RANCHO MURIETA, CA (MPG) - Gyan Singh, who served in the Rancho Murieta Association maintenance department for 50 years before retiring in 2023, was memorialized by General Manager Rod Hart at the RMA board meeting on Nov. 18.

Singh, who died Nov. 13 at age 76, “was the biggest asset RMA ever had,” Hart said.

“For the last 10 years, most people knew him as the guy in the street sweeper, and before that the guy on the mowers,” Hart said. “But truly, Gyan touched every single thing there is here at Rancho Murieta.”

One of Singh’s most extraordinary contributions was his knowledge of the community. When Singh began working for RMA in 1974, Murieta Parkway ended at Alameda Drive, Laguna Joaquin was still being excavated, all the roads in the back country were dirt, and only about a dozen homes dotted the landscape.

Hart explained that early construction practices under Operating Engineers Local 3 (OE3) left the community without reliable maps of the underground installations.

“Back when this place was first built, as-builts were unheard of,” Hart said. “OE3 basically built the infrastructure: They built it, and you get whatever you get. Sometimes you have plans. Sometimes you don’t.”

Because pipes and valves were laid before many streets, lawns and drainage basins were fully formed, crucial components ended up buried under grass, soil, landscaping or even later improvements. That made troubleshooting extremely difficult for later generations of maintenance staff, except for Singh.

“We’d have a main line break somewhere,” Hart said, “and Gyan would just walk out in the middle of the lawn. You couldn’t see any valve boxes. But he’d take his probe and say, ‘There should be another valve about right here,’ and tap the ground, and it would be there every single time.”

Hart said the accuracy of Singh’s memory “sounds like an exaggeration,” but it never failed.

Singh was born in Fiji, later lived and worked in Maui, and came to California at the invitation of his uncle, Henry Singh, the original golf course superintendent at Rancho Murieta Country Club, Hart said.

Henry Singh visited Maui on vacation, met up with his nephew and encouraged him to relocate. Singh soon moved to Rancho Murieta in 1972, splitting time between Murieta Village and the golf course before joining the association full-time on Sept. 16, 1974.

Singh helped to maintain the irrigation that supplied the parks and townhomes, and he eventually served as one of the association’s lead electricians. As maintenance crews turned over across generations, Singh became the institutional memory that otherwise would have been lost.

Current Maintenance Supervisor Troy Schaffner said Singh was a mentor to “just about everybody” who passed through the department.

“He could remember something from 40 years ago like it was yesterday,” Schaffner said. “He was really sharp. He kept the crew together.”

Schaffner noted that the association has always had long-term employees, but Singh was unique: there from the beginning, with knowledge that cannot be replaced. “It’s something that will never be repeated.”

Beyond technical skill, Singh was known for kindness and attentiveness. Hart said Singh could sense when a coworker was having a hard day.

“He’d talk to you, and by the time you were done, you were a lot chipper than you otherwise would have been,” Hart said.

Singh was proud of his children and grandchildren, but he also wanted to hear about others’ families. He arrived at work early – often an hour and a half before his shift – and remained the steady center of the maintenance team.

Hart, Schaffner and many members of the RMA maintenance crew attended Singh’s funeral service on Nov. 18.

Board President Patrick O’Hern noted that Singh’s daughter’s Facebook tribute – describing her father’s journey from Fiji to a life built from hard work, steadiness and example – captured his character beautifully. 

“He lived an exemplary life,” O’Hern said.

Rancho Murieta’s early development depended on people whose work happened behind the scenes. Singh – the man who could locate a buried valve by memory, who built the systems residents rely on every day, and who helped generations of employees learn the community inside and out – was one of them.

“We’ll miss him,” Hart said. “There will never be another.”