Rupinder Singh Mahal

Sardar Rupinder Singh Mahal son of Zaildar Udham Singh and Pritam Kaur Mahal was born on December 30, 1929 in chak 136, district Sargodha, Punjab. In 1947 after the partition of India, the family migrated to Khamachon near their ancestral village Mahil Gaila, in district Jullundur, Punjab India.

There he graduated from high school in MahalGailha and furthered his education at Lyallpur Khalsa College in Jullundur,

In 1955 he immigrated to the United States and worked as a farm hand in the Mendota area. In 1956 he was drafted into the U.S. Army and spent much of his service time in Berlin, Germany. In 1958 he received an honorable discharge along with military awards and medals in expert rifle, good conduct and army expedition. After his discharge he held odd jobs throughout California. In 1961 he started his next chapter in life and traveled back to India and married Mohinder Kaur Gill of Moga on April 30th.

He came back to the U.S. along with Mohinder, later the same year. In 1962 they were blessed with a son, Ravinder Singh Mahal. Shortly thereafter he started working for the State of California. 1966 brought the happy couple another blessing, this time a daughter, Sohindra Kaur Mahal. While working for the state he always kept his entrepreneurial spirit alive and obtained his real estate salesman license. In 1973 after 10 years with the state, he pursued his goals to establish his own business and took an early retirement from his state work. He then opened a liquor store in Antioch, California. In 1980 after running a successful business for 7 years he made the decision to sell the store to his brother and opened a bar, “The White Elephant Lounge”, in Modesto, California. After running The White Elephant for 22 years, it was time for him to retire and he sold the bar in 2002.

Sardar Rupinder Singh Mahal is survived by his wife, Mohinder Kaur Mahal; his brother Paul Mahal and sister Sukhmandar Kaur Sanghera; his son Ravinder Singh Mahal; his daughter Cindy Bains; son-in-law Amrit Preet Bains; his four grandchildren Savreet Bains-Chawla, Rajwinder Singh Mahal, Kanver Preet Singh Bains, and Neel Bains; grandson-in law Jaskamal S. Chawla; and two great grandchildren, Raena Chawla, and Amber Chawla.