Susee Mable's Silent Meditations

Susee Mable and friend, Andhra Pradesh (1960s)   © Anandaraju Family Archives Posted by: Suhasini

Susee Mable and Solomon Injety, SDA General Conference, Indiana, 1990 (photograph: Ethel Injety ) She was a rugged Christian with dynamic faith. She was an eloquent and relentless crusader for righteousness in the family and the small selected contacts she owned. She kept all evil doers far away from her and that is why she had God fearing people as her few friends. She always spoke with courage, with deepest human understanding, and with stimulating hope. To know her was to love her. Yes a two year vision of your hope dim vision is becoming clearer: why she left us in a hurry. She was a champion of God's mold. What she did for you was in a hurry and taught you clearly how to follow. We loose best things fast. I want to join with you today with these thoughts, celebrating my pleasant memories of my beloved child of God. To me her life is an every day celebration, an inspiration. All three of you rejoice in the Lord Always. Happy Anniversary. Love, Bavaiah Solomon Injety...

© Anandaraju Family Archives Our life with our beloved Susee Mable (wife to Pamula and mother to Anil and Suha) was a blessed, happy and unforgettable journey. We wouldn't trade one minute of it for the world. Two years on, RIP darling Mummy. “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”—John 14:1-4 Forever, Pamula, Anil and Suha

Susee Mable (far right) and friends with Victoriamma (far left) and Pastor M. Benjamin (back) © Anandaraju Family Archives Posted by: Suhasini

Thirty-one years ago, on Wednesday March 26, 1986 , my mother Susee Mable's beloved mother, Victoriamma passed away in a Narsapur hospital in Andhra Pradesh, India. The day my grandmother died is forever etched in my memory because the pure, consecrated, unwavering and unconditional love my mother felt for her mother was so palpable . Upon hearing of her mother's passing, Mum whispered, " No, please no " and collapsed to the ground. Her heart broken, she was inconsolable with grief. Victoriamma M. Benjamin © Anandaraju Family Archives My grandmother was born Veeramma Tanukula (her Christian name was "Victoriamma") on September 26, 1913 to a loving family in the village of Chilukuru (West Godavari district). Her parents were Isaiah and Mariamma Tanukula . She had an older sister named Gnanaratnamma (Gangamma) and a younger brother named Israel . On June 26, 1926 , she married Mylabathula Benjamin an elementary school teacher who became an orda...

With Mum at the helm, ours was a happy family life. She brought so much love and joy into our lives and taught us to explore our world with curiosity and kindness. Our first trip to the Toronto Zoo in 1979, filled with giraffes, monkeys, lions and aquatic life (among others), was an absolute delight; and not just because of our animal friends but because of Mum's cheerful spirit and wide-eyed wonder. She was a treasure, and not just as a wife and mother but as a nurse, a friend, a daughter, a sister, a human being and a child of God. We enjoyed every minute of our time together. Posted by: Suhasini; Photograph by: Raju (Dad), © Anandaraju Family Archives

Our Beloved Valentine © Anandaraju Family Archives Posted by: Suhasini

Susee Mable in Hyderabad, 1974 © Anandaraju Family Archives Posted by: Suhasini

Pastor M. Benjamin September 18, 1905 - January 21, 1984 with Mrs. Victoriamma and Susee Mable in 1974 On January 21, 1984, thirty-three years ago to the day, my mother's precious father—my beloved grandfather, Pastor M. Benjamin passed away in Nuzvid, Andhra Pradesh, India. Three decades may have passed, but there has not been one day where his name hasn't been mentioned in our home. He remains the unshakable, unforgettable and revered figure head of our family. Mrs. Victoriamma and Pastor M. Benjamin with grandchildren Anil and Suha Born Mylabathula Benjamin on September 18, 1905 * to a loving Lutheran family in the village of Agarthipalem (West Godavari district), my grandfather’s devotion to Christ was a calling he heeded from an early age. Always one to follow his heart and think outside the box, he converted to Adventism in his youth and later became an ordained and venerated pastor within the South Asian Adventist mission for over four decades. Before ...

