Tribute to the Late Rt. Rev. Ebenezer Kodwo Dadson

Many memories flood our hearts as we mourn the passing of our beloved Bishop Ebenezer Kodwo Dadson. I consider myself a son, since I went to school with three of his sons, and his daughters are also my sisters. In fact, his eldest son, Kobina, serves as the president of my year group – Mfantsipim Centenary Greenhorns, the ‘81-year group. To Mama Patience and the family, we send our heartfelt condolences.

I had heard of Bishop Dadson very early in my life and in his youthful days as chaplain of the Boys Brigade but my first encounter with him was when he was appointed as Chaplain at Mfantsipim. Ours was a generation that was blessed with stellar chaplains, including my own uncle, the late Rev. Joseph B. Wilson, Rev. Ebenezer Baiden and Bishop Joseph Tekyi-Ansah. Each of them was unique in his own way, and Bishop Dadson was no exception. The way he preached, the way he dressed up as a clergyman and the way he carried himself on campus made him outstanding. I remember vividly that he always called us by our family names, prefaced with Mister, and thus ensured that we had a destiny to become adults – responsible ones at that. He saw beyond the horizon of our teenage years, with its attendant identity crisis and truancy. During the time of his chaplaincy, some of us were assigned to preach in nearby villages, and that is how we honed our skills in homiletics.

Our paths crossed again when I was a student at the University of Ghana and he was the Superintendent Minister of North Accra Circuit (Calvary Methodist Church). It was him that I initially told that I was sensing a calling to vocational ministry. He dutifully advised me that since I spent most of my time at Legon, I needed to contact Prof. Kwesi Dickson to give a note, which I dutifully complied with. Armed with that, Bishop Dadson guided me through the processes of leaders, quarterly and Diocesan synod meetings until I entered the Trinity Theological Seminary. If we are who we are today, we owe a debt of gratitude to those who prayed for us and gave us guidance when God called us to service in His vineyard.

When I served as Chaplain of the Ghana National College in Cape Coast in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Bishop Dadson was serving as the Superintendent Minister of Elmina circuit, and every now and then I would visit for a great home-cooked meal, and even accompany him on invalids’ communion. I learnt a great deal through his pastoral leadership in the chapel and also in the homes of those who could not come to church. And when I gained admission to Harvard University, and was leaving Ghana in 1992, Bishop Dadson preached at my Wednesday night valedictory service at Abura Society, then a part of the Cape Coast Circuit. As always, he preached masterfully on the text from 1Cor 16:9 “Because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me”.

You can imagine my utter shock when on the following Sunday I was at the Harvard Memorial Church and the chaplain, the late D. Peter Gomes, also took as his text the same verse.

Today, as I stand here, I give glory to God that the prayers for a successful ministry abroad has been accomplished by His grace.

My last memory has to be January 27, 1986. It was the day that my own father, the Most Rev. Samuel Benyarku Essamuah, breathed his last and closed his eyes. After witnessing his passing, I was in no position to convey the news to my dear mother and the rest of the family. It was to Bishop Dadson that I turned. I went to him in the evening, and after he had overcome his shock at the death of my father – the third presiding bishop to pass away within three months –, he summoned courage to take me home and inform my mother, and to take her to the bedside to bid goodbye to my dear father. Bishop Dadson did so with excellent pastoral care and affection, and I will always be grateful to him for being a caring father, an excellent chaplain, a ministerial example, and a leader in God’s vineyard.

Part of our life’s story goes with Paa Dadson, and so we say thanks for the memories. Rest in peace and may the Saviour whom you served so faithfully give you eternal rest.

“Paa Bishop Ebenezer Kodwo Dadson, da yie! Nyame mfa wo nsie. Dzi fie kan kᴐtwεn hen. Amen”.

The writer is the Synod Secretary, North America Mission Diocese of the Methodist Church Ghana