Jayati Weerakoon, age 93, passed away peacefully at his home surrounded by his family on 29th July, 2021 in Austin, Texas. He was born in 1928 in Madakumburumulla, Sri Lanka. He went to schools in Mirihanegama and upper school at Maliyadeva College in Kurunegala. He was an avid Indian classical music lover, studied Indian classical music, and was playing the Dilruba in Radio Ceylon concerts at a young age. He studied Civil Engineering at the University of Peradeniya and graduated in 1950.
Jayati had an incredible thirst for knowledge, had a high curiosity for life and its environment and was an avid hobbyist who worked on many projects. He had an amazing can-do attitude and undertook to understand deeply whatever that interested him, including learning the Pali language and old Buddhist texts, car restoration and repair, photography, electronics, and music to name a few. As a profession he worked in construction and was involved in building commercial factory buildings, water supply tanks, and road bridges. He was part of the team that built the bridge for the movie ‘Bridge on the River Kwai’ which was filmed in Sri Lanka and worked with David Lean. He was also part of the team that built Sri Lanka’s first satellite antennae station and worked with Arthur C. Clark. In Sri Lanka, he worked at companies ECC, Samuel & Sons, and Walker & Greig.
In 1987 he immigrated to the US to Wichita, Kansas to join his family permanently. He obtained his PE license and worked as a Civil Engineer at the Shawnee County Health Department in Topeka, Kansas. He retired in 2004 and enjoyed working full-time on his myriad of hobbies which had expanded to include; writing interpretations and translations of old Buddhist texts, cooking Sri Lankan foods, painting, wood working, gardening, making Indian musical instruments, and making fountain pens to mention a few.
In 2017 Jayati and his wife Indrani moved to Austin, Texas to be close to his family members already living in Austin. Jayati was a loving husband, a supportive brother-in-law, a nurturing father and grand-father, and a caring friend. He was a legend of a man and always had a smile on his face. He is survived by his wife of 70 years, Indrani, daughter Rekha, three sons, Asanga, Mithra, & Ishta, son-in-law Bushy, daughters-in-law, Anusha, Namal, and Gretchen, and seven grandchildren; Gayan, Rayshan, Dilkushi, Leonie, Sitara, Nikhil, and Milani.
Private Services for Jayati will be held at Cook Walden Forest Oaks Funeral Home in Austin, Texas.
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