Born in Selangor, Malaysia of Sri Lankan Tamil parents, Rani first expressed a lifelong independent streak at the age of 18, when she set out to England, with no money in her pocket and in defiance of the will of her parents, to realize her lifelong dream of becoming a nurse. After completing her nursing training in Surrey followed by midwifery training in Cardiff, Wales, she returned to Malaysia, where she joined the staff of the coronary intensive care unit of University Hospital, Kuala Lumpur. Finding herself unable to re-adjust to life in Malaysia, Rani returned to the United Kingdom but was soon recruited by the Johns Hopkins hospital system in Baltimore, USA. After moving to the Johns Hopkins Hospital from the Hopkins-affiliated Baltimore City Hospital, her nursing skills soon became apparent, and she was appointed as head nurse of the Coronary Step-down Unit.
Early in her stay in Baltimore, she met her future husband William, and they began a romance which lasted for 31 years, until the moment of her death in Malawi. When William completed his residency training, he was invited to head a rural health project in an isolated region on the Bay of Bengal in Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, Rani had to cope for two years with no electricity, no telephone, and a twelve-hour road trip with three ferry crossings to reach 'civilization' in Dhaka. Despite these inconveniences, she set up a comfortable household, which became legendary among the young smallpox workers traversing Bangladesh during the final historic eradication of smallpox from Bangladesh, most of whom had not seen a Hershey's chocolate bar, slept in a clean bed, or been served pancakes with maple syrup for a year or more.
Rani's love for the people of Sylva, North Carolina became a constant in her life after she moved there in 1977 with her husband and infant daughter. It was in this place that she could follow the two passions of her life: the raising of her children and nursing. Child care was never a problem. She could always call on Edith and Ed Welch of Kitchen's Branch, Grace and Gene Mitchell or Medford and Hattie Dietz of Mitchell Road, or Rosie and George Reeser of Fairview Road. In all of these households, the children were as loved and protected as in their own home.
When William joined the World Health Organization after 16 years in Sylva, Rani's life changed dramatically. She began a career with the U.S. State Department as a medical unit nurse in Nigeria, Bangladesh, and Malawi. By this time, Vimala and Rajen were in boarding schools in India, and Ravi continued his studies in French schools in Nigeria and Bangladesh.
At the time of her death, Rani was at the peak of her professional and personal happiness. Her children were thriving. She had a wide circle of friends, expatriate and local, in Malawi, with dinner parties every weekend for local friends as well as William's visitors from all over the world. Her nursing duties had expanded to include back-up for the medical units of the British High Commission and the U.S. Peace Corps. In the short nine months of her stay in Malawi, she had increased by hundreds those who mourn her passing.
Rani is survived by her mother and five brothers and sisters, her husband William, and her children Vimala, Rajendra and Ravindra. William continues as World Health Representative to Malawi. After completing her studies at Columbia and Johns Hopkins, Vimala is based in Bangkok but travels frequently to Cambodia and Vietnam, where she is responsible for setting up small-scale business enterprises. Rajen, a graduate of Williams College in Massachusetts, is Program Officer, Chemical and Biological Weapons Control at the Federation of American Scientists in Washington, DC. Ravi continues his high school studies at Northfield Mount Hermon School in Northfield, Massachusetts. Rani's brother Indi is well known to many in Sylva, where he completed his training in radiography at Southwestern Technical College and C.J. Harris Community Hospital.
Early in her stay in Baltimore, she met her future husband William, and they began a romance which lasted for 31 years, until the moment of her death in Malawi. When William completed his residency training, he was invited to head a rural health project in an isolated region on the Bay of Bengal in Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, Rani had to cope for two years with no electricity, no telephone, and a twelve-hour road trip with three ferry crossings to reach 'civilization' in Dhaka. Despite these inconveniences, she set up a comfortable household, which became legendary among the young smallpox workers traversing Bangladesh during the final historic eradication of smallpox from Bangladesh, most of whom had not seen a Hershey's chocolate bar, slept in a clean bed, or been served pancakes with maple syrup for a year or more.
