A Life Beautifully Lived
Mrs Margaret Tinuola Abeni Ademoye — descendant of the Akiniyi Royal Dynasty, mother, entrepreneur, and woman of faith
Mrs Margaret Tinuola Abeni Ademoye was born on the 16th of November, 1937 — the first female child and second born to Chief James Fadipe Akiniyi and Mrs. Claudia Doyinsola Akiniyi (née Olufade), and a proud direct descendant of the esteemed Akiniyi Royal Dynasty. From her very first breath, she carried within her a spirit that was destined to leave the world richer than she found it.
Her education began at St. Patrick's Catholic School, Ipaja, and continued at Mount Carmel Primary School, before she completed her secondary education at Modern School. Even then, her extraordinary character was evident — she sold haberdashery to her schoolmates to fund her own transport fares, demonstrating the resourcefulness and entrepreneurial fire that would define her entire life. After school, she began nursing training at the Sacred Heart Catholic Hospital, living with her maternal aunt, Mrs. Florence Modupe Oviosa, a midwife in Mushin, Lagos and assisting in the Maternity Dispensary.
On the 31st of March 1960, she married Olutunde Alabi Ademoye from Abeokuta, Ogun State. When her husband relocated to Britain that same year, she followed in 1961. Motherhood started from 1962, welcoming her first child a daughter, Shola on the 1st October. On December 6, 1965, she welcomed her second child, a son named Olutunde and then her last born another daughter Oluyemi on the 18th March 1973, in London. This was part of the beginning of one of the most remarkable chapters of her story. In London, she was unstoppable. A self-taught seamstress and knitter, she earned a Diploma from the London Academy of Dressmaking & Design, taught herself to type, completed shorthand training at Pitman's College, and was headhunted by Inland Revenue. She became a successful Avon agent, worked for prominent UK fashion houses, and with characteristic ingenuity, sent gold — cleverly concealed in matchboxes — and clothing from across Britain to her family in Nigeria. She often held three jobs at once, all while raising her children and sustaining everyone she loved. To her nieces and nephews, she was forever "Mummy London."
In 1979, she returned to Nigeria, bringing with her every skill and connection she had built over nearly two decades abroad. She established herself as a respected specialist in bespoke drapery across the Ogun Oshun regions. Then came T & T Supermarket — one of the pioneering supermarkets in the Ipaja area. Soon to follow was a beloved beer parlour with her husband, where her legendary pepper soup drew patrons from far and wide. The next pit stop was a haberdashery and tailoring shop in Iyana Ipaja, where her warmth earned her the affectionate name "Mama Olowu" from devoted customers who came as much for her company as for her goods.
At St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Igbogila-Ipaja — her spiritual home — she served as Church Warden, as a member of the Catholic Women Organisation, and as the founding president of St. Patrick's Society, a position she held with distinction for many years. Through the Lions Club, she travelled the world and championed community causes, living out her belief that service to others is the highest calling. Her faith was not something she kept privately — it was something she wore openly, daily, and generously.
She became a grandmother for the first time on the 29th of September 1997, welcoming Oreofeoluwakiitan Ademoye into the world — and she was present, in the United Kingdom, for every single one of her five grandchildren's arrivals: Debayo Shodipo, Iyanuoluwa Ademoye, Ayodeji Shodipo, and finally little Oluwayamisoto Ademoye in 2011, who she called a delightful surprise. Her daughter-in-law Toyin and son-in-law Dipo were family she held close and loved without reservation.
On the 28th of April 2026, at the age of 88, Mrs Margaret Tinuola Abeni Ademoye completed her earthly journey — not diminished by the years, but radiant with everything she had given. She leaves behind a husband, three children, five grandchildren, and a community on two continents forever changed by the privilege of having known her. She is not gone. She lives in every life she shaped, every prayer she prayed, every stitch she sewed, every table she fed, and every heart she loved without condition.
