On Father's Day: Tribute to my Dad

Onowu Ezeoma: Dear Father, Friend, and Mentor

Born: 12.12.45. Buried 12.12.12

Chief Azuh Chimezie

Onowu Ezeoma (Chief Azuh Chimezie, Ichie Onyeokwereomume). I still recall it all. The hour. The day. Saturday, November 3, 2012. The call.  The news. The shock. The tears. The disbelief. And then. The reality check. The thanksgiving, for your life.  The prayer, for your eternal rest. It all happened in one quick succession.  So quick, it sometimes still feels dreamed-up.  But shortly before that telephone call informing me of your transition, you had communicated your departure.  I had experienced this sudden and unexplainable restlessness that jolted me from my reading desk, where I had been at work all day.  Standing up from that call, I went straight to the chapel.  There, before the Blessed Sacrament and strengthened by the hope of the Resurrection, I thanked God for your life, and prayed for the forgiveness of your sins and repose of your soul.

When later that night my superior invited my Jesuit brothers in the community to the chapel to pray the Psalms for you, I was consoled as I imagined the choirs of angels already welcoming you to their sweet and melodious heavenly alleluia.  My consolation grew in the following days as phone calls, emails, text and other messages poured in from Jesuit companions, friends, and acquaintances from across the world with assurances of Masses and prayers for you.  And when I informed my school, the London School of Economics, Global Media and Communications Program Director Professor Terhi Rantanem led a lecture hall filled with international students and professors to observe a moment of silence in your honor.  With all of this, I could only ask God to look kindly on our prayers for you and grant you eternal rest in his presence. 

My thoughts now take a frequent trip back in time, reminiscing about your time with us.  A time most beautiful, loving, friendly, enriching, and... Words are not enough. Sweet recollections flood my memory.  I remember the times you bathed me as a child. I remember the day you taught me, barely ten years old, how to ride a motorcycle—encouraging me to believe I could do it. I remember the memorable stories you delighted in telling my siblings and me of our history and heritage. I remember the values you ingrained in me, in us: kindness, gratitude, respect, fairness, standing up for the truth, and appreciation of our identity and culture. I remember the regular laughter, smiles, dances, and animated heart-to-heart chats that characterize our life as a family. I remember the many times I sat with you in your guest parlor (iba) in Azia soaking up your wisdom and reveling at your incomparable ability to recall history. I remember the last Eucharist I celebrated with you and the family, and your blessings for me afterwards (as you would always do whenever I was traveling). How would I have known that was the last Eucharist we would celebrate together here on earth?

Dad, with Mum and Yours Truly

          That was barely three months ago, as I was leaving Lagos for London for my studies.

I remember all of this and I smile. I smile because I know you died a fulfilled man.  I smile because I believe that God in his mercy will open the doors of heaven for you. I smile because I pray that you rest in peace.  I smile because I imagine you smiling down on us.  I smile because I trust that to live in the hearts and minds of those you love is not to die. I smile because you live on in my heart, in our hearts. I smile because I look forward to another life with you at the Resurrection, in Christ Jesus. In all things and at all times, I will continue to smile and give thanks for your life, Olowu Ezeoma: dear father, friend, and mentor.

            Chijioke Azuawusiefe, SJ

   Ezike Ugochukwutubelu (12.12.12)