Sheila, wife of renowned Education Icon in Nigeria, late Tai Solarin has passed on at the age of 88 years, Vanguard reports:
Sheila, an English woman who was the Proprietress of Mayflower College, Ikenne in Ogun State died on Sunday [Oct. 21] at 4:30 pm at Babcock University Teaching Hospital, Ilishan Remo, Ogun State.
According to Vanguard, the octogenarian had a broken hip when she fell on her way to bed some months ago and was rushed to the hospital.
Her sickness was said to have been worsened as a result of weak bones due to old age.
It was gathered that, She underwent surgery before she died at the hospital in the presence of her two children who reportedly sat by her at the hospital bedside.
Her remains was said to have been taken to LASUTH morgue.
Sheila Mary Solarin (nee Tuer) was British but got married to the late Tai Solarin. Sheila met her husband while both were in the forces following the World War II.
In 1952 they decided to move to his native Nigeria, and both worked in Molusi College Ijebu Igbo. But they disagreed with the politics of the day and religious discrimination in schools, and decided to build their own in a town called Ikenne.
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PUBLIC PRESENTATION OF THE BOOK BY A STUDENT & MRS. SHEILA SOLARIN, MFR |
On 27 January 1956, Tai Solarin and his wife founded Mayflower School, Ikenne, Ogun State.
Using breeze blocks made from clay they constructed two classrooms, each able to accommodate 36 pupils. The students also helped in construction of more class rooms.
"They had their bunks at the back of the class, and the desks at the front'" said Sheila who has been an English teacher for 50 years. "We didn't ask anybody what their ethnic background or religion was, we simply wanted to provide an education for all the children in the area".
Up until her death, Sheila ran Mayflower School on behalf of her late husband Tai Solarin although she officially retired when she turned 80 passing much of the responsibility on to her children.
Sheila and her husband had two children Corin and Tunde Solarin.
She was made an MBE by Queen Elizabeth II in 2007
