Mrs. Susila Devi Shanmugalingam, age 77, of San Diego, California passed away on Saturday March 30, 2019. Susila was born December 13, 1941. The funeral services were held at Cypress View Mausoleum, Mortuary and Crematory Wednesday April 3, 2019 at 11:00 AM
Susila is survived by; son Dhayalan Shanmugalingam; daughter Sudhamathy Shanmugalingam; and son-in-law Sean Coffey; brother R. Ramanathan, brother R. Vivekananthan and brother R. Mahendran.
Susila was preceded in death by her husband Ramalingam Shanmugalingam; daughter Siva Shan Coffey; brother Dr. R. Thirunavukkarasu; brother R. Manoharan and brother R. Pathmanathan.
Susila Devi was educated mostly at Saiva Mangayar Kazhakam, an exclusive Girl’s School, with a short spell at Vembadi, another Girl’s School in Jaffna. Susila Devi chose the arts and was an accomplished dancer and musician. She went to India to the best dance school Kalakshetra She went on tours dancing Bharatanatyam a classical Indian Dancing all over the subcontinent.
When it became evident that life in Ceylon then changed to Sri Lanka was going to be difficult for the minority Tamils of that Island Nation to live in peace, the family moved to Zambia Africa.
Susila Devi’s best times were when she was living in Africa. Susila Devi was instrumental in bringing cultural awareness to the Tamil Expats in Zambia so the kids would not forget their language and culture. She taught them Bharatanatyam dancing and had a successful dance school in Zambia.
Susila Devi immigrated to the USA with her husband and three children in the 70s and asked for Political Asylum as the civil war was raging in Sri Lanka.
At the tender age in her late 30’s she mastered the art of Customer Service and eventually was running three 7 Eleven stores in Boston. She was very good with the customers and when it was time to move on from 7 Eleven she was hired by Shawmut bank as a teller and she excelled in this as well with many awards she collected.
In her later years after her late husband Ramalingam Shanmugalingam passed away turned to religion and was a devotee of Mata Amritanandamayi Devi (Amma).
