In loving memory
Ezinne of Umuoji, Retired Head Teacher
12 April 1938 – 27 February 2026
Forever loved. Forever remembered.
Her life
For eighty-seven years, Mama Adaeze lived a life of quiet strength, deep faith and boundless hospitality. A teacher for four decades, a mother to seven and grandmother to twenty-three, she raised generations in Umuoji and far beyond. Her door was never locked, her pot was never empty, and her prayers never ceased.
Milestones
1938
Born 12 April to Pa Anyanwu Okeke and Ma Chinwe Anyanwu, the third of eight children.
1958
Graduated from Women's Teacher Training College, Awka.
1961
Married Chief Lawrence Obiora Okonkwo at St. Michael Catholic Church, Umuoji.
1962-1976
Raised seven children while teaching full time.
1982
Began paying school fees for children at risk of dropping out.
1991
Honoured by Anambra State for outstanding leadership in education.
1999
Retired as Head Teacher of St. Monica's Primary School after 41 years.
2004
Papal honour for six decades of lay service to the Church.
2008
Conferred with the traditional title of Ezinne, good mother of the community.
2026
Slept peacefully in the Lord on 27 February, aged 87.
Gallery
A few of the moments the family holds most dearly.
Legacy
Education, faith, hospitality and the dignity of every child. Mama believed no child should be turned away from school for want of school fees, and she quietly paid for hundreds.
Train the child, and you have built the village.
Forty-one years teaching; four hundred children through school.
Sixty years a daily communicant and CWO president.
An open door and a full pot for every visitor.
Ezinne of Umuoji, mediator and counsel to many.
Tributes
For sixty years Mama Adaeze was at the seven o'clock Mass before the doors were fully open. She trained our catechism pupils, fed our seminarians and corrected her priests gently and privately. The parish is quieter without her.
We met at training college in 1956 and never spent a year apart in conversation. She was the most truthful person I have known, and truth from her never wounded.
In 1989 my father died and I was sent home from school. A woman I did not know paid my fees for four years. I learned her name at her wake. I am a paediatrician today because of Ma Teacher.
Funeral information
Support
In place of flowers, the family asks that friends support the fund Mama began with her own pension: paying school fees for children in Umuoji and neighbouring communities who would otherwise drop out. A portion also covers funeral expenses.
₦5,750,000
raised of ₦25,000,000 goal
23% funded · 4 contributions received
Every naira received is recorded here and reported quarterly by the three-person trustee committee. Bank statements are available on request to any contributor.
1938 – 2026 · Forever loved. Forever remembered.
