1930-2014

Mary Phillipa Ewuraba Brookman Otoo née Brookman-Amissah was born in Akim Oda on the 24th of July 1930 in the Gold Coast. She was part of the first set of students who were admitted into the Holy Child Catholic Teacher Training College and Secondary School for Girls.  Mary obtained her Cambridge School Certificate in 1949 and Teacher Certificate in 1952. Mary met and married Eric Kwamina Otoo in 1956, and they began a diplomatic career together for the newly independent Republic of Ghana that spanned a thirty-year period and including assignments to Liberia; the United Nations; Kenya, Botswana and Lesotho; West Germany; and the United States, US Virgin Islands, Mexico, Belize, and St. Kitts and Nevis. Mary was a devout Catholic, active in the church and charitable works wherever she lived. Between foreign postings, she pursued her vocation as an educator in Ghana working as a teacher at Christ the King Catholic School, and as Headmistress of Achimota Preparatory School. In 1977, she established the Maria Immaculata Day Care Center for low-income children in Korle Gonno in Accra, a legacy community school which is still thriving today.

Reference: Oral/ Family History