This archive report was first published on 4 July 2019.
On July 4, 2019, a memorial service was held at the All Saints Cathedral to honour the life of Bob Collymore, the former CEO of Safaricom. His wife, Wambui Kamiru, delivered a heartfelt eulogy, sharing a speech that her husband had given to a group of schoolchildren in 2013.
The speech was drawn from Dr Suess's book, with the inspiring moral: "A person's a person no matter how small." Wambui Kamiru read out the speech to a congregation of family, Kenyan business and political leaders, and global leaders in attendance.
Before reading the speech, Wambui Kamiru said, “Bob had left when the applause was loudest.” She explained that the words had been drawn from one of Collymore’s favourite quotes spoken by Ghana's former president John Mahama.
During the eulogy, Wambui Kamiru paused to convey gratitude to a strange man who had reminded her of the kind of man that Collymore had been. On the day of Collymore's cremation, an elderly gentleman in a bright orange jacket stood by the side of the road, raised his right arm in salute, and shouted, “Bob we love you. You have done well. Go well Bob!”
Wambui Kamiru read out a speech by Collymore that set out to encourage the children to be version of themselves that they could be in spite of their circumstances. The story epitomized the man she had come to know as her husband for the last three years.
