Farida was born in Accra, Ghana on May 24, 1975. She was the eldest of 4 siblings. Although incredibly intelligent and ambitious, Farida was a visionary and slightly rebellious. Farida attended college at Lawrence, University in 1994, and later transferred to Oglethopre University. Farida was known to be very popular on campus, and was considered to be one of the most beautiful and nicest women at the school. While furthering her education, Farida was impregnated and shortly struggled with balancing school and her first child. Fortunately, Farida was blessed and had met her now Godmother, Jeanette Norman who helped her with raising their son, Idris Osei Mensa-Bonsu. Farida was a beautiful, kind, adventurous, loving, motherly, and elegant woman who only wanted what was best for her son and her family. She was a kind angel who would have sacrificed herself for anyone. Many people were very saddened by her death, but many found comfort in knowing that she is now with the Lord.

Mark was born to Rudy and Donna May Magera in Salt Lake City, Utah. He is survived by his father, stepmother Carrie, his sister Adreia Magera, his brothers Chad Hendry and Christopher Hendry, his nephews Michael{Mercedes} Magera and Valente Cardenas, niece Tela Cardenas, grandmother Betty Hardman, 3 great nieces many aunts, uncles and cousins and friends. Preceded in death by his mother

Wayne M. Persica, Sr. passed away on Friday December 11, 2015, at age 71. Beloved husband of Dianna Anselmo Persica of 49 years. Loving father of Catherine Persica Marie (Kelly), Wade J. Persica (Anna), and Wayne M. Persica, Jr. (Chastity). Adoring grandfather of Kellie, Emily, Kristopher, and Gracie Marie; Adam Maloz, Taylor, Jaycee, and Noah Wood; Kristen Cognevich, Tori Hamilton, Stevie Vioron, Anthony, Hannah, and Taylor Persica. Son of late Anthony Joseph Persica and Josie Boudreaux Persica. Brother of Gail P. Redding and Barry A. Persica. Wayne is also survived by great grandchildren, nieces and nephews.

When she walked into a room, everyone turned. Red hair flaming, she drew them in with her English accent and her larger-than-life theatricality. She was the center of attention – always.

She and Daddy threw parties for their friends, for the cast members of the plays she was in. My brother Bruce and I would fall asleep to the sound of their laughter as they played charades and sang around the piano that she played so beautifully. She threw wonderful birthday parties for us as well – always with a theme, always with some unusual decorative features. And that didn’t end when we grew up and moved away. I was home for a visit on the occasion of my 24th birthday, and Mummy presented me with 24 gifts, the 24th of which was a 24-carat necklace – made out of 24 real carrots.

She tended the most beautiful garden when we lived on Modoc Road in Santa Barbara. There were roses of red and yellow, and there must have been some cross-pollination, because one year, we noticed some peach-colored roses popping up in between the reds and the yellows. There were hanging baskets of crimson fuchsias that attracted humming birds with their iridescent breasts shimmering in the sunlight, and there were purple and red bougainvillea plants clinging to and wrapping around the wooden posts that held up the roof of our home. There was a waxy vine right outside of our kitchen door, with flowers that had an inner wax-like star shape surrounded by petals that felt like velvet. There was a purple passion plant, twisting and clinging to the slats of wood at one corner of our fence that was visited every year by hundreds of monarch butterflies, producing an explosion of undulating color. Mummy never stopped gardening – outside her little apartment where she spent the last two decades of her life, she created a fairyland of colors and scents reminiscent of an English garden in miniature.

She grew up in England, an only child of privilege, with nannies and governesses, but not much attention from her mother or her music professor/concert pianist father. When her parents separated, all the trappings of wealth disappeared, and the next experiences she chose to speak about were the memories she had of living through WWII in England. After the war’s end, she and her mother left England for the States and ended up in California. There, her teaching career began, and she taught, on and off, for many years.

She was an elementary school teacher, she was an art teacher, and she was a theater teacher. When she taught second grade at the Howard School, she was forever insisting that we save milk cartons, bits of string, walnut shells, orange peels – all for the magical projects she would invent to engage her young students. Later, in her studio at the Modoc Road address, she gave classes in oil and watercolor painting, often helping a student transform an amateurish painting into a masterpiece with the suggestion of just a single brush stroke here or the gentle smudging of paint there.

Her own paintings, which she exhibited for several years at the weekend Cabrillo Boulevard arts and crafts show, numbered in the hundreds, and her paintings probably still hang in homes all over the county. She painted oils on canvas and on Masonite, and while her subjects were varied, she had a real love of windows and doors. She also painted watercolors, and those paintings tended to be sunnier and lighter, with an emphasis on examples of nature’s bounty. She also worked with pen and ink and, late in her life, she created a series of drawings of anthropomorphic mice for use by a friend who was opening a little gift shop filled with mouse-inspired trinkets.

For many years, Mummy was an actress well-known to Santa Barbara’s community theatergoers. She set the stage on fire with her roles in The Women, The Boy with a Cart, Hello Dolly, The Chalk Garden, The Rose Tattoo – just to name a very few of the dozens of productions in which she had starring roles.

Everyone who knew Mummy in the last decades of her life knows how much she loved her precious dogs – Shelley, Sammy, Roxy, Ginger – but what they may not know is that Mummy had a place in her heart for all animals. When we were growing up, we had cats, guinea pigs, turtles, goldfish, but we also had a Mexican collared lizard who always greeted Mummy by lifting his chin up so she could stroke his neck. And we had a squirrel monkey, Mr. Higgins, who provided hours of entertainment for the entire family over a period of several years. She never said no to us when we asked if we could bring yet another pet into the household, and all of the animals we ever had gravitated toward Mummy, because she showered each one with such loving attention.

