Joyce Nadarajah

A celebration of the life of Joyce Nadarajah, 91, of Lubbock, Texas will take place from 9 to 11 am, Saturday, January 4, 2020 in Christian Life Assembly of God Church ( 66th and Frankford) followed by services provided by Pastor John Merdoch of Christian Life. After the Church services, the burial services will take place at City of Lubbock burial grounds, 2011 E. 31st Street, Lubbock. The family will receive friends from 6-8 pm on Friday, January 3, 2020 at Sanders Funeral Home. Joyce passed away December 28, 2019. Joyce Atputharanee Nadarajah was the eldest and only daughter to Mr. and Mrs. Rasiah. She was born July 12, 1928 at Green Memorial Hospital of Manipay in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. At an early age, she served as a mother to her 4 younger brothers due to her mother’s illness. She finished her high school at Jaffna college and later became a teacher at the middle school at Arali Mahavidyalayam. At High School she was a Queen Scout and took part in extracurricular activities such as dramas and sports. She got married to Mr. P.S. Nadarajah in 1956 and moved to Nivitigala to raise a family. She sacrificed her teaching profession in order to raise her two children and to provide support for her husband’s business enterprises. Her story is a story of sacrifices one after the other, sacrificed her childhood to help her mother raise her 4 brothers and then sacrificed her teaching profession to help her husband excel in his business endeavors. Though she came from a strong Christian family, she married into a rich, Hindu family. However, she never neglected neither her siblings nor their children and helped them with whatever she could. She walked a fine line between her faith and her husband wishes to maintain a Hindu household and turned into a top diplomat that Sri Lanka has ever seen, without holding any official designation! After her husband’s death in 1999, she spent most of her time with her children and her grand children in the US. She became a US resident in 2002 and became a US citizen in 2017. However, she loved to visit her home country, Sri Lanka and touched many struggling people as she could. She visited Sri Lanka one last time from November 2018 to January 2019. People from all walks of lives came to Colombo in droves to say farewell that would fit for a retiring Queen! In a world where people who have the heart to help don’t seem to have the means, and the people who have the means to help, don’t seem to have the heart, Joyce stands out as one who was able to fulfill the law of Christ by carrying other’s burdens to the very end (Galatians 6:2). Praise be to God! Preceded in death are her parents, her husband and three brothers. She is survived by daughter, Malini Parameswaran and son-in-law Dr. Siva Parameswaran, son, Dr. Nadarajah Narendran and daughter-in-law Amithi Narendran, grandchildren: Priya and Dr. Shamini Parameswaran, Shivanthi and Jeevan Narendran; brother Charles Rajendram, and many nieces and nephews. Please continue celebrating the life of Joyce by posting tributes @ www.sandersfuneralhome.com

Joyce Nadarajah

July 12, 1928 - December 28, 2019