Avdhesh K. Mathur

Avdhesh Kumar Mathur1934-2022 Avdhesh Kumar Mathur passed away on November 6th, 2022. His last moments were spent peacefully at his son Atul's home in Vancouver, Washington, USA. The memorial service and cremation will take place on Thursday, November 10th at 12:30PM PST at Evergreen Memorial Gardens 1101 NE 112th Ave, Vancouver, WA 98684. The family prefers donations to Asha for Education (ashanet.org) in lieu of flowers as tribute to Avdhesh. Born in Jalaun, India in 1934 in pre-independence India, Avdhesh spent his childhood in Lucknow. His initial education was in Urdu medium and then for a while in Hindi medium. He went for his high school and Intermediate to Queen's college in Lucknow and then attended Lucknow university for his college education. He got three gold medals for topping his BSc class. He was then admitted at University of Roorkee as the 'senior' as he topped its entrance examination. He graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Civil Engineering in 1957. His engineering education at Roorkee was entirely funded by his brother Late Col. Raghuvansh Kumar Mathur, for which he was always deeply grateful. In 1957 he got his first job as an Assistant engineer at the Uttar Pradesh state's Public Works Department (PWD). Thus began an illustrious career in civil engineering at PWD which eventually spanned 35 years and all across Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal. A committed engineer and honest officer, he constructed many roads, buildings and bridges. He got married to Late Mrs. Neena Mathur of Agra in 1959. He also took care of his parents (Late Babuji Gurudeo Prasad and Baua Kiran Rani Mathur) and his sisters (Late Smt. Rekha Mathur, and Smt. Anjana Mathur). He first served in Allahabad, Meerut, Roorkee, Haridwar and Sultanpur. He was then transferred to Kanpur as an Assistant Engineer. There he also served on deputation at HBTI Kanpur. He was promoted and served in Pratapgarh as an executive engineer. He served at UP Textile corporation as a Project engineer and built a textile factory in Meerut. He was then transferred to Kanpur and then to the PWD headquarters in Lucknow. In Lucknow, he served with distinction as assistant to the Chief engineer. At that time, he advocated for the rights of the class III and class IV workers tirelessly. So much so that he was sometimes confused for a union leader. He was then promoted as Superintending Engineer and served in Faizabad. He then served on deputation at UP construction corporation in Dehradun, and was instrumental in construction of many notable buildings all across Uttarakhand. He then was posted as Chief Engineer (R&D) in Lucknow from where he retired honorably. After retirement, he settled in Lucknow and built a house in Rajajipuram. He and his wife visited many cities and states in India during winter each year, seeking warmer climes. He also visited the USA to visit his sons in California and Oregon. Even then, he was fond of spending time in Milpitas and Sunnyvale. After his wife passed away in 2012, Avdhesh became a permanent resident of the USA. For the last ten years, Avdhesh was a very active member of ICC Senior Center in Cupertino and Anandvan in Saratoga. He had an insatiable urge to learn something new and share that with ICC and Anandvan members, among others. He was an engineer but he dwelled into many diverse topics covering spirituality, technology, and culture. His earnest desire to learn new subjects and share that knowledge with others always inspired everyone. Other members always wondered how he found the energy and time to devote hours and hours needed to find information, study, interpret and then present in a simple way to other members. He indeed used to take great pains to study the topic thoroughly. At ICC, he participated in FOSWL(Friends of Same Wavelength) and Colloquium several times and each time presented a new topic. He is survived by his son Anup and daughter-in-law Bhavna, son Atul and daughter-in-law Kanchan, son Alok and daughter-in-law Rachana, and daughter Ismita and son-in-law Umesh, his eight lovely grandchildren, two even lovelier grand-daughters-in-law and one superbly cute great-grandchild.

Avdhesh K. Mathur

September 22, 1934 - November 6, 2022