Obiturary

Liberia: Mourners in Buchanan see ‘smile’ in the coffin!

James Fasuekoi

By James Kokulo Fasuekoi|Editor-Publisher

Rev. Garmondeh Karnga can barely keep count of how many funeral discourses he had to preach in the past years. Nor can he tell how many times he had walked into funeral homes to remove bodies of deceased church members as well as those of his extended local Buchanan community, Grand Bassa, Liberia.   

Rev. Garmondeh Karnga

But what Rev. Karnga saw last August, after he went to a local funeral home to pick up remains of his late aunt, stunned him, in all the 60 years of his life! His late aunt and former World-Wide Mission Church Missionary, Mother Hawah Krangar, was smiling in her beautiful wooden coffin.  

“Something amazing happened,” he told a large congregation of mourners including close relatives who had gathered to celebrate the homegoing of “Ma Hawah,” as everyone affectionately referred to the late prayer warrior.  

A woman presents a purse to the bereaved family at the funeral.

“You’re going to see it at the close of this funeral: you [will] see her smiling! This is the first I have seen since 60 years ago,” Rev. Garmondeh Karnga, the elder son of the aging Rev. Dr. Abba G. G. Karnga, founder of World-Wide Mission of Liberia (WWL) observed, as he opened his sermon.

Certainly, he was right; Mother Krangar was found smiling in her coffin when pallbearers opened it for public viewing near the end of the funeral rite. In a way, this brought some relief to mourners at the funeral who believed the deceased was seeing the Gates of Heaven. 

Rev. Henry Goah (seated left-front roll,) along with family members at WWML during the funeral of his late sister, Mother Hawah Krangar.

But the smiling wasn’t the only striking thing about this event: the second, is that the former prayer warrior passed away on her birthday, July 26, 2024. She was born July 26, 1909, meaning Mother Hawah was 115 years old at the time of her death. 

Mother Hawah Krangar is pictured here in this 2021 file photo with Global Ekklesia Editor-Publisher.

Mother Krangar’s death, the eulogist said, shouldn’t let her family grieve too much. Instead, it was a moment to celebrate because the deceased, he maintained, was a pious servant of God.  

Mother Chinda Garway who served as the deceased’s deputy prayer warrior praised her for her deep faith in God and added that Hawah devoted much time to praying for God’s divine healing for those afflicted by the enemy. Her prayers, she said, were always answered. 

Rev. Dr. Kranga, seated front roll right, heads the family. He gave a special tribute at the funeral.

Mother Hawah’s Kingdom Mission works according to her life skitch, read by Bro. Ogonti Goeh, started at an early age, at the Esther K. Miller Memorial Church, an apostolic style worship center in Grand Bassa.

She later became the head of 33 Missionaries (all female) at the World-Wide Mission Church in the country. 

Among people who attended the funeral included a host of close relatives from Liberia and the U.S. Rev. Henry Goah, brother to the deceased, flew in from South Carolina, just as his son-in-law, Mr. Kokulo who arrived from the U.S. the eve of the burial. 

The Funeral at WWML, Buchanan, Grand Bassa County.

Mr. Peter Dahn of Jacksonville, Florida as well as WWML Presiding Elder, Dr. Abba Karnga of Buchanan also attended the funeral rite, beamed live for family members, friends and wishers worldwide who couldn’t be present.

The following is a special pictorial by Global Ekklesia’s Editor-Publisher.

Also read our initial story on the deceased here: Bassa Christian Missionary Mother Hawa Krangan of Buchanan is no more! – (globalekklesia.com)
Editor’s Note: We previously spelled the deceased’s name as “Hawa Krangan.” The correct spelling of her name should be “Hawah Krangar” instead. Thanks!