'Baba Olaleye' as many young brothers and sisters in Eleyele congregation, Ile Ife, Nigeria called him was a father indeed to many. I was one of them. He demonstrated to an admirable degree the Christian qualities he espoused that I saw in his example an additional reason to give serious consideration to the truth of the Bible I was just learning in the early 1990's.
I remember that it was about the time Baba started having certain health challenges that he started studying the Bible with me. He did not only arrange that the study was regular, but he and his family also made me so welcome to their home that I became like a senior son in the family. It was Baba who instilled in me the importance of meeting attendance as I observed the great efforts he made to ensure that he, members of his family and Bible students like me were helped to make attendance at congregation meetings. He studied with me till I got baptised and he continued to assist me in his uniquely gentle manner to grow to Christian maturity in those years I was with Eleyele congregation.
Baba's humility was well known, a quality that endeared him to both young and old. He maintained contact with me throughout the years and was usually the first to call or send a message or videos even up to a few months ago. He was never too busy to find out how his sons and daughters were doing. It therefore was easy for me to keep him abreast of spiritual and mundane goings-on in my life like a son would to a loving father.
All of us, immediate and extended family as we know it will miss him. It will be only for a while though, for we look forward to that time when Jehovah will bring his new order of things and the dead will rise in the promised resurrection. I look forward to see Baba Olaleye again, then.