When Ruth Elton first set foot in Nigeria in 1937, at simply three years previous, she was only a baby following her missionary mother and father.
She might by no means have recognized then that Ilesa, Osun state, would turn into her everlasting dwelling. For 9 many years, she walked village paths, preached the gospel, and fought to save lots of moms and infants. She spent her life in villages throughout Kogi and the southwest, instructing, therapeutic, preaching, and nurturing kids.
Simply days earlier than her 91st birthday, she handed away, closing a life that was nothing wanting extraordinary.
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Early Life
Ruth Elton was born on September 7, 1933, in the UK. She was the one baby of missionary mother and father, Sidney Granville Elton (Pa Elton) and his spouse, Hannah. Her father had moved the household to Nigeria in 1937 to help Apostle Joseph Ayo Babalola in the course of the nice revival that swept throughout Yorubaland.
Whereas Babalola blazed with prophetic hearth, Pa Elton supplied instructing, mentoring, and discipleship to the younger Pentecostal motion. Pa Elton, who’s known as one of many founding fathers of Pentecostalism in Nigeria naturalised as a Nigerian.
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Though she spent just a few years in England in a vocational faculty. Alongside her mother and father, she served as a Christian missionary throughout Egbe, Okene, Koton Karfe, and different elements of Kogi, Ondo, Oyo, and Osun States.
As her father mentored new church leaders like Benson Idahosa, E. A. Adeboye, David Oyedepo & others within the ’60s & ’70s, little Ruth embraced the nation utterly and have become fluent in Ebira and Yoruba.
Missionary Work
Her mission was targeted on well being and decreasing maternal deaths in locations like Egbe, Okene, Koton-Karfe & areas. She devoted herself to stemming toddler mortality, advocating higher maternal well being, and difficult dangerous conventional practices like toddler force-feeding. She additionally taught stitching, cared for kids, and unfold the gospel tirelessly.
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The Ebira folks gave her the title Omotere, that means “the one who does good.” In 1975, Ruth renounced her British citizenship as there was no provision for twin citizenship then. She naturalised as a full Nigerian, and her life grew to become rooted right here. Her mom, Hannah, handed in 1983 and her father in 1987. Each had been buried in Ilesa.
Ruth Elton suffered risks too. She was as soon as crushed unconscious by robbers and suffered extreme accidents from the assault throughout one among her mission journeys within the bush of Kogi a number of years in the past. Her well being suffered significantly since then, however the incident didn’t change her resolve and fervour for the gospel of the dominion of God, which she preached passionately.
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Ruth remained single all her life, devoting herself solely to mission work and neighborhood service. She was additionally a custodian of her father’s prophecies, holding firmly to his imaginative and prescient that, although Nigeria could also be related to corruption for a season, the nation would at some point be recognized worldwide for righteousness and prosperity.
Loss of life (1933–2025)
After a few years of missionary work, she ultimately retired to Ilesa the place she lived earlier than her dying on Saturday, August thirtieth, at her household home, Sharon compound, Alafia Bamin Quarters in Ilesa, Osun State. She’s anticipated to be buried beside her mother and father in Ilesa.
She was the final surviving hyperlink to Ilesa’s once-thriving British neighborhood, which included a circle of missionaries, colonial officers, miners, and merchants who had made the city their base way back to the 1910s.
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