Usha Chilukuri Vance, wife of Donald Trump’s vice-presidential pick JD Vance, hails from a distinguished family of academics in Visakhapatnam, according to her relatives.
Her parents, Chilukuri Radhakrishna and Lakshmi, moved to the US in 1980. Radhakrishna, the youngest son of C Rama Sastry, continues the family tradition of academic excellence.
Sastry’s younger brother, Dr. Chilukuri Subramanya Sastry, who passed away in June 2009, retired as a professor in the Telugu Department at Andhra University (AU). He was a gold medallist in BA (Telugu) and served as the chief of the RSS unit in Andhra Pradesh.
Dr. Sastry's wife, Prof. (retired) Chilukuri Shantamma, 96, resides in Abid Nagar and continues to teach.
Speaking to The Indian Express, she said, “I have never met Usha but I know all about her. I always knew she would excel academically and in any profession she chose. Excellence runs in our family. Her great-grandfather, her grandfather, and her father were all top scholars. She follows in their footsteps.”
“I learned several years ago that she was married to a well-known political leader in the US. It is no surprise that she is a super achiever. Our entire family excels in academics. I am 96 but still travel 140 kilometers round trip to teach physics, my favorite subject, because teaching is my passion. My husband was a topper in Telugu at Andhra University and later became the chief of the RSS unit in Andhra Pradesh. He believed that education could break social and economic barriers and dedicated his life to promoting education for all,” she added.
“I wish to convey to Usha to continue supporting her husband as she has been doing, uphold Hindu values, support Hindus in the US, and help them if they encounter any problems practicing their religion,” she said.
Kandala Srinivas Rao, a veteran advocate and close associate of Dr. Chilukuri, also told The Indian Express that the family is full of academic achievers.
Courtesy: Indian Express
