Eunice Mbanugo

It is a herculean task to write about one’s mother in a page or two. However, the circumstances have compelled us to do so at this time. Words are not sufficient to express the privilege we have to have been begotten by this woman. She was everything we wish to be. Our mum was born on 31 March 1930, in Onitsha to Chief Nwurai Nelson Araka (Ojudo of Onitsha) and Flora Okwuonicha Akukali Araka (Nee Okoloji). She was the fourth child of her mother. She had her early childhood education in YWCA, Onitsha, and Ugwuoba – Enugu. On 24 November 1951, she got married to our dad, Late Samuel Chukwuedozie Mbanugo. They were blessed with four children: Mary Nkiru Nzegwu, Amaka Rose Etuka, Uju Amadi and Gideon. She and our dad traversed most part of the then Eastern Nigeria, when our father was working in the Forestry Department of Eastern Nigeria. In 1963, shortly after the birth of their third child, they left for England in search of further education. While our father was doing his degree at Oxford University, she attended Oxford Polytechnic (now Oxford Brookes University), where she studied towards a diploma in Hospital and Catering Management. They returned to Nigeria in 1966, just before the advent of the Nigeria civil war. At the end of the war, she was employed by University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, where she worked for over 20 years and retired meritoriously as an Assistant Head of the Catering Department in 1994. Our mother was very active in the Christendom. She was a Sunday School teacher and lay reader at Christ Church, Uwani, St James Church, Iva Valley and in her home Parish, Emmanuel Church, Onitsha. She hosted clergymen during Synod meetings. She led various women groups in the church and on retirement, she shared her time between Onitsha and Europe and the USA, where her children live, but at same time actively identified with church activities at her local Parish, Emmanuel Church, and also at St Christopher’s and All Saints, all in Onitsha. She was equally active in her local church in Wisconsin, where she lived until her death on 13 June 2020. She was a member of the Bible Society of Nigeria and Scripture Union. She also actively participated in Onitsha community affairs. She was a member of Onitsha Progressive Union (OPU) and regularly attended their August Meetings. To say it is a privilege to be her children is an understatement. She was an embodiment of hard work, charity and determination. From a very humble but assured beginning, she worked her way up in life through sheer hard work and determination. Our mother was the last of the Mohicans in some way, being the last child of her father’s first quartet. She had the exceptional grace of being the first of her father’s children to reach the ripe age of 90. She was unique and an ambassador of the Araka Ojudo family. As one of our uncles, Onyechi Araka, put it ‘of all her female siblings, she was the one to be named after her paternal grandmother, Mbeyogo, a foretelling of her uniqueness and position in the scheme of things in the Araka Ojudo dynasty’ She was a caring wife, mother, grandmother and sister. This is no small feat. While we grieve, as it is only natural to do, as we are only human and a way in which we heal, we should also celebrate her eventful life and cherish the memories she left behind. She survived by her four children and the following grandchildren Devine Nzegwu, Louis Nzegwu Jr., Phyllis Nzegwu Victoria Nzegwu, Grace Amadi, Samantha Amadi, Joshua Mbanugo, Debra Mbanugo, Sarah Mbanugo, Jedidiah Mbanugo, Bryant Etuka, Braxton Etuka, and Brandon Etuka, one great grandchild Niylah Nzegwu, two son in laws Louis Nzegwu and Emmanuel Amadi, one daughter in law Stella Mbanugo. Several nephews, nieces, aunts and uncles Visitors can greet the family at GUNDERSON EAST FUNERAL AND CREMATION CARE, 5203 Monona Drive, Madison, from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m. on Saturday, July 25, 2020. A funeral service will be held at 3 p.m. on Saturday, July 25, 2020, which will be LIVE STREAMED. Friends and family who wish to view services via LIVE STREAM may visit Eunice’s obituary page at www.gundersonfh.com http://www.gundersonfh.com/ and click on the Watch Webcast link. We thank you all, who have come from far and near to join us to bid her a befitting farewell and pray that the Almighty take you safely back to your respective destinations. Rest in Peace Mummy. Online condolences may be made at www.gundersonfh.com. Gunderson East Funeral & Cremation Care 5203 Monona Drive (608) 221-5420