PROFESSOR EBENEZER LAING
TRIBUTE BY LEGON HALL ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

Nobody familiar with Legon Hall could miss the powerful but gentle infectious presence of a tall aging academic guru with a distinctive trademark beard and moustache and somewhat bulging eyes which stood in complete contrast to his lean personality. This pleasant personality was not the only one who attracted the attention of persons who were familiar with Legon Hall. Members of Legon Hall Alumni Association who are regular at the Association’s meetings and Fellows of Legon Hall and other visitors to the Legon Senior Common Room should be familiar with the glowing personalities of the two giants but gentle academic twins produced by Legon Hall, Prof. Ebenezer Laing and Prof. Reginald Amonoo.

Unfortunately and sadly enough, Legon Hall and for that matter the University of Ghana community woke up to hear of the death of one half of the illustrious Legon Hall academic twins, Professor Ebenezer Laing. The death of Prof. Laing coming so soon after the burial of his beloved wife must come as a shock and grieving period for the entire Laing family, the Legon Hall community and the University of Ghana society.

The long association of Prof. Laing with Legon Hall dates back to the very beginning of Legon Hall when he was admitted into the Hall as one of the pioneer student residents of the Hall with the likes of the former senior minister, Mr. J. H Mensah, Prof. R. Amonoo, late S.B. Mfodwo, Amb. E. M. Debrah, Prof. F. Konotey-Ahulu etc, when Legon Hall, the premier Hall was opened in 1952. Since then the colossal presence of Prof. Laing in the affairs of Legon Hall has been very remarkable.

In February 1958, he was assigned as Fellow to Legon Hall. As a Fellow, he held at different times the positions of Hall Tutor, Hall Choir Master, Member of Hall Council, Hall Senior Tutor and the President of Legon Hall Senior Common Room. He crowned his glorious services to the Hall when in October 1973 he became the Hall Master. He, however, had to relinquish his position as Master in 1975 to take up other services to the University such as the Dean of Faculty of Science, the Pro-Vice Chancellor, and the Head of Department of Botany Department. There is time for everything and eventually it came to a time when Prof. Laing had to retire.

Even in retirement, Prof. Laing continued to offer his services to the Hall. At meetings of the Legon Hall Alumni Associations where he very often made his presence felt with those of his fellow belonging to his generation, despite his advanced age and the fact that he was staying outside the campus, his contributions and wise cracks in low measured tones always proved to be welcome tonic to the serious business of the Association. Those were the days when even some young Fellows and Alumni members staying on the campus and close to the Hall neglected to answer to the clarion call of the mother Hall and chose to boycott all Alumni activities.

Again, regular visitors to Legon Hall Senior Common Room were very often lucky at times to be honoured with the presence of Prof. Laing and should be familiar with his beard and moustache sipping his beer. He always had a lot of interesting academic and social stories to tell to make the place interesting even for those who were just passing through. He was a friend and a father to all. His gift and ability to associate with everybody created a familiar family atmosphere in the Senior Common Room.

For those of us who were lucky to be associated with this academic gem and who proved beyond all reasonable doubt that education humbles character and that education instills humility into a personality, we can only understand why and how Prof. Laing brought himself down to every level of society he associated with. However, sometimes it made us wonder how he managed to do it. Because the first impression anybody has of Prof. Laing before sitting at his feet mirrors what the Israelites of old said in Numbers 13:33, “We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes and we looked the same to them”.

In our own mind, we might have felt like grasshoppers to Prof. Laing but he did not treat us as such. Indeed Prof. Laing with Prof. Amonoo proved to be the fathers of Legon Hall. With Prof. Laing gone, we are left with only one father. So as we meet together here today to mourn our departed friend and father, we do so with heavy hearts. While we can only wish that the God Lord will find a lasting peaceful restful place for him we also accept as a fact that:

“The radiant morn hath passed away,
And spent too soon her golden store;
Our life is but an autumn day,
Its glorious noon how quickly past;”

It is our hope that the God Lord will find a lasting peaceful resting place for him and repeat that O Christ, thou living Way, Lead Prof. Ebenezer Laing, safe home at last.