A Celebration of Life for N. Louise Willingham, Queen Mother Nana Abena Amoah I, Sunrise: August 29, 1936, Sunset: October 12, 2010, Saturday, October 16, 2010, 3:00 P.M., First African Methodist Episcopal Church, 2046 Richard Allen Lane, Southeast, Atlanta, Georgia 30316, The Reverend David R. Bishop, IV, Pastor, Officiating

Sunrise: August 29, 1936

Sunset: October 12, 2010

Saturday, October 16, 2010 3:00P.M.
FIRST AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH
2046 Richard Allen Lane, Southeast Atlanta, Georgia 30316
The Reverend David R. Bishop, IV, Pastor, Officiating

''No person has the right to rain on your dreams."
Marian Wright Edelman
''If you live a good life, you enjoy its sweetness."
Akan, Ghana Proverb
''What we are remembered by is the work we have done."
Ibo, Nigeria Proverb

The Passing ofA Day
by: N. Louise Willingham
I awoke this morning, The Sun was shining Not by an act of the Legislature, But by an act of God.
Soon a warm spring rain fell Not through the will of the scientists,
But through the will of God.
Then the flowers began to bloom Not programmed by a computer,
But because God made it so.
Soon the twilight came And another, beautiful, wonderful day
had passedWithout the help of Man.

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PRAYER

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I give you this one thought to keep-

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I am with you still - I do not sleep.

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I am a thousand winds that blow, I am the diamond glints on the snow,

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I am the sunlight on ripened grain,

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I am the gentle autumn's rain, When you awaken in the morning hush,

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I am the swift, uplifting rush Of quiet birds in circled flight,

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I am the soft stars that shine at night, Do not think of me as goneI am with you still- in each new dawn.


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The Musical Prelude ............... .............................. .. ........................................... Dr. Bernard Clay A Medley of Favorites Hymns
The Processional
The Call to Celebration ...................................................................... Pastor David R. Bishop, IV
The Opening Hymn ................................................................................. "How Great Thou Art" AMEC Hymnal #68
The Prayer of Comfort
The Choral Selection and Solo .......................... ............................................ "Going Up Yonder"
Scripture Lessons: The Old Testament, Psalms 23 The Epistle, Ephesians 4:1-16 The Gospel, John 11:17-44
The Gloria Patri
The Traditional Ghanain Funeral Rites
The Honorable lbgo Rites
The Reading of Obituary (Silently)
The Reflections (Please limit to 3 minutes) .................................................. Family and Friends
The Musical Selection/Solo ........................................................... "His Eye Is On The Sparrow" AMEC Hymnal #435
The Eulogy ................................ ....... ................................................... Pastor David R. Bishop, IV
The Congretional Response ............................................... "Hold to God's Unchanging Hands" AMEC Hymnal #513
The Remarks ............................................................................................... Murray Brothers Staff
The Family Acknowledgements
The Recessional ................................................................ "When The Saints Go Marching In"

N. Louise Willingham, a retired Library Administrator and Library Consultant, was born and raised

in Washington, D.C., where she completed the public schools of that Capital city, graduating in1954,

the year of the historic "Brown vs Board of Eduation" school desegregation case. (She was therefore

a product of the Nation's capital segregrated school system). She attended Morgan State College in

Baltimore, Maryland, graduating in 1958. At her college graduation, the commencement speaker

was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who two years earlier had successfully led (along with Rosa Parks)

the Montgomery Bus Boycott, beginning America's Civil Rights Movement. --(So you see she was

indeed a child of the 60's). After college she returned to the Washington, D.C. area. During these

I

turbulent times she was also active in the Civil Rights struggle in the D.C. area, attending the "March

on Washington" in August 1963, where Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his historic "I Have a Dream"

speech. In 1970 she moved to Atlanta, GA., after being awarded a fellowship to attend Atlanta

University.

Ms. Willingham held a Bachelors Degree in History and Geography from Morgan State College, Baltimore, Maryland and a Masters Degree in Library Science and Information Technology from Atlanta University, Atlanta, Ga. In addition she holds a Municipal Management Certificate from the University of Georgia; an Archival Certificate from Atlanta University; and a Cataloging Certificate from the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. She studied and had a working knowledge of the Latin, French, Spanish, Russian, and Swahili languages.

