The Paasewe Family in the United States and Liberia has announced with deep regrets the home going of the Rev. Fr. Charles Letombor Paasewe, Rector of the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd of Paynesville, Monrovia, Liberia.
This sad event occurred on Thursday, June 16th, 2016 at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Monrovia.
Charles Letombor Paasewe was born in Robertsport, Grand Cape Mount County on May 21, 1957 to the union of Mr. Joseph Bai Paasewe, Sr. and Mrs. Irene Gbessi Jalieba-Paasewe, the fourth child of their union. His parents were disciplinarians and spared no efforts in raising him and all the other children of their home.
Charles obtained his elementary and high school education in Robertsport, graduating from high school in 1981.
Eager to advance himself academically, Charles matriculated to the Gbarnga School of Theology (GST). Upon his graduation from GST, he was ordained Deacon on November 1, 1989 and priested on May 8, 1990, by the late Most Rev. George D. Browne, Archbishop of the Province of
West Africa and Bishop of the Episcopal Church of Liberia.
Rev. Fr. Paasewe became Rector of the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in the 1990’s and served his parishioners faithfully, especially during the heat of the Liberian Civil Crisis. Under his leadership, the Church of the Good Shepherd increased its membership and expanded the church’s ministry with a Good Shepherd Mission church at Pipe Line.
A family spokeperson said Fr. Paasewe’s love and passion for children in his church and the community impacted his ministry in a meaningful way. “He was a humble Priest. He embodied and demonstrated the qualities of a servant of our Lord Jesus Christ who commanded us to sacrificial living and to “love one another …As I have loved you” (John 13:34). Throughout his ordained ministry, he had the passion for serving his parishioners. He always carried smiles and made jokes with the young and old alike.
Rev. Fr. Charles Letombor Paasewe was predeceased by his parents Bai, Sr. and Irene Paasewe; and his sister Ronate Paasewe-Smith.
Survivors include his beloved wife Gloria Boayue Paasewe, his children: Alma Teta Thompson (T-Toe), Izena Mingo Jones, Adjeiley Obedekah Taylor (Antwan) of the United States, and Ngafua Kollie of Liberia; grandchildren; brothers; sisters; uncles; nieces; nephews; and a host of other relatives and friends in Liberia, Sierra Leone, United States and Australia.
The body will be removed from the Samuel A. Stryker Funeral Parlor on Friday, July 8, 2016, at four o’clock p.m. and taken to the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd for a night of wake-keeping.
According to Episcopal Diocesan Bishop Jonathan B.B. Hart, all tributes, except those of the Church of the Good Shepherd, the Episcopal Church of Liberia and the family, will be paid at the wake.
The funeral mass will take place on Saturday, July 9, at nine o’clock a.m. at Trinity Cathedral, Broad Street, Monrovia, following which the cortege (funeral procession) will depart for Robertsport, Grand Cape Mount County, for interment at the St. John Irving Memorial Episcopal Church Cemetery.