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Sobha Cherukuri Obituary
January 1942 – December 2016
Sobha Rani Rao Cherukuri, loving wife, mother, grandmother, and great grandmother, passed away on December 8, 2016, at the age of 74 after bravely living with Lewy Body Dementia for several years.
Her courage and devotion to family brought her from the small village of Edlapalle, India to America in 1968. Mrs. Cherukuri's focus was family and community. Turlock was her home for 46 years.
The first to earn a college degree among her family in India, Mrs. Cherukuri earned her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in English Literature from CSU Stanislaus.
She always opened her home to everyone and was famous for her delicious traditional South Indian cooking. Her commitment to sharing cultures led her to several decades of work with Modesto Sister Cities International and the Indian Cultural Society of the Central Valley.
She was known for her passionate writing, often evoking powerful images of traditional Indian and Hindu life overlaid with life in California's Central Valley. Her poetry, written in both Telugu and English, was published in Penumbra, Telugu Jyothi, Triveni, Sujana Ranjani and the Northern California Women's Music Festival Poetry Anthology.
She had a great sense of humor and was often seen smiling the broadest when she was holding one of her grandchildren or great grandchildren.
Along with her late husband of 55 years, Dr. U. Rao Cherukuri, she helped many others settle into their lives as new Americans and proudly wore her sari wherever she went.
The matriarch of a loving family, she is survived by her daughters, Padmaja Vejendla and Sailaja Rajappan, her son, Srinivas Cherukuri, their spouses, seven grandchildren, and three great grandchildren. We will miss our Mom, our Grandma, our Ammama, our Gigi, our friend.
Her greatest wish was that we all love each other and eat well.
A memorial service for Mrs. Sobha Rani Rao Cherukuri will be held Sunday, December 18, 2016, 12:30pm at the Carnegie Arts Center, 250 North Broadway, Turlock. A traditional South Indian lunch will follow.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that contributions be made to the Lewy Body Dementia Association, www.lbda.org.
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Memories and Condolences
for Sobha Cherukuri
3 Entries
Ajit Murti
January 6, 2017
Sobha will be remembered as a consummate host, poet, spiritual seeker and a pillar to her family and community.
May she be blessed with freedom that comes with life long quest in pursuit of Truth.
Betty Stewart
December 18, 2016
Sobha and Rao were gracious hosts for many of our Modesto Sister Cities events, and I will miss both of them.
Betty Lewis
Dennis Barrett
December 17, 2016
I remember Sobha as a loving, kind and soft spoken lady. She was a class act and treated our family with love and respect. She and Dr. Rao were very much loved by my parents Tom and Liz Barrett. They were good friends for 45 years. Rest in peace you have made the world a better place.
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