Funeral Arrangements For Ghanaian "Saint"

The 46-year-old Ghanaian missionary , Ms. Josephine Elizabeth Bansa, who passed away in a car crash in the early hours of the new year is set for Saturday, March 3 2007 at the St. Andrews Temple, 1743 W. Marquette Rd.(67th St) in Chicago. The family is inviting the Ghanaian Community to mourn with them.

Ms. Josephine Bansa was a sister to a renown Ghanaian physician and an “old timer” Dr. Emmanuel Bansa Sr.


The body will be open to the public for viewing from 1 PM to 2 PM and a Church Service follows immediately from 2 PM to 5 PM. Traditional Funeral Rites follows at the basement of the Church from 5 PM to 12 Midnight.


Members of the community who need the funeral cloth should contact Mobavi at 708-747-7315 or any information about the funeral please contact Dr.Emmanuel Bansa Sr. at 708-957-5912.


Ms. Josephine Bansa died in a one car crash in the early hours of Monday,January 1 2007 whilst returning from a church service to usher in the New Year. Early Monday morning, Josephine Bansa got into the back seat of a 2005 Chevy Malibu driven by her 19-year-old nephew, Emmanuel Bansa Jr., a University of Illinois pre-med student from Flossmoor who played organ for the church. Bansa's girlfriend Kaci Boston, 19, rode up front. Homewood firefighters removed the car's doors and roof to extricate Bansah and her nephew. Boston walked away.


The car was heading south on Dixie Highway when it struck a traffic signal pole at Willow Road around 1:25 AM.

Flossmoor resident Josephine Bansah, called "Sister Lizzy" or "Missionary Lizzy" by those who knew her, was in high spirits during her last service on earth at the Church of the Living God in Englewood, on Sunday, December 312006 through the early hours of January 1st 2007.


The late Josephine E.Bansah danced with her hands raised and publicly thanked God for blessing her in 2006, a former church member, Simms recounted after hearing the sad news of her passing away.


Simms and Josephine Bansa, know each other since Bansa arrived in Chicago 20 years ago. Both ladies helped clean the church kitchen after the service ended. "If ever there was a saint, she was a saint," Simms said. "And she was so happy."


"She had a glow," she said. "When we went in and saw her at the hospital [after she died], it looked like there was a smile on her face."


Meanwhile, Emmanuel Bansah Jr. has been discharged from Layola Medical Center and is recuperating at home.