Adunni Morenike Oyelaran
She taught us to look up.
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Biographical note
On the life of Adunni.
Adunni Morenike Oyelaran was born in Abeokuta in March 1946, the second of five children, and died in Ibadan in October 2024. In between she taught for thirty-nine years, ran a school for seventeen of them, raised three children, and kept a garden that half the street had a key to.
Her father was a court clerk and her mother sold cloth; the house was full of paper and full of people, and she grew up assuming that both were normal. She read anything with a spine. When the mission school offered a scholarship to the teacher training college at Ilesa she took it without asking anyone, and told her parents afterwards. They forgave her by Christmas.
Lately received
Messages left for Adunni
You looked at me properly when nobody else did. I grew towards it. Thank you, Ma.
Ronke Adesina, Former pupil
Twenty-eight years in the office next to yours and I never heard you complain once. Rest, my friend. The roof is still fixed.
Comfort Ajayi, Colleague
Our children grew up on your veranda. We do not know what Tuesdays are for now.
The Okonkwo family, Neighbours
OYELARAN, Adunni
1946 - 2024
SERIES: PAPERS & LIFE
“The collection of Adunni. Preserved in the permanent registry for future generations.”