Obituary: Gwendolyn Midlo Hall (1929 – 2022)

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Toyin Falola

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Sep 28, 2022, 1:45:50 PM9/28/22
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Kwabena Akurang-Parry

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Oct 1, 2022, 6:38:13 AM10/1/22
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Gwen, RIP. Your contributions to our story remains evergreen. 
Kwabena Akurang-Parry 

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Toyin Falola <toyin...@austin.utexas.edu>
Sent: September 28, 2022 3:30 PM
To: dialogue <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>; Yoruba Affairs <yoruba...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Obituary: Gwendolyn Midlo Hall (1929 – 2022)
 
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Assensoh, Akwasi B.

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Oct 3, 2022, 5:53:58 PM10/3/22
to Toyin Falola, dialogue, Yoruba Affairs, Nnaemeka, Obioma G, Damien Ejigiri, Onyumbe Lukongo, afaug...@yahoo.com, Ucheoma Nwagbara, Kwame Karikari, doy...@gmail.com, Yvette Alex-Assensoh, Stephen Agyepong, noahk...@gmail.com, Godwin Ohiwerei, rig...@yahoo.com, Nana AB
                                                      In Memoriam: Lady Gwen's Passing: Questioning both "Death & Breast Cancer"

“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” 1 Corinthians 15:55. These biblical words came to mind as both a fellow Historian and an ordained Baptist Minister, as I thought of "Lady Gwen" (Emerita Professor Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, 1929-2022). With comic relief (of which Lady Gwen was fond of), I also questioned breast cancer, one of the two "wicked" illnesses (including stroke) that led to her death at age 95: "Breast cancer, what did you need from the breast of a 95-year old Lady Gwen?" I'm also wondering, if my own aged mother -- back in Ghana, at age 100 in January of 2022 -- still has to worry about death stinging her with breast cancer in the very "tired" but precious breast(s), from which my six siblings and I were, respectively, fed as hungry babies until we reached toddlers' age, with teeth to eat solid food! 

Accidental Meeting With Lady Gwen:

As a graduate student in History at Tulane University in the Spring of 1981, I met Professor Hall for the first time when she visited the New Orleans campus of her alma mater (Tulane University) for a one-week stay to participate in a seminar. She did so because she had, much earlier, studied History at the famous Sophie Newcomb College of Tulane University. Considering her both dignified in age and as a "senior" in the History profession, I did not feel comfortable (in my African politeness) calling her simply as Gwen, and she did not like me calling her as "Dr. Hall". So, I humorously chose and settled for "Lady Gwen" for many years, since then. We shared a long laugh in two things: polygamy, and the fact that my father had six wives and many children. She wondered if polygamy was still alive in Ghana;  that was when I told her about my father. She then said, with a chuckle, that she had her own type of polygamy, having been married twice (in 1949 and in 1956, respectively). "At least, it was not polyandry, like the women do in India", she said, with another chuckle..

Suddenly, before I left her, there were two important pieces of advice from Lady Gwen, as I kept on going back to talk with her at the one-week Tulane University seminar. Eventually, we sat down on (her last day of the seminar) for both of us to grab some lunch in the "Green Wave's" cafeteria. In our much longer conversation, she asked whether I belonged to any historical organizations, and I said yes: I named my student memberships in the American Historical Association (AHA) as well as in the African Studies Association (ASA), which was at the time headquartered at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Her two pieces of advice for me were to make sure of getting lifetime memberships in professional organizations; then, she added that getting to know some foreign languages is both fun and useful, further telling me: "You pay once, and that's it." Therefore, when Big Sister (Professor) Obi Nnaemeka urged me to take lifetime ASA membership, it was much easier to do so. Furthermore, I eventually polished my French and Swedish in order to test out of New York University (NYU) doctoral foreign language requirements (instead of sitting in classrooms for either one or two semester(s). Lady Gwen herself boasted of Anglophone, Francophone and Lusophone expertise. It was charming to hear her --during her seminar break --conversing with a French person, then turning to a Portuguese one, to an English scholar and, finally, starting another conversation with someone in her native Spanish. What a glamorous way of true living, not just existing, Lady Gwen!! 

Now Lady Gwen is gone at a ripe age of 95, just like Queen Elizabeth II, but only one year younger than the British Monarch. I wished she had also passed away, like the Queen, "of old age". No matter what, may Lady Gwen, as well, Rest In Peace (R.I.P.) until we all -- as Historians -- meet at Heaven's gate.

A.B. Assensoh.         



       
From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Kwabena Akurang-Parry <kap...@hotmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, October 1, 2022 2:32 AM
To: Toyin Falola <toyin...@austin.utexas.edu>; dialogue <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>; Yoruba Affairs <yoruba...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [External] USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Obituary: Gwendolyn Midlo Hall (1929 – 2022)
 
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Harrow, Kenneth

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Oct 3, 2022, 10:44:16 PM10/3/22
to Toyin Falola, dialogue, Yoruba Affairs, Nnaemeka, Obioma G, Damien Ejigiri, Onyumbe Lukongo, afaug...@yahoo.com, Ucheoma Nwagbara, Kwame Karikari, doy...@gmail.com, Yvette Alex-Assensoh, Stephen Agyepong, noahk...@gmail.com, Godwin Ohiwerei, rig...@yahoo.com, Nana AB
thanks for the wonderful memories you shared
ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

har...@msu.edu

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Assensoh, Akwasi B. <aass...@indiana.edu>
Sent: Monday, October 3, 2022 5:47 PM
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Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Obituary: Gwendolyn Midlo Hall (1929 – 2022)
 
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