Gulzara Singh Gill

Gulzara Singh Gill was born in Chak Bilgan, Punjab in 1935. He grew up without his parents and quickly learned through his own life’s journey how to be self-sufficient and make his life what he wanted. He immigrated to America on August 31, 1980, with his wife and sons, John and Mike. After settling in Yuba City, the family began to build out an enormous circle of friends that became and have remained family. He worked in the fields picking peaches, prunes, and pears and had a work ethic like none other. He welcomed, with open arms, two daughters, Deepi and Kulvinder, who showed him unconditional love and TLC like he had never felt in his life. This bond they shared with him was something otherworldly.  He formally retired in 1992, but then began arguably the most important job of his lifetime: being a Baba. He spent every waking moment tending to his 6 grandkids and later 2 grand pups. For at least a decade of his life, he was either walking Satdip to her bus stop, trying to stop Kirandip from biting off Pritpal’s head, holding Hartej as he watched Barney (at that time, his stomach was large enough to prop his leg onto - who needed a baby carrier), pushing Manreet around in her jeep, or chasing Kabir around with his pranta. After once telling us he would never accept a dog in the house, Tyson Gill came along and changed everything. Three years later, he convinced us that he needed a friend, and along came Smokey. The dogs got all his love and even his spare rotis for years. He lived his life in service of his family, his garden, and his community. Although he didn’t speak English, he learned how to communicate with everyone around him from grocery store clerks to neighbors to the garbage man (who he sometimes had to bribe to pick up additional bins with a beer). He was a man of few words, but always had a presence that you could always feel. His parents, twin brother, older brother, and Tyson are all welcoming him home to heaven together.

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