the family farm to ensure her children could receive the education she wanted them to have. She would not let the children perform any work unless their studies were done. A good education was paramount.

In 1978, Pritam Kaur had the opportunity to come to Canada with Gurdial Singh and son Sarabjit, sponsored by son Kirpal who had emigrated to Canada in 1972. Gurdial Singh and Sarabjit emigrated, but Pritam Kaur chose to stay in India for family reasons. Gurdial Singh returned to India after 3 months.

Later in 1989, Pritam Kaur emigrated to Canada and lived in Nanaimo with Kirpal and Rajinder. Then in the 1990s, she moved to Revelstoke to see the snow, and lived with baby son. While there, she helped to raise her last two grandchildren, and insisted that the family make the trip to Vernon every weekend to attend Temple.

In 1993, Sarabjit was transferred to Abbotsford and Pritam Kaur moved with the family. She was very happy with the move. No snow and a Temple close at hand. She attended Temple every day.

During her years in Canada, she traveled extensively to see her family and many holy Guru places in India. In 2000, she persuaded Sarabjit to go with her to Pakistan to visit all the Guru places. This fulfilled one of her deep desires. Her last trip to India was in 2005, where she visited family in Majri.

She was deeply loved and will be missed greatly by her children, 17 grandchildren and 9 great grandchildren both her in Canada and in India.