Obituary of Mr. Dayananda Hettiarachchi
Daya was born in 1929 in Ratnapura, Sri Lanka. He lived a life full of achievement. Daya was proud to be one of the few from his village to attend college and was accepted into the Diyatalawa Institute of Surveying and Mapping. As a surveyor in Sri Lanka Daya lead expeditions through jungles far from civilization, bringing home many thrilling stories to his wife Sriya, and three children Dee, Sue, and Lance.
In 1974 Daya moved his family from Sri Lanka to Canada, settling in Scarborough, Ontario. In Canada Daya became a key member of the Singhalese community . Daya was a founding member of Sri Lanka United National Association, known as SLUNA, and a proud advocate for a peaceful united Sri Lanka. Daya was also an active member of the Scarborough Mahavira Buddhist Temple. His contributions to the temple include involvement in selecting the site for the Scarborough temple and involvement in building the current temple as the community grew.
For Daya’s many achievements to his community he was presented an award for service by the governor general of Canada.
Along with being an active community member Daya was also an involved, loving grandfather to his eight grandchildren. Sharing with them his many experiences, stories, and wisdom, supporting them in all their academic, creative, athletic, musical, artistic, cultural, and adventurous endeavours.
Daya passed on April 19th, 2022 peacefully surrounded by his family in the comfort of pirith.
In lieu of flowers donations to the Lakeridge Health Foundation (Kidney and Diabetes), Toronto Mahavihara Temple, or the Buddha Meditation Centre GTA .
Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Dayananda
Hettiarachchi 2022..
Death notice for the town of: SCARBOROUGH, Province: Ontario