I couldn’t hear enough about Aunty Ebun as soon as my parents and siblings arrived from their sabbatical year at the University of Chicago in 1970. She was the younger sister mom never had, a bundle of energy, a go-go person who is never daunted by the most challenging situation. When she got to visit, I was in boarding school and missed meeting her. I kept trying to picture her in my mind and, with all my broad imagination, I was not prepared enough for the real Aunty Ebun when we eventually met.

August 1981, I just arrived with my husband in Madison, Wisconsin after our wedding the same month. I got a call from Aunty Ebun, telling me the story of my life and that she was holding a wedding reception for us the following Saturday. My husband comes in and my first question was, ‘Who is this Mrs. Balogun here in Madison? ”He told me his version - Mrs. Balogun is the mother for all Nigerian students at UW (University of Wisconsin). I told him we have been mandated to attend our own wedding reception the next Saturday at her house.and his answer was - I hope you told her yes, because no one says ‘No’ to Mrs. Balogun. It took me aback and I wondered why no one will say no to her but, I soon learnt that was because she exuded love to everyone around her and constantly made herself available to help others.

I was still wondering who this Mrs. Balogun is - she knew so much about my me despite never having met me, knew each of my siblings and parents so well, and now wants to hold a wedding reception for my husband and I in Madison, Wisconsin and I can’t say no?. Next, I picked up the phone and called my dad in Nigeria to inquire about this Mrs. Balogun. He was excited that I would finally get to meet the Aunty Ebun they had always talked to me about. When I told him she was holding a wedding reception for us, his answer was ‘that sounds like what Ebun will do’.

Come the Saturday, we headed to the Balogun’s residence in Madison, WI and virtually all of UW’s Nigerian community was there for a lavish reception. I was overwhelmed that someone I had never meet would go to that extent to celebrate my husband and I. That was only the beginning! Aunty Ebun was constantly in my life, checking on me, asking about my siblings. She never tired of following up on us and encouraging me in every aspect of life. When I needed to take my board exam in Richmond, Aunty, Toyin and Yinka were all on deck to support me. Whenever she visited Toyin & Yinka in Houston, I was sure to get a call and when I would go visit, I got all the pampering needed to last me till the next visit. Her mission was hospitality and caring for others and she was ever accommodating and loving. She was endowed with extending grace and kindness to everyone she met.

Talk about her energy, I'm yet to find another human being that's a match. In 2013, my daughter proposed to collect data for her MS. Thesis from OAU Hospital in Ile-Ife. Once I told Aunty Ebun about this, she went to work, got in touch with all the officials needed to get approval for the study at OAU hospital and sent the feedback regarding the procedures for her to follow to get approval. When we arrived at Ife, I could not keep up with the speed with which she moved around to get through through the process. I opted to sit back, watch her in action, knowing for sure that she'll get job done excellently. I enjoyed being pampered while admiring how she had harnessed nature in her beautiful home. In 2010, she shouldered part of the arrangements for my brother’s wedding and got things ready before my arrival in Nigeria and in 2017, in spite of schedule conflicts that she had expressed to me, she still showed up with Uncle Dayo and Toyin at my son’s traditional wedding. It was a surprise how she juggled the schedule to be there for my family and the other event but it was no surprise that Aunty Ebun will do whatever she needed to touch each person.

Aunty Ebun has been more than I imagined; selfless, energetic, compassionate and relentless in seeking to help however she could. She gets wind of a need and off she goes, garnering all her energy and resources to help even before she’s asked. Her sense of humour was a magnet that not only drew people to her, but often helped to lighten whatever burden one might have been carrying. She had a word of encouragement foe each situation.

Chuck Palahniuk said ‘The goal isn’t to live forever, the goal is to create something that will.’ Aunty Ebun certainly has left her footprint in the sands of time. She has impacted my life immensely, and I am sure the life of many others. She has left us a legacy that holds her dear to each of her hearts and has touched many lives. As Buddha said, ‘Neither fire nor wind, birth nor death can erase our good deeds’ while Mother Theresa claimed that ‘Death is nothing else but going home to God, the bond of love will be unbroken for all eternity’.  Aunty Ebun will always live in the hearts she has touched and will be greatly missed. One thing is certain, her legacy will surely live on as she rests with her Savior. The heavenly star has now returned home after beaming her light on this world.

Sleep on Aunty and enjoy your deserved rest. May the Lord uphold and sustain Uncle, your biological children, grandchildren and the numerous other children that you have cared for. Amen.

Mrs Balogun was a family friend. Very loving woman and friendly. I could not believe it when I saw her at my 50th btd. She travelled all the way to lagos from Ife. May her soul rest in peace. 

‘No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a minor of thine own
Or of thine friend’s were.
Each man’s death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee’.

John Donne (1572-1631).

It was only last year, on the 22nd of June, to be precise that Aunty Ebun was in the thick of activities to lay our mother, Mrs Hannah Olambimpe Obaro, her cousin by blood but Aunty in practice to rest in Ayetoro Gbede, Kogi State, Nigeria.
Now, one year and a week later, Aunty Ebun has transitioned to join her!