Celebrated American poet, Maya Angelou, once said: “A great soul serves everyone all the time. A great soul never dies. It brings us together again and again.” Without a doubt, Angelou’s profound words remind one of the life and times of Ibidunni Ighodalo, the beautiful event planner, who died in 2020.
The ex-beauty queen died in the early hours of Sunday, June 14, 2020 in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, a month to her 40th birthday. She had breathed her last while on an assignment to set up a COVID-19 isolation centre for the Rivers State Government. For good reason, since she passed, Ibidunni has continued to live in the hearts of many, especially her charismatic preacher widower, Pastor Ituah Ighodalo, and other family members who have continued to organise memorial services in her honour at the popular Holy Trinity Church, Ikoyi Lagos. As usual, the event again held Tuesday June 14 at the church, amidst an outpouring of emotions.
While alive, Ighodalo, who ran Elizabeth R, an upscale event planning company, was strikingly beautiful and blessed with graceful steps. In spite of what life had thrust at her, the former beauty queen chose to be happy. She lived her life for humanity and many would have thought she did not have any worries in life.
Indeed, she never wished to part, forever, with her loved ones when she died that Sunday morning of June 14, at the young age of 39. The former beauty queen had wanted to live longer to see her dreams come true. And she had them aplenty, including marking her 40th birthday. In fact, but for fate, the late co-pastor of Trinity House Church in Lagos and founder of Ibidunni Ighodalo Foundation would have, in her wonted style, used the occasion of her 40th birthday to, as usual, touch lives.