A doctor who spent her life helping the people of Nigeria

I have pinched this from the Portadown Times. Esther was a dear friend to Bassey and me. We worked together for many years at Ekpene Obom.

A doctor who spent her life helping the people of Nigeria

THE death took place recently of Dr Esther Davis OBE, who was loved and respected for her medical work, both in the Portadown area and on the continent of Africa where she spent a major part of her life.

Dr Davis was born in Enniscorthy in 1919, a member of a Quaker family prominent in the business life of County Wexford for centuries. She qualified as a medical doctor in Belfast in the 1940s, and after a spell in the Hadden practice in Portadown, she went to West Africa as a missionary with the Qua Iboe Mission (now Mission Africa).

Her entire life there was devoted to the service to the people of Nigeria where she saw the country develop from being a British colony to achieving full independence. She worked for many years in a leprosy hospital and became a considerable authority on the disease, receiving study fellowships from the World Health Organisation to develop her skills in India and Ethiopia. Dr Davis was awarded the OBE in recognition of her contribution to the control of leprosy.

She worked from time to time in general practice for brief periods in Craigavon and Lurgan and finally retired after 50 years in Africa to Portadown - at Village Walk in Killicomaine. She remained tireless in promoting the work of her former patients and colleagues in Africa through ‘The Friends of Ekpene Oborn’ and paid regular visits to Nigeria until relatively recently.

Until a few months ago, she was physically active and was a familiar figure in her little blue car in and around the Portadown area. Thanks to the carers from Social Services and devoted neighbours, she was able to remain at her home and in full command of her mental faculties, until her sudden death at the age of almost 92 last month.

A faithful member of the Society of Friends, Dr Davis’s funeral at Moyallon Meeting House was an occasion of thanksgiving for a life well spent. Many tributes were paid to her deep Christian faith and its expression to her service in both Ireland and Nigeria. It bore testimony to the affection in which she was held by those among whom she had ministered for so many years.

Dr Davis is remembered by her neighbours and former patients, by her wide family circle, including her many nephews and nieces from the Davis, Chapman, Cuthbert and Robinson families, and her youngest surviving sister Mrs Helen Robinson of Dublin.

REST IN PEACE MMA DOCTOR, WE LOVE YOU VERY MUCH!