Pritam Singh Minhas
Pritam Singh Minhas passed away at the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital’s Palliative Care Unit, surrounded by his son, Tirath, and his daughter, Dhavinder, on September 10, 2012 at 8:35pm.
Pritam Singh Minhas was born on August 17, 1918 in the village of Padhiana, District Jallandhar, in the province of Punjab, India. He was the youngest of six children.
After finishing Technical High School, he joined the Royal Indian Air Force on June 22, 1935 in Lahore. He served in areas of present-day Pakistan such as: Chaklala, Rawalpindi, Risalpur, Karachi, Kohat, and Lahore, all the way up until India’s Independence. He retired in 1973 from the Indian Air Force as a Honourary Flight Lieutenant. From 1947 to his retirement in 1973, he served the IAF in Ambala, Tambaram (Madras,now Chenai), Bangalore, Kanpur, and retired from Chandigarh. In 1974 he came to Canada and enjoyed trips to India every winter until 2008 when he was no longer able to make the journey due to health reasons. He cherished his military career, wore his poppy with pride, and participated in many Remembrance Day parades.
Pritam Singh was predeceased by his wife, Swarn Kaur, his son, Achhar Singh, and his daughter, Dr. Surinder Kaur Parmar. He is survived by his children Tirath (Harinder) and Dhavinder (Samir), his grandchildren Paminder (Karishma), Parmjit P.J. (Sarah), Jasbir, Nina (Archie), Harminder (Geetika), Gurjeet (Paul), Amanda (Darren), Aaron, Harjit, and Gurpreet, as well as, great-grandchildren: Marlee, Roman, Keerat, Amrit, and another one on the way.
The family would especially like to thank the wonderful nurses and home support workers from the Nanaimo & District Home Support Services who helped us take care of Babajee at home, as well as, the staff at the NRGH Palliative Care Unit for all your hard work and compassion.
He will be greatly missed.