Kokilam Subbiah, 85, made her transition to the Glorious world of Heaven on Sunday, February 13, 2011. Services and visitation will be 9 to 11 am Thursday, February 17 at Bellmead Funeral Home Born in India, she came to the United State of America in 1968 as a
professor at the University of Chicago; in the Dravidian section of the University, teaching Tamil language and literature to graduate students. While working she went to school and got her Bachelors Degree in Fine Arts in 1975. It was art that invited Koki am to enter its portals which led to her Masters Degree in Fine Arts in 1979 from the Art Institute of Chicago at the age of 54. She later taught at the Art Institute until 1979. She was pursing her PhD until
three years ago when Rheumatoid Arthritis took her abilities to complete her studies. She was a politician and worked with her late husband Mr. S.M. Subbiah, a Member of Parliament of Sri Lanka at the Ceylon Workers Congress. She was an Author, Writer and an Award Winning Artist and Photographer. Her photographs, etchings and lithographs have a stunning impact on the viewers. Her book a vibrant novel "Thoorathu Pacchai" portrays the anger and angst of the indentured laborers in the tea plantations of Sri Lanka. A profile of the novelist who expresses her concerns through art and literature.This book was published in 1965 and was well received by the public both in Sri Lanka and India. She was asked to translate the book in English "Mirage" which was published in 2006. Apart from translating Tamil poetry into English, she has also written poems and won the Editor's Choice Award for Outstanding Achievement in Poetry instituted by the International Library of Poetry.She was involved
with numerous charitable work with the under privileged in India. She moved to Waco in 1995 and lived at Booth Garden Apartment for past ten years. She was a great influence to the Residents and was loved by everyone. She was a hard worker and an accomplished scholar. She was preceded in death by her husband S.M. Subbiah; and brothers, Shanmugam, Mahadevan and Amirthalingam. Survivors include four children, Durga Ranjini Padmanabhan (Paddy), Jeykarthigesan (Mauha), Sankaralakshmi Subbiah, and Gajendrakumar Subbiah (Uma), Grandchildren, Ari Padmanabhan (Hope), Harsha Padmanabhan (Sylvia) and Chander Padmanabhan (Vanessa), Anamika Subbiah, Kishan Subbiah, Ankur Vasavada, Kartika Vasavada, and Naren Kumar Subbiah and great grandchien, Asha, Adrianna, Kiran, Mario,
Christina, Sonia and number of Nephews and Nieces in India, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.