OLAMIOSA (Our Lady of Apostles Secondary School, Maryway, Odo-Ona, Ibadan Old Students Association) has lost a GEM!
The news of the sudden demise of Queen Joyce Mary Woods, a prominent member of OLAMIOSA Oyo State Chapter and National Treasurer of OLAMIOSA worldwide, which brokered on 10 July 2021, came as a rude shock to our association. Tears flowed unrestrained, and emotions ran high among many of us. The questions on our lips were many. Why would God suddenly call home one of our very best, our financial guru, just a few weeks to her 70th birthday? We were looking forward to celebrating with her. None of us saw it coming, nor dreamt of it. The truth is, when the Way Maker and Owner of Life comes knocking at anyone’s door, none can restrain Him. So we have no choice other than to accept the verdict of the Almighty God concerning our sister Joyce Mary.
Queen Joyce Mary Woods attended Our Lady of Apostles Secondary School, Maryway, Odo-Ona, Ibadan from 1963 to 1967. She was in the boarding house throughout her stay in the school and was a member of the Our Lady of Apostles House (Green House).
Though her departure was impromptu, we relish in the warm memories of her quintessential accomplishments. A GEM to the core , she was. She would easily qualify for an angel given the way she humbly yielded herself to the service of others. Queen Joyce gave her very best to the OLAMIOSA family and her immediate community at Akinyemi Way, Ring Road, Ibadan.
Queen Joyce Mary served OLAMIOSA meritoriously at the local and national levels, taking on many tasks of leadership without expecting pecuniary rewards. She was a major pillar in the association’s efforts towards rebuilding the collapsing infrastructures of our alma mater in 2018. She was among the trio who volunteered their time and resources for the supervision of the initial works of renovatiion and reconstruction of the dilapidated structures and facilities of our school. Herself and other devoted queens reported daily at the school for upwards three months in the last quarter of 2018 to ensure that all the planned renovations, reconstruction works were delivered before our 1st National convention in December 2018. Shortly before the Convention, the school had begun to wear a new impressive look that drew encomiums from all and sundry, including the Rev.Bishop Abegunrin of Ibadan Catholic Diocese on the new look of our school. All this courtesy of queens like Joyce Mary who gave their time to make it possible.
As the National Treasurer of OLAMIOSA Worldwide, she deployed very rare sense of dutifulness and accountability in discharging the functions of that office. She was very meticulous, dependable and transparent in her financial dealings. No single kobo of OLAMIOSA has been unaccounted for or missing since she was elected National Treasurer in December 2018 to the time of her demise.
Blessed with an amiable personality, Queen Joyce Mary was a friend to both the young and old in our association. She readily accepted assignments on behalf of the association. Her most recent outing was leading a team of OLAMIOSA queens to the 1-year remembrance of late Senator Abiola Ajimobi, former penultimate Governor of Oyo State. She glowed and glittered at the event that no one would suspect that she was soon to leave us.
Queen Joyce, has played her part nobly and meritoriously. She came, she saw and she has conquered. Glory be to the Lord. May her memory be a blessing to all of us in Jesus’s name.
- Mrs Valentina Titilayo Solarin (neé Shewu)
National President, OLAMIOSA