Olaide Olaitan Debola-Gbadebo Tribute

Olaide Olaitan, daughter of Alhaji & Alhaja Adegbite was born in Ibadan, Oyo state. She had 3 brothers and 3sisters and attended St. Teresa's college (of which she was very proud). She went on to University of Lagos where she studied Botany but later completed her ACCA certification and became a Chatered Accountant. She started her career at National Oil, Marina, Lagos and worked with the company for a long period of time.
She was always business minded and so she traveled to Dubai, Austria, and other parts of the world to buy gold and fabrics that she sold. Eventually, she opened her own shop selling fabrics whilst she worked simultaneously as an Accountant.
She was very family oriented and everything she did was clearly to make us all happy. She rented a place in Ikeja  and later in Ajah where the family all lived together. Then her brother (Lekan Adegbite) helped build her own house also in Ajah so we could have our own place and Alhaja lived with us.
When we were younger, she would always sing and dance with us. I thought her smile was the most beautiful thing ever. It still warms my heart when I picture it in my head now. We could talk to her about anything and I remember telling her she was not just our mother, but also a good friend. She was very fond of Abimbola and Demilade but we knew she loved each and everyone of us the same -Mayowa, Morayo, Abimbola, Ajoke, and Demilade.
She took then chance to resign from National Oil and move the family to the U.K. for a better quality of life. She consented us before making this decision, as was mostly the case. She certainly worked very hard in the 6 years during which she resided in the U.K. and was able to purchase her own house and develop a very promising company, Care Ministry Ltd which she ran successfully on her own.
She came to visit Abi and I in Canada for my 21st birthday in 2007 and that was the most pleasant surprise of my life. The way she looked at the both of us, you could tell she was so proud of us and happy to be there with us. Our friends thought she was very cool. That was one of the most amazing summers. She decided then that she wanted to move to Canada and could not wait to attend my graduation with her "gele" and an attire that would outshine my boring graduation gown the following year. She did not make it physically but I know she was there.
Throughout her life, she was a devout Christian who went to Church on Sundays, prayed with the family at home, and asked God's guidance in life. She taught her kids to pray and sent us to a good Catholic school.
She was hospitalized in December 2008 and in March 2009, lost her battle with Cholangiocarcinoma, the cancer that took our angel away from us.