08 Jan On This Day in UB History: January 8 (Rita Wild Koroma)
Rita Wild Koroma, 87, passed away on January 8, 2011, in Oxford, England. She served as a missionary teacher in Sierra Leone 1954-1962.
Rita was the daughter of Rev. Fred Wild, who pastored UB churches in the Midwest for 48 years in South Dakota, Nebraska, and Illinois. She graduated from Huntington University, and later earned a Masters in History from Northwestern University.
Rita arrived in Sierra Leone during the early stages of Centennial High School, working alongside principal E. DeWitt Baker. She taught at the school for ten years, and served one year as interim principal while the Bakers were on furlough. In 1963 she married Adams Koroma, and spent the rest of her days in England.
Alexander Nixon
Posted at 06:58h, 01 MarchI knew Rita when I was at Oxford she was a lovely lady with a deep faith. She was also a good friend, and I still think of her fondly, and look forward to seeing her in heaven.
Lord James Radcliffe, Titular Earl of Derwentwater
Posted at 01:56h, 03 OctoberI hope others will read this and leave messages. Rita deserves to be remembered for the good Christian lady she was. Like Mr Nixon above, I knew her in my student days at Oxford and she was a great support. She worked for a doctor on the ground floor of a house I had a flat in, and I got to know her very well.. I’m dreadfully dyslexic and she happily read important texts for my course to me, and checked my essays for spelling mistakes and gibberish sentences. I will always be grateful to her. I also knew that if I asked her to pray for me she would. I come from a very different religious background being a Roman Catholic, so I pray for her soul and remember her in my prayers frequently. dear Rita, Requiescat In Pace et exsurge in gloria!