Tribute

A strained and mournful call had come from Ayo on the morning of Saturday, February 3, 2024, come into our family as a young lady to become a wife, a mother, and a grandmother. She arrived with a pedigree in name and conduct to enrich our family. When Ayo met and brought her over, he was to announce that he had found a rose. And then Ronke emerged, with a dark sheen, luxuriant and attractive. Ayo christened her RDD, and the family came to call her by those initials, which in full are Ronke Dudu Darling. That metaphor captured a relationship of an immense bond. She had the happiness to carry her skin with pride and the love to hold her home with dignity.

She demonstrated unrelenting pursuits for academic growth. Following her passing, when I was in conversation with Professor Johnson Ekpere, one of her lecturers at the University of Ibadan, he remarked that Ronke was one of his best students. Such an unforgettable impression must have been made that the Professor had not forgotten her performance thirty years on. Ronke went on to the UK and excelled. She had grit, and she combined it with brilliance.

When our son was going to go to university in the UK some twenty-two years ago, we suddenly faced an accommodation issue. We did not know where to turn, but Ronke turned to us. She was the caretaker of a flat which she loaned to our son at a great hour of need. We took notice of her kind- ness and we could never pay back enough. When the news of her passing came through, the chorus uttered in grief was: Aderonke, alanu! To give as she gave was God’s gift.

It fell on me to break the sad news of her passing to the leadership of her employment, Lead City University. When I called the Vice-Chancellor, Oh! my God, he screamed, and then he voluntarily gave a description: ‘She was the head of the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics. She was such a com- mitted, caring, loyal, and hardworking lecturer.’
In my recommendation to the university on her appointment, I argued that Ronke had training in Nigeria and overseas and would bring this vast experience to bear; she was a tireless worker who would bring special vibrancy, creativity, resource- fulness, and dedication to the university. And so it proved to be.

Ronke lived an impactful life. One day, she told the story of her youth, particularly about her health challenges. We listened in awe and concluded she had gone a long way. She had valiantly overcome vicissitude after vicissitude until death came calling.

What remains is a unity of prayers for Ayo and his entire family, for Mama and all of Ronke’s siblings, and for the Lord to give them a good anchor every passing day to bear this irreparable loss.
Dr Kolade Mosuro