By Gbenro Adegbola
Ruth Elton died yesterday at 91 in her home in Ilesa in Osun. Her story is one of rare devotion, coming to Nigeria as a child in 1937 & never really leaving. She gave up citizenship, the comfort of home and extended family to make Nigeria her home.
She was a three-year-old and an only child when she arrived in Ilesa. Her father arrived first and she and her mother followed three months later.
Her father Pastor Sydney G. Elton, later and better known simply as Pa Elton had left England to support the ministry of Apostle Joseph Ayo Babalola whose great revival had swept through Yorubaland from Ilesa in 1930.
For a variety of reasons, Ilesa had since around 1910/1912 been home to a small but vibrant British community; missionaries both clergy and medical, colonial officers, artisanal miners, sales representatives of commercial houses. At its largest there used to be up to 50 of them resident in Ilesa.
It was to this world that the Eltons arrived, to anchor and support Babalola’s ministry. While Babalola was the fiery prophet and preacher, Pa Elton offered teaching, discipleship, and continuous mentoring to new converts.
Another account says although Elton was of the same The Apostolic Church Mission, (later Christ Apostolic Church), they actually worked separately.
All the while, little Ruth grew up Nigerian in tongue, soil, and spirit.
She spent a few years in England at a stage in vocation and technical school, an education which would later be useful in her chosen mission focus.
As her father mentored new church leaders like Benson Idahosa, E. A. Adeboye, David Oyedepo & others in the ’60s & ’70s, Ruth now an adult quietly charted her path of service.
Her mission would be health & stemming maternal deaths in places like Egbe, Okene, Koton-Karfe & areas of Kogi state.
She also taught sewing, cared for children, and gave infants a better chance at life and preaching against harmful practices like infant force feeding.
The Ebira people in her mission field called her Ometere; “the one who does good.”
She eventually retired to the family house in Ilesa. By this time, her parents had passed on. Her mother, Hannah passed in 1983 and her father, four years later in 1987. Both were buried in Ilesa. She’s expected to be buried beside them in Ilesa.
She naturalised as a full Nigerian. It was not a difficult choice to make. She rationalised that in any case there is no provision for dual citizenship in heaven. You had to choose one. She put that into practice here on the earth by choosing Nigeria.
Her life became rooted here. She knew danger too. She was once set upon by armed robbers and beaten unconscious. But nothing broke her resolve. She kept forging ahead. She never married and had no children. She lived all for God. She never left, never stopped. A child of English missionaries, she herself became wholly Nigerian in identity and service.
On Sept 7, 2024, she turned 90. Church leaders gathered in her home in Ilesa to honour a frail but radiant Mama Ruth. Just short of a year later, she entered into glory.
From a little girl stepping off the boat in 1937, to a Nigerian triumphant saint in 2025, Ruth Elton’s story is one of faith, sacrifice, and the courage to belong.
She was certainly the last surviving member of Ilesa’s once vibrant British community.
May her memory be blessed. 🕯️