Aku Amenu-Kpodo was born in Accra, Ghana on June 3, 1970 and passed away on Wednesday, June 28, 2023, not far from her beloved home in Salem, Massachusetts.

First and foremost, she was a child of young people on the move from newly independent countries in the Caribbean and Africa.  Aku represents the best of the worlds that came together to produce her. From the leap of faith her beloved maternal grandmother, Brenda Russell, took when she left Jamaica to go live and work in Saskatoon, Canada, to the even bigger leap that her mother, Norma Amenu-Kpodo (née Russell), took when she went to Toronto, Canada for a Post graduate degree in Library Science at the University of Toronto. At the University, she met her husband, Felix Amenu-Kpodo, a Ghanaian Chemistry student, who was also studying abroad. They would get engaged, marry, and move to Ghana where Aku spent the first eleven years of her life before moving to Jamaica with her parents.

This cosmopolitan aspect of her parents' early life would help to significantly shape Aku's personality. She could go anywhere and thrive. Aku arrived in Jamaica as a Ghanaian and quickly learned to navigate a new culture and her unique position in it as a smart, slender girl with a long foreign last name.  She went to some of the best schools in Kingston, Jamaica, excelling in every way and earning a highly coveted scholarship from Campion Girl's School to attend Clark University in Worcester, MA.  At Clark she majored in Economics and studied for one year at the prestigious London School of Economics. In 1992, Aku graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in Economics from Clark. She then went on to earn a Master's degree with the highest academic distinctions and awards, also from Clark University.

Since completing her studies, Aku mostly worked in the insurance business where her international background and her skills as a negotiator enabled her to excel professionally and move quickly up the company ranks. As the Senior Financial Auditor at the Electric Insurance Company in Beverly, MA, a job which gave her great pride, Aku continued to learn and grow. She also enjoyed the deep respect of her colleagues.

Along with Aku's professionalism and dedication to higher education was her unwavering faith in God and in her church community. Her faith and her Church family at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Lynnfield, MA sustained her and gave her great joy, whether she was singing in the choir or volunteering for various church functions. Aku's beautiful smile and loving spirit drew people to her. Many in the church became cherished friends who supported her both in health and in sickness.

Because she was brought up a proper Ghanaian-Jamaican girl, Aku did everything with dignity and with a high sense of propriety and elegance. To Aku's mother, she was the perfect daughter. She loved quiet nights at home watching British TV shows or reading mysteries while surrounded by beautiful Jamaican paintings and Ghanaian sculptures, going out to dinner with her "Bestie," getting together with old Clark friends, taking long walks on nearby beaches, and visiting Jamaica every holiday.

In the exemplary way Aku lived her life, she truly honored her parents, her beloved grandmother, uncles, aunts, cousins, and friends in Jamaica, Ghana, Canada, and the United States. She remains the best of her Ghanaian and Jamaican forebears and the true embodiment of the spirit that called them to "seek other shores" while always keeping home in her heart.

Aku is preceded in death by her grandmothers, her grandfathers, her father, her uncle, and several cousins.

July 7, 2023: The Wake will be held at Murphy Funeral Home, 85 Federal Street, Salem, MA 01970 from 4 to 7PM.

July 8, 2023: The Funeral Service will take place at 11AM at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 127 Summer Street, Lynnfield, MA 01940 and will be followed by a luncheon reception at the church.

The Funeral Service can be viewed on Zoom, Eastern Time (US and Canada):

Meeting ID: 827 6964 4993

Passcode: 066467

Link: http: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82769644993?pwd=L0Y4QWtTcXdBUzNzKzlzMUF6RXlwQT09

Flowers can be sent to Murphy Funeral Home.

Thanks to all of Aku's colleagues.

A special thank you to all of the wonderful people in Salem, Peabody, Lynnfield, Danvers, and Boston, Massachusetts who cared for Aku and nurtured her, especially in her time of need.