[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 72 (Monday, June 12, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E973-E974]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    IN MEMORY OF MARTINA O. MAKINDE

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENJAMIN A. GILMAN

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, June 12, 2000

  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, it is with deep sorrow and regret that I 
report to my colleagues the passing last week of an outstanding 
humanitarian in my 20th congressional district of New York who 
dedicated her life to helping the elderly and the sick.
  Martina Olubukola Makinde was a woman blessed with remarkable 
qualities and a generous heart which enabled her to spend her

[[Page E974]]

life treating the elderly and the sick throughout the world. As a 
professional nurse, Martina worked with the elderly in numerous nursing 
homes and treated sick patients in hospitals and in other related 
health service establishments.
  Since 1979, Martina served our community and a broader 
internationally-based community. Utilizing her skills in clinical and 
rehabilitative nursing, she worked with patients throughout New York 
and in her native country of Nigeria.
  Martina was born in 1947 in Lagos State, Nigeria. After completing 
studies as a registered nurse in Nigeria and midwife studies in London, 
Martina relocated to the United States in 1977. Due to her love of 
nursing, she returned to school and earned her Bachelor of Science 
degree in Community Health at St. Joseph's College, NY and her Master 
of Science degree in Public Health from Long Island University.
  Before completion of her Masters degree, Martina began her 
humanitarian services by serving the elderly as a Staff Nurse and then 
as Assistant Director of Nursing Services in the Jewish Home and 
Hospital for the Aged in New York. Soon thereafter, Martina decided to 
devote her services to a more under served group of patients as she 
returned to her native country to work with the Lagos State Ministry of 
Health in Nigeria. After gaining a more administrative understanding of 
the nursing/healthcare field, Martina returned to New York, where she 
assumed supervisory positions in the Jewish Home and Hospital for the 
Aged and in the Riverside Nursing Home. Martina finally completed her 
altruistic career as a Clinical Nurse Manager in the Beth Abraham 
Health Services in Bronx, New York where she devotedly served for the 
last 13 years.
  Martina's love for nursing and helping those in need extended into 
her spiritual and personal life as well. As Martina developed 
spiritually, she became an active member of the Redeeming Love 
Christian Center in Nanuet, New York. In her final year, Martina joined 
her pastors in a ``To Israel With Love'' Pilgrimage. The extent of 
Martina's love for others was best displayed in her love for her 
family. She was a remarkable mother, wife, sister and friend. Her 
unconditional love for her husband, Mr. Sahib Ohiwafunsho Makinde, was 
paralleled only to the love of God. Her three beautiful children, 
Omoyeni, Omolewa, and Ifeoluwatobi, were her treasures as she raised 
them with the love and the kindness that only she possessed.
  The memory of Mrs. Makinde is an inspiration to all, her humanitarian 
efforts having helped so many in our world-wide community.
  Mr. Speaker, I invite my colleagues to join in extending our deepest 
sympathies to all of Martina Makinde's many loved ones, and to all who 
have been inspired by her remarkable efforts as a mother, a wife, 
friend, and humanitarian.

                          ____________________