Memories of Clara "Mama" Taiwo Harriman (nee Edewor)

In memory of

Clara "Mama" Taiwo Harriman (nee Edewor)

London, UK

December 23, 1931 - January 18, 2021

Dec 23, 1931 - Jan 18, 2021

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Africa Yoon

Rest In Peace mama Clara you’ll be reunited with Uncle Les and love from the Engo Clan

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Josephine Harriman

oyesoji Oyeleke

Life well lived and generously shared. R.I.P Ma. Ashabi Adedire Close will never be same. To Tony and siblings our sincere condolences. Oyesoji Oyeleke SAN .Commodore Apapa Boat Club on behalf of Trustees,members and staff.

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Josephine Harriman

Mrs Patricia Solanke

Father Lord, we thank you for the beautiful life of Mama Clara and we give you the glory for the celebration of her life and laying her to rest. Father Lord, protect the children she left behind and all other members of the family and friends. Mama Clara was humble and had a wonderful life. She was a very good Christian and a very loving person. She was a very caring and loving mother, grandmother and aunty. May her soul continue to rest in peace. Mama Clara, we love you but God loves you more. Adieu. We will miss you greatly

Love

Mrs Patricia Solanke

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Josephine Harriman

Tobe Elyon

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Etẹ Harriman Ayida

Deepest condolences my dear cousins, we thank God for her well lived life and the joy and friendship she brought to many. Often I would visit with my mum, it was so entertaining how they would banter in Itsekiri and Yoruba! The conversation was full of mischief, laughter borne out of decades as sisters in law. We will miss her till we all meet again.
Adieu auntie Clara. Xxx

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Josephine Harriman

Tinuade Ihama

Auntie Clara, continue to rest in the bosom of the Lord! You were a good friend and big sister to me. I am forever grateful for your kindness and affection. Chris, Mike, Tony, and Jo, I pray that the Lord will comfort and console you all.

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Josephine Harriman

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Nonny Ugboma

I pray that God grants you eternal rest, Mama Clara. Your love lives on in your children, grand children and all those whose lives you have touched. I pray also for your family that they may be strengthened at this time and know that you will continue to intercede on their behalf as an angel! Rest In Perfect Peace!

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Josephine Harriman

Tobe Elyon

YEMI SOLANKE

Josie
We are thinking of you and always in our prayers. We will miss the enjoyable love and care that we received from Mama Clara. We will cherish every beautiful moments we shared with our beautiful Mama Clara, the queen of hearts, whose life touched each and every one of us. She is in our hearts forever. May the Almighty God strengthen and protect you and your brothers
Love from
Yemi

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Josephine Harriman

Florence Edewor-Itoje

My favourite Aunty, no amount of words can express how I feel. To say I will miss you is a huge understatement. Thank you for everything, I love you so much. Today, though we say our goodbye, you are forever in my heart. Love your niece and beloved daughter, Florence

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Josephine Harriman

I can never forget when I first moved to London. I could not find a job and I was frustrated that after working so hard to qualify as a lawyer.

Anyway, Mum came to stay with me. At the time I was living in my friend’s studio flat and as we snuggled on my sofa bed she would tell me,”…. all will be well”. I finally got a job, not in London, but in Brighton. Distressed that I’d be leaving London and all my friends, Mum came with me to Brighton and encouraged me to focus and work hard.

Whilst I worked and tried to find my way through the challenges of my new job, Mum was busy making friends with EVERYBODY. She would speak to the butcher, the post man, the woman in the corner store, the priest and neighbour. She tirelessly engaged them, listened to them, charmed them and prayed for them and they loved her. I wondered why she was giving these people so much of her time and attention, after all she was meant to be here for ME!

My mother was incredibly wise. She knew that she would have to go back to Nigeria and that I had no one in Brighton. She had instructed my friends to stay away so that I could focus, knowing this period, albeit very difficult and lonely, would eventually be the making of me.

When Mum returned to Nigeria I was incredibly sad and lonely and did not understand why my friends wouldn’t visit and had limited their communication with me. I would later learn why.