During her long career in Public Library Administration she served in many professional capacities. Just to name a few-- Cataloger, National Library of Medicine, Wash., D.C. (while there she received
a fellowship to study the Russian language); Editor, Library of Congress, Wash., D.C.; Atlanta Public Library, Atlanta, Ga.: Curator- Black History Collection: Director of Cataloging: Director of Technical Operations: and Assistant Library Director. Professor, Atlanta University. President, Metropolitan Atlanta Library Association (first Black woman to hold position). Chairperson, Governors' Task Force on the Preservation of Library Materials. Delegate, Georgia Pre-White House Conference on Libraries. Delegate, International Federation of Library Associations, Nairobi, Kenya (1984) and Paris, France (1989). Her writings have appeared in many professional journals. Information on her professional career can be found in the book, "The Black Librarian in the Southeast" by Annette Phinazee, NCCU Press, Durham, N.C.,1980.

Ms. Willingham had a parallel career in African and African-American History and Culture. A few of

her cultural endeavors include- Board Member, Curator and one of the founders of the Phoenix Arts

and Theatre Company (the first non-profit community Black arts cultural center in Atlanta); Information

Specialist, Fulton County Arts Council; Researcher and Programmer, Hammonds House Galleries

and Resource Center ofAfrican American Art; African Cultural Advisor, 1996 Atlanta Olympics; Board



Member, Katherine Dunham Dance Institute; Member, High Museum ofArt Community Relations

Committee. She was also an avid collector of African and African American art, as well as Black

memorabilia. She was a philatelist and one of the founders of one of the first African American

stamp collectors clubs in the U.S. She has lectured and exhibited in these areas. Information on her

collections can be found in the book, "Images of Blacks in American Culture", by Jesse Carney

Smith. Greenwood Press, 1988. She was an early member of the African-American Family History

Association, for which she organized some of the first Black History Tours of the Southeast. As a

creative writer, she wrote and published poetry and short stories.

Ms. Willingham began travelling internationally in the 1960's to Canada and the Caribbean. She continued her travels to Europe and the continent of Africa in 1984. In 1992, she became an Independent Travel Consultant, where she organized several cultural tours to Africa and travelled there many times. Some highlights of her travels were: 1984 -an African safari in Kenya (East Africa); 1992- travelled to Nigeria (West Africa) to attend the first Worldwide Conference on Black Women at the University of Nigeria; 1995- attended Fespaco Black Film Festival in Burkina Faso (West Africa)- (the 'Cannes' festival for Black filmmakers throughout the world). In addition to her travels, she participated in various international endeavors here at home, such as serving as a hostess for the Georgia Council for International Visitors.
Upon her retirement from Fulton County in 1991, Ms. Willingham continued her professional activities on a consultant basis. She continued her travels in Europe and Africa, as well as the U.S., Canada, and the Caribbean. In recent years, she had been given the priviledge and recognition by her peers, friends, and family- as a "Living Legend" (2006-2007) in the 2006 issue of the magazine My Buddy Notes: Creative Voices oftheAfricanAmerican Presence, published in her hometown of Washington, D.C.;- invited to be a "Woman of Wisdom" for the 2006-2007 Spelman College Oral History Project "Their Memories, Our Treasure: Conversations with African American Women of Wisdom;- 2006", invited by the Oba (King) of Oshogboland, in Nigeria (West Africa) to be conferred with an honorary Chieftancy title "in recognition of her love of African art and her work with African art and artists". In August 2005, she received the great honor of being Enstooled as a Queenmother in the West African country of Ghana (where she hoped to work with the establishment of libraries and the training of librarians for small communities). Her Ghanaian name is QueenmotherAbenaAmoah I.
In August 2006 she was honored on the occasion of her 70th birthday by family and friends, many from the international community, for her life accomplishments and contributions. Proclamations were given from the Georgia State Senate by Senator Vincent Fort, and from the Atlanta City Council by Councilwoman Cleta Winslow. In October 2006, the "Louise Willingham Archives" was established at the Auburn Avenue Research Library in Atlanta, Georgia. The archives of her writings and other personal papers have been deposited in the library for future use by students, researchers and scholars. In December 2005, a PatriCian of her family DNA was traced through the "African Ancestry" database at Howard University in Washington, D.C. The test result revealed a 100/o match with the lbgo people of Nigeria.
Ms. Willingham became a member of FirstAME on March 30, 2003 under the stewardship of her dearAunt (in-law) Ms. Mary Margaret Cofer. She is the mother of two sons- Roland Joseph Brown, Jr. and Leo Martin Willingham, Jr.; three granddaughters- Tonie, Asha, and Alexis; and a very special niece, Andrea Peyton, and her two children Britney and Nyle. On December 25, 2009 Queenmother Abena Amoah I was united in a traditional Royal Asante Marriage Blessing to Chief Oduro Sarto Kantanka, II, also of Ghana (West Africa). They planned to be Bi-continental, living 6 months in Atlanta and 6 months in Ghana.
Ms. Willingham was a two-time cancer survivor. She gave all praises for her life and her accomplishments to ALMIGHTY GOD.

