Folsom Funeral Service

We are heartbroken by the loss of our father, Sivarama Krishnamurti Gummuluru.  We are honored to reflect on his life with you today.  He lived for 91 years, 61 of which were with his wife Usha: a life that was filled with love, happiness, and joy. 

Our father / Nannagaru/ Mavaigaru / Tata is remembered very fondly and respectfully by many as how he and his wife (our mother) provided a helpful hand, shared their home, supported their nieces and nephews, and extended their love for family and friends in a gracious manner. He was known as a kind, loyal, gracious, and pious man. Our father was a devout, honest and a deeply committed person who touched many lives, as evidenced by the number of condolence messages that have poured in from all over the world.

His life journey started in Koilkuntla, a small village in Andhra Pradesh.  His father and mother were Ramamurti and Suryadamma. His upbringing was in several places in Andhra and Tamil Nadu, but eventually Vishakapatnam was considered the family home. He was one of seven siblings with five brothers and two sisters.

He completed his studies including his bachelor and master’s degrees in Andhra University. After completing his Ph.D in Physics at Jadavpur University in Calcutta in 1961, he had an illustrious career working in India Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) in Delhi, India. In October of 1965, he spent six months in Madison, WI and six months in Riverside, CA working as an academic fellow on a Rockefeller Scholarship.  Many of his students to this day remember him respectfully for his subject matter knowledge in Soil Physics and continued to correspond with him. We are blessed as our father and mother created a community of family and friends for us in Delhi, far away from their own parents and siblings. 

He took an early retirement and made a bold decision to move to Canada in his 50s to re-initiate his professional career. He did so to provide a better future for his daughter and son. Our father continued his professional travels on this second career by working in Australia and Italy where he again made a lot of friends.

He was an extremely social person who enjoyed playing cards with friends, watching sports (especially tennis and football!), enjoying a good old-fashioned Andhra Bhojanam (meal) with family during all religious festivals.  He enjoyed spending time with his grandkids playing cards and board games.  He was a deeply religious man with deep knowledge of Hindu traditions and mantras, serving as a guide for many family religious ceremonies. He enjoyed creating a genealogy chart of the family and encouraged all to connect.

He is survived by wife, Usha Devi; his daughter, Sailaja and son-in-law, Dilip. His son, Suryaram, and daughter-in-law, Sudha. His four grandchildren who were the lights of his life:  Ramya and her spouse KC, Anjali and her spouse Alex, and Divya and Roshan. 

He is survived by three siblings.  His elder sister, Mrs. Padmini Vulimiri, and younger sister, Mrs. Brahmaramba Manda and brother-in-law, Mr. Ramachandra Rao Manda, and his younger brother and his sister-in-law, Dr. GVRK Sharma and Uma Sharma. There are also many nieces, nephews, grandnieces and nephews, and many more extended family members and friends who are family.

“Some people spread happiness wherever they go, others create happiness wherever they go!” – The Gita

In lieu of flowers the family kindly requests you donate to the American Lung Association in honor of Sivarama Krishnamurti Gummuluru.

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