Rani's love for the people of Sylva, North Carolina became a constant in her life after she moved there in 1977 with her husband and infant daughter. It was in this place that she could follow the two passions of her life: the raising of her children and nursing. Child care was never a problem. She could always call on Edith and Ed Welch of Kitchen's Branch, Grace and Gene Mitchell or Medford and Hattie Dietz of Mitchell Road, or Rosie and George Reeser of Fairview Road. In all of these households, the children were as loved and protected as in their own home.
When William joined the World Health Organization after 16 years in Sylva, Rani's life changed dramatically. She began a career with the U.S. State Department as a medical unit nurse in Nigeria, Bangladesh, and Malawi. By this time, Vimala and Rajen were in boarding schools in India, and Ravi continued his studies in French schools in Nigeria and Bangladesh.
At the time of her death, Rani was at the peak of her professional and personal happiness. Her children were thriving. She had a wide circle of friends, expatriate and local, in Malawi, with dinner parties every weekend for local friends as well as William's visitors from all over the world. Her nursing duties had expanded to include back-up for the medical units of the British High Commission and the U.S. Peace Corps. In the short nine months of her stay in Malawi, she had increased by hundreds those who mourn her passing.
Rani is survived by her mother and five brothers and sisters, her husband William, and her children Vimala, Rajendra and Ravindra. William continues as World Health Representative to Malawi. After completing her studies at Columbia and Johns Hopkins, Vimala is based in Bangkok but travels frequently to Cambodia and Vietnam, where she is responsible for setting up small-scale business enterprises. Rajen, a graduate of Williams College in Massachusetts, is Program Officer, Chemical and Biological Weapons Control at the Federation of American Scientists in Washington, DC. Ravi continues his high school studies at Northfield Mount Hermon School in Northfield, Massachusetts. Rani's brother Indi is well known to many in Sylva, where he completed his training in radiography at Southwestern Technical College and C.J. Harris Community Hospital.
Born in Selangor, Malaysia of Sri Lankan Tamil parents, Rani first expressed a lifelong independent streak at the age of 18, when she set out to England, with no money in her pocket and in defiance of the will of her parents, to realize her lifelong dream of becoming a nurse. After completing her nursing training in Surrey followed by midwifery training in Cardiff, Wales, she returned to Malaysia, where she joined the staff of the coronary intensive care unit of University Hospital, Kuala Lumpur. Finding herself unable to re-adjust to life in Malaysia, Rani returned to the United Kingdom but was soon recruited by the Johns Hopkins hospital system in Baltimore, USA. After moving to the Johns Hopkins Hospital from the Hopkins-affiliated Baltimore City Hospital, her nursing skills soon became apparent, and she was appointed as head nurse of the Coronary Step-down Unit.
Early in her stay in Baltimore, she met her future husband William, and they began a romance which lasted for 31 years, until the moment of her death in Malawi. When William completed his residency training, he was invited to head a rural health project in an isolated region on the Bay of Bengal in Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, Rani had to cope for two years with no electricity, no telephone, and a twelve-hour road trip with three ferry crossings to reach 'civilization' in Dhaka. Despite these inconveniences, she set up a comfortable household, which became legendary among the young smallpox workers traversing Bangladesh during the final historic eradication of smallpox from Bangladesh, most of whom had not seen a Hershey's chocolate bar, slept in a clean bed, or been served pancakes with maple syrup for a year or more.
Rani's love for the people of Sylva, North Carolina became a constant in her life after she moved there in 1977 with her husband and infant daughter. It was in this place that she could follow the two passions of her life: the raising of her children and nursing. Child care was never a problem. She could always call on Edith and Ed Welch of Kitchen's Branch, Grace and Gene Mitchell or Medford and Hattie Dietz of Mitchell Road, or Rosie and George Reeser of Fairview Road. In all of these households, the children were as loved and protected as in their own home.
