While the rest of the world celebrated Christmas day in 1966, the young, beautiful, and vibrant Julie Chemye Chaka and the young, handsome, and ambitious electrical engineer, Michael Soh Takusi, also jubilantly celebrated the arrival of their second child at the Buea General Hospital. Overcame with joyful emotion, they named the beautiful and energetic baby girl Emmanuella in honor of the day. They would shortly after change her name to Marie Marsey Takusi.
While still a toddler, her dad, who worked with the West Cameroon electricity company, POWERCAM, left for England to further his electrical engineering studies. Marie thus spent some of her early years with her maternal grandparents in Buea, where she attended primary school. She started her secondary education at St. Beads Collage, Bamenda, but completed it at the very prestigious Saker Baptist College in Victoria, where her dad had been transferred. Here, she obtained her GCE “O” level in 1982. Like most of her friends, she aspired to continue at the acclaimed CCAST, Bambili, but settled for the up-and-coming rival, CCAS, Kumba, which her parents preferred. Here, she obtained her GCE “A” level in 1984 and was immediately swept off her feet by the could-not-wait John Njowo, a chic young Cameroon Tribune journalist, into a till-death-do-us-part commitment that, for 39 years, was blessed with bliss and three wholesome children at the center of her love and universe.
But then, a few months after their marriage, John Njowo had to leave for the U.S., where she joined him after a one-year stint at the University of Yaounde. She continued her undergraduate studies at the University of Houston, Texas, where she earned, with honors, a BBA (management) in three years rather than four. That quest for excellence never wavered, even when she switched to a nursing track with no science background. She launched her nursing education at San Jacinto Community College, where her stellar performance and graduation with honors got her an admission to the highly-ranked, tough-to-get-into University of Texas (UT) Cizik School of Nursing at the Houston Medical Center! Undeterred by her commitments as a spouse, mother, employee, and active community member, she went on to obtain a BSN, again with honors, a feat that got her a spot in Cizik’s highly competitive MSN program, which she started, paused, and later completed at UT Tyler School of Nursing. She has worked ever since as a board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner provider with the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) Correctional Managed Care.
Marie, from very young, was imbued with boundless compassion, kindness, and passion for being there for those in need. She was an indefatigable “woman of the people,” a central or key figure in the founding of many enduring socio-cultural groups like La Famille Bamileke de Houston (LAFABAH), the earliest cultural association still going strong now for over 30 years. Records show that she was a founding member of Ex-Sakerette Association (EXSA) USA, Sakerettes Transglobal Alliance (STA), Sakerettes of Houston (SOH), and, very recently, NKONI, an assembly of anglophone wives and mothers in the Houston area. As a devout Catholic Christian who never reneged on her tradition, she was a central figure in the start-up of the Assumption Cameroon Catholic Congregation of Houston (ACCCH) and the Immaculate Conception branch of the Catholic Women’s Association (CWA), where her African tradition or negritude graces worship. In every one of these unions, Aunty Ma, as many fondly called her, embodied, as the current SOH President aptly notes, “all the qualities of a leader: Courage needed to take on any situation regardless of its magnitude, Emotional intelligence to relate with her sisters on all levels and capacities, Conviction in stating her beliefs and stance,” and an unwavering commitment to maintaining the vitality of the group.
Unfortunately, this busy-body of a gentle, loving, kind, sweet, generous, and sunshiny life ended peacefully in the wee hours of Friday, 11/17. Though she finally lost her valiant five-year fight with uterine cancer, she won because she lived an intense, very fulfilled, and purpose-driven life with humility and no regrets as she steadfastly denied her pain and illness from dictating her living. Many never knew she was ever sick, and were thus shocked and surprised at the news of her passing because of her ever-cheerful exterior and smile. She remained, till the end, a loving, selfless, and nurturing wife, mother, and mentor to the many young ones she nurtured and inspired to become quintessential spouses, mothers, and friends. She leaves behind her mother of 80 years, a doting husband, kids, siblings, in-laws, and friends to guard her memory and continue her legacy of noble service to humanity. We will miss her deeply and dearly.