Mummy met our father at a USO dance in 1951, and they didn’t stop dancing together for the next 29 years. They created a joyful life for us when we were children, as only the very best parents do. When the music ended for them as a couple, Mummy just kept reinventing herself for the next four decades. She taught theater, she directed several plays, she taught painting at a retirement home, she continued gardening, and she began writing poetry. She self-published a book of poetry and, at the time of her death, she was still working on a second collection of poems.

Mummy’s death has left a hole in our hearts that can never be filled, but she has also left behind memories of a life well-lived, a life of vibrant colors and inventive games, of laughter and music, of theater and beautiful poetry.

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Obasi, Prof and Dean, Uzoechi Ogan was born on April 7, 1959 in Ibadan to Okoronkwo and Oyidia Ogan.
He loved sports. As a young man he was an avid table tennis player and in his later years he never missed a chance to catch his favourite team play a football match on tv.
A husband, father, brother, cousin,uncle and friend to many, Obasi was warm, full of life and had a great sense of humour. His bear hugs were second to none. He did not discriminate. Everyone was welcome in his home. He expressed love freely and was loved by all.
Obasi slept in the Lord on the 5th of December 2015. He will be dearly missed by his family and friends.

Twin Lake, Michigan – William (Bill) Levi Leach, 66, died peacefully in his home on Thursday December 3rd, 2015. He was born in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan in 1949 to Erma and Garnet Leach.

Bill always enjoyed sharing his creativity, and throughout his life wrote hundreds of songs and created as many drawings. His incredible story-telling skills never failed to leave everyone at the edge of their seat hoping for more. He loved fishing, and when he wasn’t tying flies, he was putting them to the test on his boat, Slammin’ Salmon. A true outdoorsman, he loved nothing more than the crisp morning air hitting his face before a 4AM fishing spree.

He could often be found beautifully serenading ingredients in the kitchen, while whipping up the perfect cookie concoction. Bill loved hunting with his dogs and creating vegetable gardens. A talented builder, one would be hard-pressed to find a project he couldn’t complete.

Bill graduated from Sault High in 1967. He later attended Michigan State University and graduated with a BS in Environmental Science in 1991.

As a young man living in the Sault, Bill was employed by the Soo Locks, where he took pride in having delivered fresh laundry to the crew of the Edmond Fitzgerald. He later worked in maintenance for Lake Superior State University until he left the Sault for Indiana. There, Bill drove his own semi truck. After his move to Whitehall, Bill enjoyed working for Wesco while attending college. Throughout his later years he was employed as Quality Manager for Gray and Co. of Hart, ADAC Plastics and Machine Roll Form of Muskegon.

Bill was a loving and grateful member of his second family at Spectrum Health of Grand Rapids. We thank you for all of the years committed to caring for him. We would also like to thank Spectrum Hospice for helping Bill in his final days.

Bill leaves his daughter Tsarina (OW) Metker of Missouri, and his sons, Will (Heidi) Leach of North Dakota, Levi Leach of Whitehall, and Nathaniel Leach of Grand Rapids; his brother Ronald (Joy) Leach of Illinois, and sister Sharon (Hal) Woodgate of Sault Ste. Marie; his grandchildren Alexis, Adisyn, and Ava; Cassidy, Caitlin, Carly, Brant, and Abby.

He is preceded in death by his parents.

A memorial for Bill will be held in the spring.

Contributions to cover final expenses can be sent to:

Levi Leach
3918 Scenic Drive
Whitehall, MI 49461

Anny passed away peacefully in her sleep on Saturday December 12, 2015 after a long battle with Cancer. She was 75 years old. She loved and lived life to its fullest, and did not allow the disease to take that away. Anny was born in Germany and came to the United States with her family in 1968. She is the loving mother of three children, nine grandchildren and nine great grandchildren. She will remain forever in our hearts and be dearly missed by everybody who knew this wonderful lady.

Juanita Kirton Stevenson was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on May 26, 1939. She was the second of seven children (Nonsitzi, Harvey, Alvin, Andre, Marcel, and Renel) born to Walter and Annice (Ott) Kirton. She accepted Christ as her Lord and Savior at an early age and was baptized at Willing Workers Baptist Church. Her family moved from Louisiana to the bay area in the forties where Juanita attended school and graduated from Encinal High School in Alameda, California.

After high school, Juanita had her first son, Joel Arnae Watts in 1958. She later met and married Joe Scott and had three sons; Jon Monte, Jamey Marcus, and Jeff Melvin. Juanita loved to entertain and always opened her home to family and friends. She loved cooking and going to the Oakland Raiders games. Their union lasted until Joe's death in 1981. During those years, Juanita worked at the Oakland Cannery, and from 1968 to 2001, she worked at the Oakland Post Office where she retired as a supervisor in foreign distribution.

She later met and married Sterling Stevenson. During their marriage, Juanita became very active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints of Northern California. They opened their home to church meetings on a regular basis. Juanita also organized Sunday Lessons for children bible study at the church.

Juanita enjoyed hosting annual family gatherings, watching sports (especially the Warriors), and learning about her family's history through The Genesis Society.

Juanita leaves her family and dear friends to cherish her memories and rejoice in the fact that they will one day see her again.