THE. COUNCIL OF GHANAIAN TRADITIONAL RULE.KS OF GEORGIA
FARE.WE.LL TO A QUE.E.N MOTHE.K
Nana Abena Amoah 1
Ghanaian Funeral R.it~s will be held at 2:j0pm
5ecause the Ghanaian people believe in lite after death, these gifts will be given to the Queenmother to support her on herjourne3: A special cloth to keep her warm A handkerchief to wipe the sweat from her brow Mone3 -Cedi, Ghanaian dollar, it she needs to purchase an3thing on herjourne!:J A gold ring to identit3 her ro3al status
R.oll Call of the Council will take place during theService
51ack and red are worn to symbolize mourning. The cloth of the Chief is dropped from his shoulder to show respect. The ceremonial (empt_y) chair and shoes are present because our sister continues to sit among the Chiefs and Queens, even though she is no longer with us in bod3.
Nananom Surrounds Cask~t Chiefs Queen mothers Linguists
}n the R.oll Call of Chiefs and Queens her name will be called three times, ''Calling tor Nana Abena Amoah 1"
The Chief dispatches a linguist to ask the head of the family, "Where is Nana Abena Amoah 1?"
The Head of the F amil_y answers, " Nana has left tor her Ancestral Home, and hopes not to return."
The Chief responds, "What a fity!"
The Council will make the "V" sign over the casket, using the right hand, second and third finger, encouraging continued sate travel on her spiritualjourne_y to the Ancestral Village.

A Thank You Prayer
by: N. Louise Willingham
A Springtime rain A Summer's breeze The beauty ofFall A Winter snowflake.
These things He has given me.
Birds that sing Flowers that bloom The warm of the Sun The shining light of the Moon
These things He has given me.
The Dawn of the day The Twilight of night The shade of a tree The cool water of the stream,
These things He has given me.
Eyes to see Fingers to touch And most ofall A heart to love.
These things He has given me.
Thank you dear God For all these beautiful, wonderful things You have given me.

The Paramount Chief, Barima Kwame Nkyi, XII and the people of the Assin Apimaniam Traditional Area in the West African country of Ghana extended the great honor toN. Louise Willingham to become one of their Queenmothers, Nana Abena Amoah I. Historically, the Queenmother is very important in the culture of the people. Because it is a matrilineal society, with descendents or inheritance through the mother's family or female line, the Queenmother's role and jurisdiction is one of high esteem -culturally, spiritually, and politically. In traditional society she is usually the King's mother, maternal aunt, his sister, or maternal cousin. When there is a need for a new king, she appoints one from a male relative on her side of the family. She also holds her own court. When another is invited to become a Queenmother, who is not born in the family, (or, received through inheritance), she is still accorded all the rights, privileges, and respect as a traditional Queenmother, because she has been so honored in recognition of her knowledge, skills, and contributions to the community. This designation allows the people, in their own way, to show their gratitude and respect for her commitment and contributions to them. From the ancient Ashanti Kingdom, Nana Abena Amoah I took as her personal Adinkra Symbol The Ram's Horn; DWENNIMMEN (djwin-knee-mann) meaning "strength of mind, body, soul , humility, wisdom and learning."

Board Members of First African Methodist Episcopal Church

Roland~ ffaB'=ters

Leo Willingham, Jr.

Vandell Bruce

Marvin Walker

William Bruce

The Walker-Brown-Willingham family expresses eep gratitude for the many acts of kindness, expressions of love and condolences during this time of sorrow. We are grateful to everyone as we remember our loved one and celebration of her life.

I MURRAY BROTHERS FUNERAL HOME, INC.
404-349-3000 1199 Utoy Springs Road, Southwest
(com er ofCascade Rd, near 1-285)
Atlanta, Georgia 30331

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