A longtime Clearwater resident and local cultural figure died this month after living through a century and leaving behind a legacy that came to a close shortly after.
Sowaran Sing Heer, who family members say was loved by all who knew him, passed away Sept. 11 and had his funeral service last weekend in Delta, B.C.
“My dad will be remembered as being devoted to the Sikh community—he helped set up the gurdwara because he said we should have a Sikh temple,” said Narinder Heer, Sowaran Heer’s son.
“We’re really going to miss him, there’s no question about it, but there’s also no question he had a good life. Very good.”
The elder Heer was born Feb. 23, 1918 in Pur Hoshiapur, India and left behind seven children, 24 grandchildren, 38 great grandchildren and one great, great grandchild.
Narinder said his father spent the first half of his life working in the fields of India where he harvested corn, wheat and anything else that would grow from the ground, plowing with oxen as early as 4 a.m. before the day became too hot.
Then in 1966 Heer moved to Avola, B.C. where he switched from farmer to sawmill worker, eventually landing in Vavenby where he stayed more than a decade.
“He worked hard his whole life; he didn’t know a word of English, but (the mills) needed labour so badly they didn’t care if he could speak English or not,” Narinder said.
“It was a (culture) shock, but he was a hard worker; we have all these electronics now, but it wasn’t like that back then, it was a lot of heavy labour—pulling lumber, stacking it up, loading the lumber cars and shipping it.”
The culture shock eventually subsided and Heer would come to love the area, Narinder added, enjoying activities like visiting Sun Peaks Resort with his family, where Heer would become somewhat of a guest of honour.
He had a personal walker at the resort and other various amenities laid away for his twice-yearly arrival.
“The staff were so good with him,” Narinder said.
“’Oh, grandpa’s here.’ They’d send him his special walker and his different quilts they had set aside for him when he’d go there. They got pretty attached to him after they’d see him walking around.”
The community of Clearwater was no different in terms of respect for Heer, with residents walking out to the road to greet him on his frequent walks to the gurdwara and back, sometimes giving him gifts as a token of appreciation.
Narinder noted some would watch him walk past everyday, an activity that would continue until Heer was 94 years-old, and would wait for him just to shake his hand.
“One of them living on Clearwater Village Rd. saw him walking everyday, so they made him a special cane—he kept it until he passed away,” Narinder said, adding much of it was likely due to his father’s amiable nature.
“He was pretty friendly, he never held a grudge against anybody else and never had a hard feeling.”
As Narinder mentioned, his father also had a big hand in opening the local gurdwara back in the early 1980s when there were more Sikh families in the area who needed a place to gather and worship.
Heer and his good friend, fellow local Sikh, Sawarn Kailley, would walk five km to the temple everyday, whether it was blazing hot or freezing cold, which Narinder credits for some of his father’s life’s longevity.
“He missed the temple when he was in the hospital,” Narinder added.
“When he heard we were closing he was just shaking his head, but then again he knew it was going to come to an end because there’s hardly anybody left.”
The temple closed on Sept. 15—only days after Heer’s passing—due to lack of membership, mainly because the younger generations largely decided to start lives in different communities.
Another secret to Heer’s long life, aside from regular daily exercise, may have been his diet, said Narinder.
“He wanted his sugar, didn’t matter if it was coffee or tea, it was just like a syrup; he wanted four or five teaspoonfuls. The nurses would laugh at him because he’d turn it away if there wasn’t enough sugar in it,” said Narinder, smiling at the humorous memory.
“That’s his secret.”
The final step after Heer’s funeral service in Delta is to take his ashes back to India and spread them in a special river where many Sikh’s go for this purpose, which the Heer family plans to do on Oct. 2.
Heer told his son spreading his ashes in the forested area behind the old temple where he spent much of his time would also do, but Narinder plans to make the trip to the river in India where his mother also rests.
“Again, there’s no question he had a good life, but all the kids and grandkids are going to miss him,” said Narinder.
“He’s gone and his temple closed behind him.”