Susee Mable with friends and fellow students from King George Hospital School of Nursing, Vizag, Andhra Pradesh, India (1960s) Posted By: Suhasini © Anandaraju Family Archives

Christmas Eve 2014 Christmas Day 1979 December 25, 2014 was our last Christmas with our beloved Chantoda/Susee Mable—loving mother to Anil and Suha and beloved wife to P.D. Anandaraju. And it was a glorious one. Despite Mum's illness, we had a happy day filled with love, laughter, music and joy. I did my best to cook the Indian feast she always prepared for us every holiday season. It was my turn to step up and luckily, she had taught me everything I needed to know well in advance. In fact, she'd been preparing me my whole life. The tree was radiant and overflowing with gifts. The first photograph above is from our last Christmas Eve together and is unintentionally apt. Like the angel on the tree with the radiant lights—Mum was our Christmas Angel, always shining bright. She was the heart and soul of our family. The second photograph is from Christmas 1979 . I remember vividly, Mum asking my brother and I to wait for her to at least get out of be...

Susee Mable age 6 (Flaiz Memorial Adventist School circa 1947) © Anandaraju Family Archives Ever since I was a kid, I have longed for a photograph of my beloved mother as a little girl. To have just one glimpse of her in childhood would have made my life. Of course, we had wonderful and iconic photographs of my mother during her teens and twenties but never one from her girlhood. Amid my desperate pleas, Mum would often lovingly console me: "Not everyone had cameras back then, Amma. That's just how those days were." Flash forward to October 2016: an inconspicuous visit by a family member living in the U.S. to an old friend paved the way for my lifelong dream to come true. My relative stumbled upon an old black and white school photo circa 1947 at the home of his friend. As school photos go, it was standard fare with rows of neatly groomed teachers and students in classic school day poses. As my uncle searched for familiar faces, the sweet-faced little girl...

Mum age 16, at the Godavari Bridge (1957) "Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal." —Old Irish proverb Posted by: Suhasini © Anandaraju Family Archives

Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada 1976 Posted by: Suhasini

Posted by: Suhasini

Susee, Raju and Ramana Rao Hyderabad, 1973 Posted by: Suhasini

Lutheran Transfiguration Church, Bhimavaram August 2, 1971 See more photographs here . Posted by Suhasini

Mum's Jasmine plant blooms abundantly, as ever. Sixty-four years ago today my mother's beloved elder brother Victor passed away after a fall from a tree, just three months shy of his twentieth birthday. It was a tragedy that marked my mother's life in so many ways. It was the first time she had encountered a profound loss in her life. As a young child, she had to grapple with the harshness of the loss and the impact it had on her family. Her elder brother was a shining light of love and kindness. He was a protector, a comedian and a proud son. His presence filled up a room. Victor's passing created an immense and irreplaceable void. My grandparents Pastor M. Benjamin and Victoriamma bravely carried on but their hearts never recovered from the loss of their precious son—their firstborn. In 2009, my mother lovingly recounted some of her earliest recollections of her charming and enigmatic older brother. It brings my family a measure of comfort to know that our...

Mum in 2014 My mother relished her morning papers. Even when her vision was failing, she'd still give it her all to peruse through each and every section with her magnifying lens. She was a news and politics junkie and a puzzle enthusiast ( Word Searches and Jumbles , if you please). She enjoyed reading our horoscopes to us out loud (and chuckling over them too). Even as a child, Mum would gravitate towards any of the dailies on hand and cut out clippings of poetry or of inspiring special interest stories and paste them into her scrapbook. She had an honest and open curiosity about people and the world around her and a thirst for knowledge and enlightenment. Coupled with her compassion and playful sense of humour, she was such a delight to be around. I miss my darling Mama. Posted By Suhasini

Thousand Islands Gananoque, Ontario 1977 Posted By Suhasini