A requiem Mass has been held at the Our Lady of Annunciation Cathedral (OLA) in Tamale in honour of the late, Sister Kate Jirapa Dery PNA, of Court 12 Tamale, who died on 15th April, 2016 at the Tamale Teaching Hospital.
Rev. Fr. Anthony Kankam Frimpong, a Curate of the Cathedral who officiated the requiem Mass, likened life and death to a farmer’s seed which must die and rot in the soil in order to bear fruits, assuring the bereaved family and mourners that death was not an end but the beginning of a new life in the Lord.
He encouraged the grieving children and family of the deceased, to take consolation in the Lord, declaring that “the work of our mother, sister and relative Kate, identified her as a true Christian”. He also eulogized her as “someone who depended on God, lived the gospel and the beatitudes, adding that she was born, baptised, confirmed and died in the Lord”.
Rev. Fr. Frimpong advised mourners to be steadfast in their faith and let their Christian identity show forth where ever they find themselves as examplefied by the deceased whom he praised for not only accepting postings to deprived districts, but most importantly, identified herself with the people of God at her duty posts which included among others, Bolgatanga, Diare, Karaga, Zabzugu and Gushiegu where she spent most of her working life as a Community Health Nurse, Midwife and a Public Health Nurse. He also urged Christians to live worthy lives even in this material world, but cautioned them not to do so to the detriment of their souls, saying “the soul of the just resides in the Lord”.
A tribute by the decease’s children Shiela B. Zinale, a sister also of Court 12 and Bernice A. Zinale, spoke of their “heavy hearts and a profound sense of feeling of great loss and pain”, eulogizing their late mother for nursing and equipping them with the greatest weapon of knowing God and the gift of prayer, describing her as “a friend, sister, mentor, role model and most importantly, a great mother who also played the role of a father”.
A tribute by Court 12 read by the Noble Lady, Sister Joyce Wussah, eulogized the deceased for her contributions both in cash and in kind to the Noble Order since her initiation on 18th February, 2006. She noted with pride that two years after her initiation, the deceased wrote the Lower Degree Examination and passed with distinction.
She added that by dint of hard work even as a distant Sister, the deceased was elevated to the rank of Honourary Past Noble Lady and again to Honourary Past Noble Advisor in December, 2012 and 2015 respectively. The tribute also recognized her immeasurable contributions to the Sacred Heart parish in Tamale where she worshipped and was a member of the Laity Council for four years and most especially, the Christ the King parish at Gushiegu where she worked rendering services to humanity and Mother Church prior to her retirement from the Ghana Health Service in December, 2014.
Other tributes were from the decease’s grand children and her bossom friend, Madam Patricia A. Awo, the District Health Directorate at Gushiegu, the Tamale branch of the Bekuone Pogyaar Association (her Clan Association) and the Tamale branch of the retired Nurses’ and Midwives Club of Ghana who various eulogized her for her loving care, warmth, professionalism, dependability and hard work.
Rev. Fr. Thaddeus Kuusah, the Executive Secretary of the Northern Ghana Peace Council and a priest-in-residence at the Sacred Heart Parish who concelebrated the Mass with Very Rev. Monsignor Andrew Tendan, a former Rector of the St. Charles Minor Seminary Senior High School and Formator at the St. Victor’s Major Seminary in Tamale, performed the final commendation on the mortal remains of the deceased before it was conveyed to her house en-route to Nandom-Ko in the Wa Diocese where she was buried after traditional mourning followed by a memorial and thanksgiving Mass at the Nativity of Our Lady Catholic Church.
The requiem Mass was attended by scores of High Officers and members of the Knights and Ladies of Marshall in Tamale, Knights and Ladies Auxiliary of St. John’s International, and other Church Societies as well as the family, friends, the Catholic faithful and former colleagues of the deceased from the Ghana Health Service.
The late Sister Kate Jirapa Dery, aged 62, a retired Principal Nursing Officer (Public Health) and a former elected member of the Karaga District Assembly in the Northern Region, was the widow of Mr. Cuthbeth Allan Zinale of blessed memory. She died after a short illness and was survived by two daughters and three grand children.
BY: BRO. FRANCIS EKOW MONNIE