Patricia De'Castro Folorunso, age 92, passed away peacefully at her home in Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria on December 11, 2019.   Patricia is the mother of Fr. Stephen Folorunso, the current parish priest of St. Vincent's Catholic Church  in Mott, ND, and the  mission parishes of St. Henry's in Regent, ND, and St. John's in New Leipzig, ND. Fr. Stephen is the former parish priest of the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Hettinger, ND.

Fr. Stephen will be celebrating a Memorial Mass for his mother on Sunday, January 5, 2020 at 5:00 pm at St. Vincent's in Mott, ND.

PATRICIA DE'CASTRO FOLORUNSO was born on July 27, 1927 in the Old West Indies, in the Caribbean.  When the West Indies War broke out, the nuns carried all the children that they could and fled to Nigeria.   Patricia was one of those children.  She was raised in Lagos, Nigeria by the sisters of Our Lady of Apostles (OLA) where she attended school at the convent.  She met her future husband, Christopher Folusake Folorunso while she was in school. Patricia later became a teacher and taught at OLA High School at the convent for many years, retiring from teaching in 1990.

Patricia and Christopher were married in 1958 and started a family.  Their first son, Emmanuel was born in 1960, followed by Christopher, Jr. in 1962, Stephen in 1964, and a daughter, Florence in 1966.  Christopher was a land surveyor, so Patricia was in charge of raising the family, as well as being the disciplinarian.  As Father Stephen tells it, she not only disciplined her own children, but was not afraid to discipline the neighborhood children as well.  She was known for her fair, but loving ways.  She was family oriented and was always seeking peace.  Her legacy is for her family to always stay together.

She was a great cook and taught all her children how to cook. She also loved to travel and did so extensively.   Patricia was able to visit almost all of the parishes that Fr. Stephen was at in Illinois, but because of aging and health, was unable to make it to North Dakota.

Grateful for sharing in her life are her sons Emmanuel (Alice), Christopher (Kemi), and Fr. Stephen, and daughter Florence (Matthew) Obawole, along with 8 grandchildren.

Patricia was preceded in death by her husband Christopher in 1989.