On Tuesday, April 17, 2018 at 4:07 PM, Sushila “Sheila” Singh, passed away in Sacramento at the age of 77. She passed away very peacefully at the UC Davis Medical Center where she had gone for an operation to make her life better. Unfortunately, complications arose from that procedure that forced an emergency surgery from which her body was unable to recover.
Sheila was born in Fatehgarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, to Dr. Ram Lal Katiyar, a surgeon, and Ram Kumari Katiyar, a homemaker. Sheila was the youngest sister of two older brothers, Satish and Girish Katiyar. Her birthdate was calculated to be March 17, 1940 a few years ago, but she has used August 29, 1940 for most of her life.
Sheila attended Dharam Samaj College in Aligarh, which was affiliated to Agra University. She is a professional artist with a Master’s degree from Agra University, India, where she received three gold medals for outstanding performance in the field of portrait and landscape paintings. The first gold medal was for the highest score in the art department, the second gold medal was for the highest score among all the departments, both art and science, of the college, and the third gold medal was for placing fifth out of all the colleges affiliated to Agra University. Sheila is listed in the 12th Edition of Marquis Who’s Who of American Women, and in the World Who’s Who of American Women, published by the International Biographical Center, Cambridge, England. Among her most important works of art are the oil portrait of His Royal Highness, Prince Charles of England, who had accepted the portrait as a gift from her; portrait of Dr. Denton Cooley, the world famous heart surgeon of Houston, Texas who performed her heart surgery, for Atrial Septal Defect (ASD), to repair a silver dollar sized hole in her heart.
Sheila was married to Ramchandra “Ram” Singh on December 12, 1964 in Fatehgarh, India. They both came to the United States in January of 1969. They first came to Urbana Champaign, Illinois, and from there went to Madison, Wisconsin while Ram obtained his Masters and Ph.D degrees. Then after realizing they never wanted to live in any place that cold they moved to Lake Charles Louisiana, where it was hot and humid, just like back home. In June of 1989 they left Louisiana and came to Sacramento, California.
Although Sheila’s passion was art, her true passion was people. She LOVED people. She loved talking to everyone of any age, it brought her such incredible joy. This was always evident because of the huge smile she could never hide from anyone. If you’ve ever seen her there is a guarantee you only saw her smiling at you. Even if you went to visit her in the hospital, where she made a habit of being for much of her life, she would be smiling and laughing with you. No matter how much pain she was in, which was a great deal, she never once complained about it to anyone. She could not wait to meet you, even as she slowed down with her walker, she always made the effort to meet you so she could give you a hug and try to force you to eat something. She was always genuinely happy to see you, or hear from you on the phone as she could not hide her excitement. She was such a gentle soul and had one of the most loving hearts you could ever get a chance to see. She was also a very big kid, she loved to laugh and constantly disobey us when we try to tell her what to do and giggle at us when we catch her doing something she’s not supposed to be doing. One of the greatest joys of her life was being able to lead the Sacramento Indian Youth Association (S.I.Y.A.) from 1990 – 1992, she truly loved giving her full dedication and time to that group.
She is survived by her husband of 53 years, Ram, and two children, Rajiv and Sanjay, as well as a number of very loving nieces and nephews and many other family in India who all loved her so very much. She has now joined her two older brothers, of which her second oldest brother, Girish Katiyar, age 86, had just passed away 27 days prior to her death. She is now reunited with her parents and other very close friends whom she lost along the way.
A service will be held on Saturday, April 28, 2018 at 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM at Mount Vernon Memorial Park & Mortuary, 8201 Greenback Lane, Fair Oaks, CA 95628. Phone (916) 969-1251.
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