My dear beloved father PA JACOB MOMODU died on June 14, 1973, but left me with two older Brothers who instantly became my new fathers, SIMEON ABIODUN and OLADELE AJAYI. One of my Sisters FEYISARA AJAYI-ADENIRAN also became my second mother though my Mum was alive at the time… Brother SIMEON and I were same father and Brother OLADELE, (seen in this picture with me and his daughter FUNMI), and I were same mother. My Brothers both lived in the US.

OLADELE, (I’m AYOBAMI DELE), left Nigeria after completing his A-level at Government College Ibadan in 1965. His academic exploits in the US were legendary. He climaxed his sojourn with a PhD in Materials Science/Solid State Physics from the prestigious Stanford University in California, where he was supervised by the Nobel laureate and father of the Transistor, PROFESSOR WILLIAM SHOCKLEY (a story for another day). My Brother encountered RACISM but stood firm and got introduced to pan-Africanism. He joined the movement and attended the Pan-Africanist conference in Dar es Salaam in June 1974, where he met The President of Tanzania (formerly Tangayika) and a foremost pan-Africanist, The Mwalimu, DR JULIUS NYERERE…

My Brother was subsequently recruited by then Vice Chancellor, a phenomenal academic and administrator, PROFESSOR HEZEKIAH OLUWASANMI, to teach Physics at the University of Ife, around 1976. He had a flat at Fajuyi Hall and I lived with him till we later moved to Staff Quarters on Road 9. This was where and how my interests in academia got ignited and aroused. He was a lecturer at the University of Surrey, in Guildford, England, when he sponsored me to travel abroad for the first time ever in 1985. My Brother embraced a lot of my friends and family members as his own family and inspired us to excel in life…

Two days ago, some of us showed up for him in Austin, Texas, at the wedding of his daughter MOYO and her handsome husband FELIX…

Now at over 80, the young fruits he planted and raised have germinated and are now bearing fruits; a big lesson to us all that we should labor to invest in others…
WHO KNOWS TOMORROW?