Malvinder Singh

On March 21, 2021, our beloved Papa Singh and Nana made his final passage to the other side. We offer you this summary of his life in appreciation of the amazing life he lived and the legacy he leaves behind. If you ask the family how they would describe Papa Singh/Nana, we would say kind, distinguished, ethical, loving, knowledgeable, generous, fun, great sense of humor, well dressed, someone who loved experimenting with new tastes and flavors, forward thinking, well spoken, and a deep thinker. We were all privileged to know him. He was an Officer and a Gentleman, and we loved him very very much. Malvinder Singh was born in pre-partition India on August 6, 1923 to Gurdial Singh and Harbans Kaur. He grew up in what is now Sialkot Pakistan. His father was a magistrate, and he had 4 siblings. He described his childhood as being very happy. At the age of 10, he was selected for a very prestigious military academy in Dehra Dun, India. It is currently called the Royal Indian Military College. At that time, it was run by the British, since India was a British Colony. He excelled at studies and sports, and counted RIMC as one of his most prized experiences. He joined the Army in the Corps of Engineers, Bengal Sappers. When India gained her independence from the British in 1947, he served in the Indian army for a total of 33 years. His family lived in what had become now Pakistan, which was primarily Muslim. There was a lot of Muslim-Hindu violence, thousands perished in this separation. Sikhs were grouped with the Hindus. Aware of the Hindu-Muslim violence that plagued the country, he essentially rescued his family from slaughter. He took a military truck to Sialkot and evacuated his family with only a few hours to spare. He brought them to Hindu India, where Sikhs were safe. This act of courage and amazing timing is a very important part of our family’s history. In 1950, he met Shan and married her on her 21st birthday. They would have celebrated their 71st wedding anniversary on April 16, 2021. They made a very handsome couple, and loved to dance the waltz, foxtrot and tango. At dances at their army club, the other couples would often stand aside and watch them when they danced. They have two daughters, Sheena and Sonia. Malvinder rose to the rank of Lt. Col., and was a veteran of World War II. He served in Indo China and the Sino-India war in 1965. In 1968, his father passed away. Malvinder was the eldest son. He took premature retirement from the Indian Army to take care of his family’s land holdings in Haryana. He briefly worked for Tata Steel in Jamshedpur, and then took up full-time farming. With his training as an engineer, he approached being a farmer with his usual research and innovation. He put tube wells in the farm, learned about high yield and hybrid crops. After a few years of being a farmer, Malvinder and Shan learned about the option of migrating to the United States. Being only in their 40s, and very energetic and forward thinking people, they seized the opportunity. The family moved to Los Angeles in 1974. However, this was during a recession in the USA. Malvinder could not get a job as an engineer. He eventually worked at a Singer Sewing Machine store. Out of financial necessity, Shan joined the workforce for the first time. She joined a separate Singer store, and later worked in the sewing machine department at Sears. Both of them put aside the prestige of being an Army officer couple, and adopted the entrepreneurial spirit of immigrants, making USA their new home with fortitude and determination. Shan dazzled all of us by becoming Salesperson of the Year! They soon bought their own Singer franchise and ran it for many years until they retired, Malvinder being 81 at the time (a testament to his work ethic!). Eventually, after years of cajoling by Sonia and Mohamood, they moved close to them in Sanford, Florida. They were both very involved in the everyday lives of their grandchildren, including picking them up from after school activities and taking trips with them. Malvinder, or Papa Singh/Nana as he is called by his family, was 97 years old at his passing. He is survived by his wife of almost 71 years Shan, his daughters Sheena and Sonia, Sonia’s husband Mohamood, their children Sarena and Sameer, and Sarena’s husband Adnan.

Malvinder Singh

August 6, 1923 - March 22, 2021