By Ada Nkong
Ms Ruth Basil Howard was a selfless woman and a disciplinarian who gave her life to molding young girls into great women. This is the summary of the submission as Old Girls of AGGS Ughelli joined by old students from Idia College Benin,St. Anne’s school Ibadan and Adesoye College where was also a principal held a thanksgiving service for her at the All Saints Anglican Church Wise Zone 5 Abuja.
In his sermon, the Vicar harped on the need to build good Christian families where children are brought up in the fear of God and to love the Bible. He also tasked parents to pay attention to what goes on in the lives of their children and help them navigate the world in the midst of all they are inundated with.
The old girls led by Mrs Stella Omu, former Principal of FGGC Bwari were joined by friends, former staff of Ms Howard and well wishers as they danced to the altar to thank God for her life.The Vicar commended them for the thoughtfulness and urged them to remain united and replicate her legacy by impacting lives.
Some old girls who spoke to Newsannex attributed what they had become in life to Ms Howard’s tutelage.
An old girl of AGGS class of 74, Shirley Agboghor Olih has this to say.
“We are celebrating because of the impact she made in our lives.Ms Harold was a disciplinarian.She took us as her children,me in particular o , what I am today is because of Ms. Howard.I was to read medicine,I was very good in sciences but when my results came I had P in chemistry Ms Howard said go to Idia College and go and do your HSC”.
She went on to recount how she again met Ms Howard at Idia College and with her guidance completed the program within 9 months. A fond recollection of hers was how she made them sing the hymn at assembly ‘Dear God and father of mankind forgive our foolish ways’ when any of them erred
” You find stubborn colleagues of mine that she bent back to become important people in the society today, hardly any of us can have anything against Ms Howard,even though she did not marry, did not have her own children, she was a mother”.
For Mrs Stella Omu, Ms Howard was a role model.
“She was a mother,the missionary work in which she immersed herself was evident in all that she did with us.She was a great mentor, she would scold and at the same time she would draw you back. She was our maths teacher and until her passing we were still in touch “.
Mrs Omu further describes her as a ‘ giving woman, had a sense of humor and a good memory ‘ . According to her even after leaving Nigeria, Ms Howard would ask after her students, often wanted to know how they were faring and if anyone needed assistance.
She recounted how as part of her Philanthropy,Ms Howard and the Principal of FGGC Benin then would collaborate to organize students to offer help to the lepers in a colony near Agbor where numeracy and literary skills were offered to children of the lepers S well as hell with cleaning their living quarters.
Mrs Omu said during her funeral back home in Scotland, the same testimony was given of her.
A former staff of hers, Chris Ikegbu who worked with her for 16 years said she made a great impact in his life said as the founding Principal, the foundation she laid is still working for the school.
“She came with a lot of discipline, a lot of yardwork and anybody who worked with her as a student or a staff, had to imbibe those characters “.
He said she lived a life of selflessness and taught people that you must not put yourself According to him, up until her death she was still interested in the welfare of those she left behind in Nigeria and was still supporting people financially and otherwise.
All agreed that the late Ms Howard, Principal, missionary and philanthropist touched many lives during her sojourn on earth and was worthy of emulation.
NewsAnnexOnline 