Obituary of Usha Devi Gobburu

We are saddened to announce the passing of Smt. Usha Devi Gobburu on April 21st at Vassar Brothers Medical Center in the presence of her family. She is survived by her son, Tirumala Rao, daughters Shubhada, Varada and Kumuda and their families - with one daughter-in-law (Ranjana), three sons-in-laws (Mukhya Prana Rao, Sushumna and Vijay Krovvidi), seven grandchildren and one great granddaughter. Her grandchildren grew up experiencing and enjoying visits to "Mamma's house" or "Ammamma's house" – her arts, food, avid gardening, the pampering and the encouragement. She took pride in her family's achievements, in their professional and personal endeavors, and in their commitment to their interests. 

Usha Devi was born on 2 November 1936 in Guntur, India. Along with her husband, G.V. Krishna Rao garu, she spent many years in Bombay, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad bringing up their children. In later years, she spent time with their grown up children settled in Singapore and the US (California, Virginia and New York).

Throughout her life, she pursued creativity and proficiency in the arts. She built her skills over time and maintained them with great care. Her love of music, dance and art translated into a passion that she poured into not only all of her children, but to the members in the community she lived in. In Bombay, as an active Lions Club member, she taught doll making and basket-weaving to incarcerated women.

Her paintings are testimony to a lifetime of creative effort and dedication to the art form, ranging from still life, sand textured to impressionist styles. Portraits and authentic reproductions of Raja Ravi Varma’s oil paintings were her specialty. She loved all the visual arts even as she was growing up, but blossomed into the artist she became when her children were older and she had the time to start building her life around art. Each of her children has continued to pursue the art forms instilled in them. She herself continued to learn, paint and participate in exhibitions until the very end.