Their Story
The Story of a
Beautiful Life
- Home
- Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria
- Loved as
- Mama
Deaconess Rebecca OluwaFunmilayo Gbemi (nee Fadumo) was born on 15th September 1950. She attended Oja Oke Primary School in Kogi State, north central Nigeria. Mama was the first born of her parents and went on to train all of her siblings, even when that meant sacrificing to further her education by seeking jobs that would provide financial support for the family. Some still lived with her till her passing.
Mama's father was Fadumo Aro, from Ayin-Hun compound, Odo-Ere. Her mother was Memunat Ibidunni Fadumo, from Oke-Agbede compound in Okoto, Odo-Eri. Both were from West Yagba Local Government Area of Kogi State.
Mama met her husband, Pa Joseph Gbemi, in Kano State, in the North-West of Nigeria. They had a traditional wedding ceremony, and their union was later blessed with five children.
In her career as a medical worker during her younger days, she spent her nights at the hospital doing every task faithfully, and she wanted her colleagues to know that whatever their hands found to do deserved their best. Mama was a woman of great discipline who believed that work should be done a certain way, with the best of one's ability, and she planted this value in her grandchildren through her words and the example of her own life.
Mama made her home in Ilorin, Kwara State, where she lived with her family until the end of her days.
Even in her last days, Mama kept to the rhythm of the life she loved. Every Sunday, after church, she sat down to her pounded yam, a meal she enjoyed to the very end. She delighted in conversation with her children, and she spent much of her time with her grandchildren. To them she was more than a grandmother; she was a teacher. She was close to her in-laws too, regularly calling and praying with them.
In this way, she lived out her final days in peace, surrounded by the family she had given so much to raise. Mama went to be with the Lord on Sunday morning, October 18, 2026.
Lesson from Mama: You should continue to pray till your joy is full. Even till her last day on earth, Mama still prayed on her knees.
