SPRINGHILL, N.S. – Kumar Uberoi name lives on at the Springhill Centennial Golf Club.
“I said that I’d like to dedicate a sign or maybe name a golf hole after him, and we came up with the idea of Kumar’s Corner,” Valerie Alderson said.
Uberoi passed away Nov. 13, 2018.
A sign with his photo was recently erected at the No. 3 hole to commemorate his many contributions to the club.
“He played golf until last August and the picture I put on the sign is a picture that was taken on the last day he played golf,” Alderson said. “My husband John and I were down at the golf course and Kumar was standing on the steps of the golf course and John said, ‘just hold it there Kumar until I get your picture.’”
“His wife Laura said, ‘that’s one of the few pictures where Kumar is smiling,’” she added.
Uberoi hosted the annual Gary Tabor Indian Open fundraiser, where he cooked Indian food for the tournament.
“My brother Gary was a big fan of the Indian Open and when he passed away in 1990 Kumar dedicated the golf tournament to my brother. He called it the Gary Tabor Indian Open.”
Tabor also coached Uberoi’s two boys in hockey.
“Kumar really thought highly of my brother,” Alderson said.
Uberoi was born in Dinga, India, in 1931, and arrived in Nova Scotia in 1960.
“He saw an ad for a teaching job in the London Times newspaper in India where he was teaching. He wrote a handwritten letter and got the job,” Alderson said. “He arrived in Halifax and stayed in the YMCA for the weekend until the person who was responsible to pick him up took him down to Caledonia, which I believe was the first place he taught.”
Soon after, Uberoi attended the University of Maine, where he met Laura, his wife of 54 years, and earned a Master of Education and a Certificate of Advanced Study.
“He came to Springhill in 64 or 65, and taught at the Community College,” Alderson said. “He was a guidance counsellor for years. That’s where he retired from in 1991.”
Oberoi also volunteered in many capacities over the years, including at the Amherst Curling Club.
“He was a member of the curling club in Amherst. He used to do Indian Days there and cooked and fundraised for them,” Alderson said. “When we had a celebration of his life on May 31 at the golf course there were quite a few members from the Amherst Curling Club who showed up and talked about him.
“He was a good volunteer,” she added. “He was known for his works in that way.”
The Gary Tabor Indian Open continues as an annual tradition at the Springhill Centennial Golf Club on the first Saturday of August.
