Opportunity for a better life drew them to America, and the need to give thanks for that blessing brought them to the Sikh temple where they died.
A mother, a joke-telling Sikh priest, a retired farmer, the temple president and two brothers were among those killed by a loan American gunman with white supremacist beliefs.
As friends and loved ones failed to make sense of the senseless deaths, they said they’ll never forget the achievements and sacrifices each victim made in life.
Satwant Singh Kaleka, 62, was the president of the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, who was shot to death as he tried to tackle the gun-slinging killer.
“He was going to protect that house, his people for anything,” said his nephew Kanwardeep Singh Kaleka.
Amardeep Kaleka said his father immigrated to the United States from India in 1982 with just $100 in his pocket.
Calling his father’s life the “quintessential American dream,” he said his dad started out working at a gas station, putting in 18-hour shifts.
He said his dad had previously been the victim of violence. While working at his gas station job, he was once beaten and robbed by attackers who jumped him when he went to take out the garbage.
He helped found the Sikh temple in 1997, becoming the lead investor in the building’s construction.
“That was his baby,” Amardeep Kaleka told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel of his father’s passion for the temple and its members. “If someone says a light bulb is out at 2 a.m. He was there at 2:15 replacing the light bulb.”
Prakash Singh, 39, was a Sikh priest who moved to the United States from India nine years ago. He had just gotten his green card and brought his wife and three chilren from India to join him two months ago.
Inderjeet Dhillon, secretary at the temple, said Prakash Singh was so happy and relieved when he finally brought his family to the temple.
“I said, ‘Who are these kids? He said, ‘Mr. Dhillon, these are my kids,” Dhillon told the Daily News. “He said, ‘Thank God my family is here. I’m so glad my family is here.’”
A friend, Navdeep Gill, said Singh loved telling jokes and used his humor to in his ministry.
Paramjit Kaur, 41, the only woman to die in the massacre, was a loving mother and wife.
Shauna Singh Baldwin said she tried to console Kaur’s husband Sunday, when he learned his wife, who also hails from India, was dead.
