Earlier in June, Ahmedabad couple Shailesh (87) and Gita Divan (83) left for the US. They were visiting Shailesh’s brother Dr Kishore (89) and Asha Divan (86) who stayed in New York.On July 29, the four left for West Virginia in their car. Their destination: Prabhupada’s Palace of Gold, the ISKCON Temple, situated on McCreaey’s Ridge Road in Marshall County. A regular visitor, Shailesh was excited to show the premises to his brother and sister-in-law.However, the four never made it to the temple.After a search that lasted four days, the bodies of four octogenarians were located from the West Virginia mountains late on Saturday night.“Since the area is a ravine with thick vegetation, nothing was spotted from the ground during police search operations. Nothing could be located with the help of helicopters as well. Finally, when the mobile data was extracted, it pin-pointed on a certain location, which helped the police locate the bodies. The last signals from their cell phone were located in the nearby areas of Moundsville and Wheeling,” Himani Divan, daughter of Shailesh and Gita, told The Indian Express.The Divans, with their residence in Satellite area, are among prominent families of Ahmedabad with their forefathers actively associated with Mahatma Gandhi.It was Shailesh and Dr Kishor’s maternal grandfather Jivanlal Desai, fondly known as Jivanlal ‘Barrister’ owing to his profession, who gave his bungalow – Jivan Niwas – in Ahmedabad’s Kochrab village to his “barrister associate” Mahatma Gandhi for setting up his first ashram, the Satyagraha Ashram, in May 1915, said Himani. The ashram ran out of this bungalow for two years before Gandhi shifted it on the bank of Sabarmati in 1917.In May 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the redeveloped Kochrab Ashram. It is now preserved as a memorial and tourist space managed by Gujarat Vidyapith Mandal while the ownership of the building is with the state government.Story continues below this adThe Divan family is also linked to the Proprietary High School Trust founded by Jivanlal and Asha’s paternal grandfather Balvantrai Thakore in 1931. The trust runs several schools under the name Divan Ballubhai, naming it after the founders. Thakore entrusted the Trust Deed to Mahatma Gandhi in 1930.Dr Kishore moved to the US 45 years ago. Shailesh and Gita were scheduled to return to Ahmedabad next weekend, their daughter said.The US authorities, on Sunday, confirmed that the four individuals were found dead in a vehicle crash, adding that their car was located around 9.30 pm (local time) on Saturday off a steep embankment along Big Wheeling Creek Road, barely five miles from the Prabhupada’s Palace of Gold near West Virginia’s border with Pennsylvania.“We informed the police when their mobile phones were not reachable late on July 29. We got suspicious as they had not reached their destination. They were in their own car, which was being driven by my uncle (Dr Kishore). Looking at the initial information, it looks like their car rolled off the road deep into the ravines. Perhaps, they lost the balance or misjudged the turn on the winding road,” said Himani, an only child.Story continues below this adAs per the Proprietary High School Trust website, in 1930, Jivanlal and Thakore joined the Salt March or Dandi March movement with Mahatma Gandhi and also went to jail for it. “The teachers feared that the British would sequester all their assets and so, transferred the ownership of the school to ‘The Proprietary High School Trust’ in 1931. Before this, in an open meeting on Sabarmati Riverbank, Ballubhai Thakore entrusted the Trust Deed to Mahatma Gandhi,” the website stated.The school has been managed by the trust ever since.On Sunday, the Hindu Cultural Society of Western New York (HCSWNY), on its Facebook page, wrote: “It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing away of Dr Kishore Divan, Mrs Asha Divan, Mr Shailesh Divan and Mrs Gita Divan. Divan family is a pillar of Indian Community of WNY. Dr Divan’s contributions to our community has been long and sustained. He was the founding member of Hindu Cultural Society of WNY and the India Association of Buffalo. Both Dr Kishore Divan and Mrs Asha Divan were well-known, familiar and recognizable faces in the Indian community. Their absence will leave a lasting void in our WNY community.”Dr Kishore and Asha are survived by two sons, five grandchildren and one great grandson, all settled in the United States. All four will be cremated in the US, family members said.