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On a personal note, it gives me unbounded joy to know that my husband Sebastian, our first son and I were around during the last few weeks of Ambu’s life. He spent a lot of time with us. For some inexplicable reason, moved with tenderness because of his many frustrations, wanting to do something to make him happy, I told him I wanted to cook for him; and to the question as to what he would like, he replied, “Vegetable soup.” So it was that on the eve of Christmas, I prepared what my father-in-law, Papa Clement would normally called “Ntagbu Agbishi. – a delicious soup with all the accoutrements and brought to him. No doubt, Ambu had enjoyed it for he was said to have remarked that this was his Last Supper. Our presence this Christmas period brought a lot of joy into his life. Driving himself, Ambu visited often, and in his characteristic style, spoke openly about many things. Perhaps, had I been in a more mystical mode, I would have read more meaning into the manner of burial he told me to remember that he wanted. Unwilling to dwell on the morbid, I brushed aside his words about death and burial with jokes about new technologies that would enable people to live forever. Was he aware that his crossing over was imminent? Who knows! But certainly, from his spirit-being, there must have been a consciousness of approaching death which his physical consciousness did not grasp, although his random words proclaimed that death was at hand. But who can decipher the workings of the Spirit? Who knows the inscrutable mind of our God?

Ultimately, there was a certain grace and honor that were part of the essence of the man called Ambrose. He was happy that my eldest son was doing his wine -carrying ceremonies. He accompanied us to the Mmi Ukwu ceremonies. He approved of Okechukwu Jr.’s choice of bride. Graciously, Ambu gave us time to complete the ceremonies without any distracting, tragic drama. For this, we are grateful to the inner spirit of the man called Ambrose. Because Ambu loved a good dramatic story, he laughed hilariously over the new Imo State Governor’s epic, legal fight with the Okada group of drivers, as told to me by a driver. Until then, he had not heard the story. At heart a story teller, Ambu laughed easily and he could also make you laugh. Whoever can tell humorous stories and is able to make people laugh has a good heart, and AmbroseChukwudi Mezu had one. In passionate debates, he would thump his chest and loudly declare: “AmbroseMezu, I am a Man! Indeed, by all standards, Ambu was a man’s man.

Our journey on earth is bound to come to an end one day. On January 6, 2008, for the Man called Ambrose, his time was up. As Pope Paul VI lay dying, he called the earth, “a magnificent but sad and tragic world.” Magnificent world, yes indeed! because it is the handiwork of our Good God; a sad and tragic world, yes! but we humans make it so because we refuse to be kind, to follow the principle of do unto others as we would like to have done unto us. Perhaps, with the passing of the Man called Ambrose, we here today will learn to have a heart that beats with care for others. That is the core of Christianity – love towards others: