It's funny, I always thought that as time passed, the pain of losing Mummy would fade... it doesn't you know...
It's been 5 years, 2 months and 21 days and still I see her smile and long for her gentle touch..she was such a gentle lady.  I still can hear her say, "never mind" when things had gone wrong, taste her own brand of fruit cake, her favourite tea...
And yet, as I long for her here, I really wouldn't want her back the way she was when she here... trapped in a body that just refused to work.  Now she can run and jump and walk endless miles, read and converse and just praise God in a voice that will obey her every command.
My Mum... to me the best in the world... I know you are there with our LORD waiting for me... by His Grace, I will run this race with faith and whenever God chooses, I will see you again.

I love you and always will
Ereomajuwa xxx

I searched for Mrs Duncans details over the net for such a long time,and always met a brickwall.Until recently when i saw a tribute to her on anothr site and i emailed the person hoping to get a response but holding my breath and praying it wasn't my darling Mrs Duncan.

Unfortunately it was.

I am in tears at the moment, looking through this page,Its so sad as i have always wanted an opportunity to give her a big hug and say THANK YOU for everything you did and helped me with while i was just a scrawny,awkward little girl in Atlantic Hall,all those years ago.

Mrs Duncan made me belive in myself,she was a mother,a confidante.She was that person you knew always had your back and understood truely the meaning of raising and handling children.

Sweet,kind,loving,firm,jovial,generous,are just a few words i can use to describe her.

She was the best teacher ever,so much so,i thanked her in all my dissertations/thesis over the years.From my law degree to my two business degrees.

Today as i stand a succesful and very confident woman who can hold her head up high anywhere,i have this wonderful woman to thank for the words she instilled in me one rainy day in 1989,i was in tears and didn't know where else to turn,and Mrs Duncan took me under her wings and made me know that forward and up was the only way to go and that irrespective of what i was feeling,tomorrow will be better.

 

She left Atlantic Hall and just never heard from her again,when the internet became more common,i searched and searched for my beloved teacher just to let her know that little tomi had done well for herself,to thank her and just show my gratitude,but alas it was not to be.

 

May her beautiful,gentle,kind,loving,wonderful,motherly,soul rest in perfect perfect perfect peace.

 

And to those she left behind,i wouldn't worry or fret if i were you.I KNOW she has the best spot in heaven.

Nothing less would ever be good enough for my wonderful Mrs Duncan.

 

May her soul rest in perfect peace.

 

AMEN

 

On this special day, I remember my lovely Aunt. I have sweet memories of the house in Palmgrove ;when she made me eat rice pudding and ox tongue which I hated with a passion; the paddling pool in the garden where we splashed about in our under wear (no boys to check us out) and of course tatare. I do miss the lovely cakes and pastries as well as her lovely smile. I miss our lovely chats when my parents were away and I needed someone to perk me up when I was lonely. My Mummy’s dear Anyemie

 

Well the two friends are together up there, laughing and giggling at us down here. We must ensure that the love and friendship our parents shared must continue in the next generation.

 

Hang on in there. Love ya.

Wow! Where to begin. Your daughters, Alero and "Reggie" were the reason I first figured that there must be something special about your family. Then I met you and it all made sense. You inspired me, encouraged me and treated me as if I was your own son. I loved (and still do) your family. You guys made me feel like Nigeria really could be a country that bred brawn and intelligence wrapped in a single package. While I miss your smiling face, and your eloquent and brilliant conversation, I am comforted by the fact that your race is run! You are now part of a great "Cloud of Witnesses" cheering for the rest of us to run our race with endurance. Have a good night and we'll see you soon!

TRIBUTE FROM A NEPHEW – Vernon James Buckle

Lord it belongs not to my care, whether I die or live;

To love and serve you is my share, And this thy grace will give.

 

This tribute is to the memory of my dearly beloved Mrs Elaine Duncan.  In retrospection, I call to mind the special attachment she had with me.

 

Auntie Elaine knew from whence she came - a noble and well-respected lineage: she was a grand-daughter of the illustrious Sir James Buckle and a scion of the Palmer and Opintan families of Osu, Accra.  What was my Aunt like, Auntie Elaine (as she was called by most) was the epitome of an accomplished lady; always well comported and softly spoken, a paragon of excellence and diplomacy. Etiquette was her forte; she was sublime with anything "English” – language, tradition or culture. She stood for civility and decorum – a family legacy; yet although she called a spade a spade, she would not call a fool a fool. Auntie Elaine had a perpetual youthfulness of heart and mind, and a ready wit. She always opted for simplicity.  She was knowledgeable, giving all acquaintances her unequivocal support with a hands–on approach to problem solving.  My initial attachment with her was cupboard love, I can remember her bringing us presents whenever she visited Ghana in my childhood and I bonded better with her family during my family's annual visits to Lagos in the mid-70s, when the Duncans' lived at Palm Grove.  Prof. Duncan is also my maternal great uncle, and in our teens, occasionally, Tayo Johnson and I sometimes forgot that Alero and Erejuwa were our aunts, however their friends became our dancing partners at parties and I have kept up the acquaintance with a few of them.  My Aunt Elaine gave me words of encouragement when I found life hard at the sudden and unexpected death of my mother in 1990 and she had the task of breaking the news of my father's demise to me in 1998, where again she was wonderfully supportive.  She was the pride and joy of her entire family.  Her goodness outweighed any human deficiencies.  Her greatest gifts being her kindness, loyalty to family, generosity, intellect, sense of humour - the ability to laugh at herself.  She was a woman of unquestionable integrity; she would never compromise her principles for anything else, particularly Christian values, decorum and education.  She always pursued justice to its logical conclusion; and she would always advise a relation or friend in trouble against pursuing a bad case.  I named my eldest daughter after her.

 

Auntie Elaine always sought a consensus.  Acquaintances found her easily approachable and amiable. She sought to instill these sterling qualities in her children, nieces and nephews. For these exemplary qualities many are those who will forever remember her. According to Thomas Fuller, “the happy thoughts of those we love will never pass away”. Auntie Elaine has now won an enviable place in the loving arms of Christ. She lived as a Christian and died as a Christian - I quote her last words to me, when I visited her at Timehin’s in Great Wymondley last year, "Vernon, I am bowing out, but I know where I am going so I am not afraid"  Although Auntie Elaine had a good life, read extensively, wore the best Jaeger had in vogue and travelled the world over, she did taste the bitterness of being an invalid, yet she was always happy and believed that adversity was the school of experience, and that even the darkest clouds have a silver lining.

 

Shelley wrote of death “First our pleasures die - and then our hopes, and then our fears

-And when these are dead, the debt is due, dust claims dust - and we die too"

 

It is written in Romans 8:18 , “for I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us”.

Uncle Kofi, Alero, Erejuwa, Timehin, Tosan, let us take consolation from my favourite quotation from Tennyson “Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

My dearest Auntie Elaine:

 

"The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you,

for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.

Your sun will never set again, And your moon wane no more;

The Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end. Isaiah 60

Fare thee well; my beloved, " you have fought the good fight, you have finished the race, you have kept the faith 

 

Beloved, till we meet again, Rest in perfect peace.

 

Vernon