Tribute to Mrs Nance Lolita Mjamtusie, nee Barlatt [Our Miss Nance]
The Church of The Holy Trinity in Freetown, Sierra Leone, opened its doors today, for a Thanksgiving Service and farewell for an illustrious member, daughter, and sides-woman, Nance Lolita Mjamtusie, who died on Sunday 15th March 2015.
Miss Nance as she was affectionately called, was like a big sister to me, all her life. Her late mother Mrs Chrissie Barlatt and my mother, Mrs Elizabeth Chapman shared such a unique bond that many people thought they were blood relations. It all started in the 1950’s when my mother was posted as a junior teacher to an Infants school where her mother was Headmistress. My mother’s dedication to duty, love for her little pupils and willingness to go the extra mile, plus her smiling face and pleasant demeanour soon endeared her to Mama Chrissie, who became her mentor, and later, adopted mother. This relationship developed into a close and lifelong friendship from which we, the next generation benefited. My mother became Miss Nance’s much loved Auntie Lizzie, and we children became her younger siblings. When Ms Nance’s parents passed on my mum stepped into the role of surrogate mother and was unstinting in her love, devotion and support.
Following a course in Librarianship at Liverpool Polytechnic in the early 1960’s, and a subsequent MA at The University College of Wales, Aberystwyth in 1989, she had a glittering career in the field of Information and Libraries Management, spanning over 50 years. Miss Nance worked in the UK in the early and late 60’s, and on her return to Sierra Leone, worked as a Librarian at The Sierra Leone Library Board, The Library of the Central Statistics Office, The Law/Judiciary Library and at The Centre for Medical and Allied Health Services at the University of Sierra Leone. Hers was quintessentially a dynamic and selfless role, which always meant giving her all, and putting her institutions before self. Non sibi sed omnibus, the motto of her alma mater the Annie Walsh Memorial School, was her mantra throughout. In recognition of her contribution to the world of Library, Information and Knowledge Management, she was duly recognised, lauded and rewarded with the award of the Fellowship of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals [CILIP] in the UK. That was the professional icing on the cake, for one who’d given so much to the field of Librarianship and Information Science. She was my role model, and one after whom I planned and crafted my own career as a Librarian, and to whom I owe an awful lot and will forever be grateful. The world of Libraries has lost a great professional, and Sierra Leone a great and irreplaceable daughter.
My late mother always referred to Miss Nance as my foremost Career Planner and Guidance Counsellor. And true to form, was the woman who dictated the first ever application letter I wrote for a job; and needless to say that I got the job. In fact, it has to be said, that that fateful move of ours at the family residence, 14 Alfred Street decades ago, put something in motion, that the entire family and I have always been grateful and thankful for, to this day.
And who could forget the joy with which she greeted my return to Freetown after my becoming a Chartered Librarian, and the welcome she laid out for me at her residence! Yes! “When for vanished days we yearn; days that never can return. Teach us in thy love to learn; love forevermore.” Priceless are those memories, for the rest of my days.
I could not thank her enough for all her illustrious deeds, but am glad that I was able to tell her, and to show her how much she meant to me, and how much I loved and cared for her. Our Tuesdays, were always special whenever she was in these parts. Having lunch together, nattering endlessly and visiting my mother and Darius Crispin Webber’s [DC’s] graves, in East Finchley and Enfield respectively. How pleasant and rewarding our communion and fellowship in both London and Freetown were! And how blissfully delightful our last time together in London, last December was!
My successes were her successes, and my sorrows were also hers. What a fabulous child of God she was and a great and loving daughter of humanity. Hers was a love that was extended to her numerous friends, professional colleagues and of course her beloved alma mater, The Annie Walsh Memorial school, in Freetown, Sierra Leone. And how fitting it was today, that the emblazoned green and orange sash with the inscription “Past President” of AWOGA, adorned her beautiful casket in which she lay so peacefully, in that pristine blue shroud, as a bride of Christ.
Miss Nance was a committed Christian who fervently believed in the power of prayer. She loved singing hymns of praise to God whom she firmly believed, controlled her life with unfailing goodness and mercy. Her faith was one she shared most faithfully, and lived the sort of life many Christians would aspire to live. She was an epitome of goodness, epitomising the life that Christ Himself would have us His children live. A kind, loving, generous, selfless and compassionate soul, whose happiness was bound up with ours, throughout! She loved family and friends, and her devotion to all and sundry was legendary.
Over the years, Miss Nance proved a loving, caring and forthright confidante on whose wisdom and willingness to help I could always rely. I consider myself blessed to have known her and to have been able to spend some quality time with her, singing hymns, praying, reminiscing and sharing jokes, even after I emigrated to the UK. She has now gone to her Lord and her God. Though we shall all miss her touch and smiling face, so firm was her faith in God’s resurrection power that we cannot think of her as dead, just gone to live in another place; out of our sight. If we listen carefully, we might hear her say, “The Lord had need of me.”
Her death was felt within the depths of my being and copious tears shed; but she would have been the one to remind me of the following quotation. One which she quoted in her tribute to my late mother, her one and only, Aunty Lizzie:
‘Please do not grieve and shed wild tears
And hug your sorrows to you through the years,
But start out bravely with a gallant smile
And for my sake and in my name
Live in and do all things the same.
Feed not your loneliness on empty days
But fill each waking hour in useful ways;
Reach out your hand in comfort and in cheer
And I in turn will comfort you
And hold you near.’
Nance Lolita Mjamtusie, Well done thou good and faithful servant. Take your rightful place above, beside your Master and your Friend. After a life well lived and accounted for, no better hymn comes to mind than
“Fight the good fight with all thy might;
Christ is thy Strength and Christ thy Right.
Lay hold on life, and it shall be
Thy joy and crown eternally.”
Rest in perfect peace,
Victor Chapman [You small broda]
London, 18 March 2015