Incredibly, when I went out to go to work everything felt strange, I felt warm and comforted. It was the smile of the postman as he said good morning to me. It was the lady at corner shop asking how I was doing as I passed by. It was the butcher at the weekend when I went to buy some beef and tried to pay counting my pennies, waving his hand, saying it was on the house and asking what else I needed. It was the Priest letting me know he had me in his prayers and the neighbours letting me know they were there.

With all of this, I knew that although mum was not with me physically, she had ensured that all those around me made me feel loved and cared for, as she would if she were with me and through them I felt her presence.

That was my mother……patient, humble, understanding, wise and sensitive – always putting me first, always fighting my corner, always having my back, always protecting me, always letting me know how much she loved me.

In her passing days she could not speak, but she spoke with her eyes. Despite the pain and the confusion that her disease brought, she still managed to speak to me with such clarity. That is why I am at peace and know she is in a better place. It is my turn to ensure she is taken care of by ensuring that I pass on her legacy.

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Stan Mukoro

Jules West-Erhabor

Etẹ Harriman Ayida

Jude Joseph-Ororho

Temi Akinwande

Comments:

Jules West-Erhabor

A mother’s love and strength is like no other 🙏🏾 A mother’s love and strength is like no other 🙏🏾 A mother’s love and strength is like no other 🙏🏾

Poonam Shah

A gentle woman who was beautiful inside and out who touched so many family and friends during her life. She... Read more A gentle woman who was beautiful inside and out who touched so many family and friends during her life. She was truly blessed ... Read more A gentle woman who was beautiful inside and out who... Read more

Josephine Harriman

Memories of Mama. Forever Loved.

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Jules West-Erhabor

Comments:

Jules West-Erhabor

Will miss you too ❤️ Will miss you too ❤️ Will miss you too ❤️

Kirsten Shoraka

Dear Jo. Although I did not know your mother that well, during those years my son practically lived at your house, and I could never get him home without having to physically remove him, your mother sometimes would stand outside and have a cigarette and laugh when I had to drag Aarian out of the house by force. She was always in good spirits, and although she was quite ill and already frail, she never complained about all the ruckus going on around her, caused by these kids, and my son often being the worst. She always told you to chill, when other mothers would have been lecturing and reproving. From these few little memories I can just tell what an incredible mother she must have been to you, and it is clear that she has passed her great spirit on to you, making your house the warmest and most welcoming place my son had the privilege of enjoying during his childhood. The boys are now all grown up and whilst it is sad that so much has changed, you can live in the comfort of your mother having given you a great great gift. The poem you have posted about not weeping at her grave, whilst this is very hard to do, (and althoug I did not know your mother that well) I can see how it is very befitting for her. You have honoured her memory in a beautiful way which shows who she was, and how she was such an amazing force in life. All my love, Kirsten

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Josephine Harriman

Jules West-Erhabor

Temi Akinwande

Our Dearest Mama,
Though your smile is for ever gone and your hand we can no longer touch, still we have many cherished memories as you were loved so much. Memories of you will be our keepsake from which we will never part, but God has you in his keeping, we have you in our hearts. Sadly missed but never forgotten.
Temi and Lola 🙏🏾🙏🏾❤️

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Josephine Harriman

Etẹ Harriman Ayida

Kirsten Shoraka

Jules West-Erhabor

Shared a heart

Jules West-Erhabor

Another Great, great soul, sits in paradise 🙏🏾
Thank you for the wonderful love you showed us.
When great trees fall,
rocks on distant hills shudder,
lions hunker down
in tall grasses,
and even elephants
lumber after safety.
When great trees fall
in forests,
small things recoil into silence,
their senses
eroded beyond fear.
When great souls die,
the air around us becomes
light, rare, sterile.
We breathe, briefly.
Our eyes, briefly,
see with
a hurtful clarity.
Our memory, suddenly sharpened,
examines,
gnaws on kind words
unsaid,
promised walks
never taken.
Great souls die and
our reality, bound to
them, takes leave of us.
Our souls,
dependent upon their
nurture,
now shrink, wizened.
Our minds, formed
and informed by their
radiance,
fall away.
We are not so much maddened
as reduced to the unutterable ignorance
of dark, cold
caves.
And when great souls die,
after a period peace blooms,
slowly and always
irregularly. Spaces fill
with a kind of
soothing electric vibration.
Our senses, restored, never
to be the same, whisper to us.
They existed. They existed.
We can be. Be and be
better. For they existed. 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾

