Padmaja Navaneethakrishnan

To all family, friends, acquaintances, and anyone else she may have touched-

Padmaja Navaneethakrishnan passed away early Saturday morning, June 6th 2020, in Dallas, TX.

Padmaja was a vibrant, loving woman born in Chennai, India on May 14th, 1966 to Ramachandran and Damayanthi Vangal. She was the youngest of 4 children and beloved by all. She loved life and was always kind to all those she came in contact with. Anyone who knew her, for even the briefest of times, recalled her as loving, bold, determined, honest, and always smiling. She was never afraid to speak her mind and was always thinking of ways to help other people.

Padmaja grew up in India with her siblings and was always surrounded by lots of family. Her guiding principle was always that family is the most important thing and she lived by that everyday.

She graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Commerce from Meenakshi College in 1988. She married Navaneeth Rengasamy on March 2nd 1988 and had 2 children with him, Kiran and Jyothi. She moved to the United States with her family in June of 1999.

She was brave and faced every challenge head on. She always took every opportunity to better herself and all those around her. Her life was not free of hardship, but no one that met her would ever be able to tell. She didn't let anything stop her from pursuing her goals and she fought valiantly to ensure nothing got in the way of her children’s or husbands goals either. She was at her happiest when she was with all the people she loved most, and when she was eating ice cream. Although she only had 2 children of her own, she raised several of her nieces and nephews as if they were her own children. She treated everyone like family and will be remembered fondly by all those who knew her.

While her life ended way too soon, she lived every moment of her 54 years. She didn’t believe in regrets and was the first to say “If you think positive thoughts, positive things will happen. There’s no point in sitting around complaining.” She definitely practiced what she preached and was always optimistic and always smiling. In the past few years alone, she was able to travel to a lot of her favorite places, see both her daughters get engaged and graduate from college, celebrate 33 years of marriage, and spend treasured time with her father. She was an incredibly positive force in all of our lives and took on every challenge life presented with a smile on her face. It's near impossible to find a picture of her without a big smile. Although her energy is irreplaceable, she left behind an army of people who she taught to be warriors, and they will all carry on her legacy forever.

Thank you to everyone who knew and loved her for all your love and support.

In lieu of sending flowers, we ask that you make a donation in her memory to the Sivananda Gurukulam Ashram. Padmaja had a heart of gold and would want to be able to help more people in any way possible. To donate, please follow this link: http://buildhope.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=147&Itemid=286