When William joined the World Health Organization after 16 years in Sylva, Rani's life changed dramatically. She began a career with the U.S. State Department as a medical unit nurse in Nigeria, Bangladesh, and Malawi. By this time, Vimala and Rajen were in boarding schools in India, and Ravi continued his studies in French schools in Nigeria and Bangladesh.
At the time of her death, Rani was at the peak of her professional and personal happiness. Her children were thriving. She had a wide circle of friends, expatriate and local, in Malawi, with dinner parties every weekend for local friends as well as William's visitors from all over the world. Her nursing duties had expanded to include back-up for the medical units of the British High Commission and the U.S. Peace Corps. In the short nine months of her stay in Malawi, she had increased by hundreds those who mourn her passing.
Rani is survived by her mother and five brothers and sisters, her husband William, and her children Vimala, Rajendra and Ravindra. William continues as World Health Representative to Malawi. After completing her studies at Columbia and Johns Hopkins, Vimala is based in Bangkok but travels frequently to Cambodia and Vietnam, where she is responsible for setting up small-scale business enterprises. Rajen, a graduate of Williams College in Massachusetts, is Program Officer, Chemical and Biological Weapons Control at the Federation of American Scientists in Washington, DC. Ravi continues his high school studies at Northfield Mount Hermon School in Northfield, Massachusetts. Rani's brother Indi is well known to many in Sylva, where he completed his training in radiography at Southwestern Technical College and C.J. Harris Community Hospital.
Early in her stay in Baltimore, she met her future husband William, and they began a romance which lasted for 31 years, until the moment of her death in Malawi. When William completed his residency training, he was invited to head a rural health project in an isolated region on the Bay of Bengal in Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, Rani had to cope for two years with no electricity, no telephone, and a twelve-hour road trip with three ferry crossings to reach 'civilization' in Dhaka. Despite these inconveniences, she set up a comfortable household, which became legendary among the young smallpox workers traversing Bangladesh during the final historic eradication of smallpox from Bangladesh, most of whom had not seen a Hershey's chocolate bar, slept in a clean bed, or been served pancakes with maple syrup for a year or more.
Rani's love for the people of Sylva, North Carolina became a constant in her life after she moved there in 1977 with her husband and infant daughter. It was in this place that she could follow the two passions of her life: the raising of her children and nursing. Child care was never a problem. She could always call on Edith and Ed Welch of Kitchen's Branch, Grace and Gene Mitchell or Medford and Hattie Dietz of Mitchell Road, or Rosie and George Reeser of Fairview Road. In all of these households, the children were as loved and protected as in their own home.
When William joined the World Health Organization after 16 years in Sylva, Rani's life changed dramatically. She began a career with the U.S. State Department as a medical unit nurse in Nigeria, Bangladesh, and Malawi. By this time, Vimala and Rajen were in boarding schools in India, and Ravi continued his studies in French schools in Nigeria and Bangladesh.
At the time of her death, Rani was at the peak of her professional and personal happiness. Her children were thriving. She had a wide circle of friends, expatriate and local, in Malawi, with dinner parties every weekend for local friends as well as William's visitors from all over the world. Her nursing duties had expanded to include back-up for the medical units of the British High Commission and the U.S. Peace Corps. In the short nine months of her stay in Malawi, she had increased by hundreds those who mourn her passing.
Rani is survived by her mother and five brothers and sisters, her husband William, and her children Vimala, Rajendra and Ravindra. William continues as World Health Representative to Malawi. After completing her studies at Columbia and Johns Hopkins, Vimala is based in Bangkok but travels frequently to Cambodia and Vietnam, where she is responsible for setting up small-scale business enterprises. Rajen, a graduate of Williams College in Massachusetts, is Program Officer, Chemical and Biological Weapons Control at the Federation of American Scientists in Washington, DC. Ravi continues his high school studies at Northfield Mount Hermon School in Northfield, Massachusetts. Rani's brother Indi is well known to many in Sylva, where he completed his training in radiography at Southwestern Technical College and C.J. Harris Community Hospital.
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