VANCOUVER -Former Supreme Court justice Wallace Taru “Wally” Oppal’s mother Gurdial Kaur Oppal passed away at the age of 104 Wednesday morning.
Gurdial Kaur Oppal arrived in Canada from India in 1934. For 28 years, she lived in Duncan, B.C., before moving to New Westminster, where she’s lived since 1999.
“I’ve experienced many hardships in the years I’ve been here. When one has a husband, those hardships are less difficult to deal with. I was married in 1932, before I was 20 years old, and widowed in 1948. My oldest son was 10 years old when my husband died, my youngest son was seven. I didn’t have a cent when my husband died but I never bothered the government for money. I didn’t take welfare and there was no such thing as a widow’s pension. I couldn’t read or write,” she told Mehfil magazine many years ago.