You have left me feeling alone, yet I am grateful, my son’ – 86-year-old mother of Herman Chinery-Hesse says in tribute

O Herman, my Little Pet, Nnutsor as I affectionately called you, my dear wonderful son who I could count on for protection from anything that would make me feel insecure after the death of your father, Nii Tettey!

I never dreamt I would live to experience such a big slap. A mother should not have to bury her son. But that has been my lot. This test imposed on me, like Job, would not shake my faith in the God I worship and adore.

I know you would not have left me if He had not—I am convinced—needed you for higher service in His presence. Herman, my heart stopped when I received the terrible news, and yet I realized I had to remain strong to give you the send-off you deserve.

Your last words to me a few hours before you left us were that I should not let anything worry me, said with your usual broad smiling face. I take them seriously, and promise I truly will remain calm until we meet again.

The accolades and roses which have been thrown at you since your demise and the many who have stepped forward to freely confess how positively you touched their lives all validate my sense of pride that I was the vessel selected to bring you into this world.

I watched you blossom to be a man, a husband, a father, a provider, a thought leader, and a proud grandfather. You accomplished many things, driven by that curious brain of yours. You were your dad’s son with the same passion for creating harmony around yourself.

You followed your own star, and as a family, we gave you the space to exercise your unique creative juices. In the process, you brought great honor and glory to the family, and for that and so many other things you did for us, we remain forever grateful.

Now you have left us, and I sit in sorrow, feeling so abandoned, trying to keep a brave face. You have left me feeling alone, yet I am grateful, my son, for the time we had together, insufficient as it looks.

Farewell, my dear Herman. May the winds of Heaven blow softly on you till we meet again, in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Now rest in peace, my dear son, and remember your mother in death as you remembered me so lovingly in life. Yaawor Ojogbaa. Amen.