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Josephine Harriman

Comments:

Josephine Harriman

How beautiful and so true. 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽❤️❤️❤️ How beautiful and so true. 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽❤️❤️❤️ How beautiful and so true. 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽❤️❤️❤️

Triumph Abigail Dominion

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Triumph Abigail Dominion

Poonam Shah

Dear Josephine, Brandon, Andre and Family
Sincere condolences for loss of Mama Clara. May she rest in eternal peace and may God give strength to you and the whole family to bear this huge loss. We hope she continue to shower you ALL with her spiritual love, guidance and blessings throughout your lives.
Bajul, Poonam, Saavan and Kavina 🕊🙏🏽🕊🙏🏽🕊🙏🏽🕊🙏🏽🕊

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Josephine Harriman

Simran Sandhu

To my beautiful Jo and the family
Sincere condolences for the loss of your dearest mama. May she rest in peace and may god give you all the strength to overcome this terrible loss . We will all miss her beautiful smile , sitting on the chair , always welcoming us and showering her blessing. Lots of love to u my dearest

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Josephine Harriman

Stan Mukoro

Aunty,
May your beautiful soul rest in perfect peace. I will miss our lunch dates at the boat club every time I came into town.
Hugs and kisses to mum in heaven.
Your nephew, Stan

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Josephine Harriman

Cassieline Williams

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Josephine Harriman

Comments:

Cassieline Williams

Heartfelt condolences to you and the family. May mama rest in perfect peace 🙏🏾 🌹 Heartfelt condolences to you and the family. May mama rest in perfect peace 🙏🏾 🌹 Heartfelt condolences to you and the family. May mama... Read more

Koyi Ugboma

Mama has been the most cheerful , entertaining and gorgeous lady I have ever met. Rest in perfect peace

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Josephine Harriman

Marcia & Lorna Lewis

My mum (Lorna) and I only knew Mama Clara for a few years, whenever we saw her, her eyes danced and her smile was wide, an immediate bond between us. What a pleasure it was to be in her presence, her warm spirit will always touch our hearts. Rest in peace Mama 💜

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Josephine Harriman

Dolores Odogwu-Edgal

Beautiful Aunty Clara... Unequivocally one of the most elegant, stylish, classy, women I’v ever known. She was literally like a second mum to me...She loved me and I loved her... Josephine’s friends were all her daughters. Our joy was her joy and our pain was her pain. The smile, the elation on her face every time we came to see her was palpable. As a teenager, I pretty much lived in Apapa boat club with Jo. Every single day of the holidays we were together and her mum and dad took me as their own. Even the holidays Jo didn’t come home but I did, I would go and spend time with them and the love was real. So real. They allowed us to be silly teenagers. Then, irritating young adults. Whenever I discussed a problem with Aunty Clara, she would listen attentively and just say, ‘don’t worry my daughter. It is well. Our mother Mary is in charge. I will pray for you’....And you know what, I never worried again... I knew she was right coz I knew she had direct access to our Heavenly Family. She was a living Saint. A woman after Gods heart. A brilliant cut diamond who’s light illuminated the way for all her children- those that grew in her tummy and those of us who grew in her heart.....Yeah! She was stellar! And yeah! This one is hard... But I know she’s home. Free from any pain. She’s finally at peace and reunited with her husband and greatest heartbeat; dancing and singing with the Angels.... I love you Aunty.... RIP Mrs Clara Edewor Harriman....You will never be forgotten. And, don’t worry about Josephine and your boys - we got them!. ❤️💕❤️💕

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Josephine Harriman

Tuoyo Harriman

Aunty may your soul rest in perfect peace, thanks for the fun and laughter growing up. Love, your nephew Tuoyo x
Chris, Mighty, Tony and Jo, may God give you the fortitude to bear Aunty’s loss knowing she has gone to a better place to Our Father’s House. Love from your cousin for Vanessa and Matthew xxx

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