Usha’s family roots traced in Vizag

Visakhapatnam : It is a proud moment for the family member of Usha Chilukuri Vance, wife of Donald Trump’s vice president pick JD Vance, residing in Visakhapatnam.

Even as her parents Chilukuri Radhakrishna and Lakshmi migrated to the US long ago from Krishna district, Usha’s grandfather’s brother’s wife Chilukuri Shantamma resides at Abid Nagar, Akkayyapalem in Visakhapatnam.

At 96, Prof Shantamma (Retd), wife of late Chilukuri Subrahmanya Sastry, a retired professor in Telugu Department at Andhra University and a gold medallist in BA (Telugu), imparts physics lessons to students at Centurion University as professor emeritus.

Sharing her moments of joy, the AU retired professor said, “Although I did not meet Usha, I am aware of her commitment and academic excellence which runs in the family. Her great grandfather, her grandfather and father excelled in academics. Apparently, she followed suit.”

Conveying her wishes to Usha, Shantamma says, “If she could come this far in the US, she could scale great heights in future as well. I wish Usha and her husband a great future and hope she upholds Hindu values and traditions in the US.”

Travelling about 140-km to Vizianagaram, Shantamma never gets tired of teaching. She says that she got an opportunity to teach Physics in Centurion University through Prof G S N Raju, who is the present Chancellor of the varsity and once a student of Shantamma.

Former US President and Republican presidential pick Donald Trump selected JD Vance as his running mate for the ensuing presidential elections. Vance’s wife Usha Chilukuri is a lawyer by profession and she was raised in San Diego suburb.