USA Neighbours Mourn Late Maimuna And Family

Residents of West Hartford's Quaker Green neighborhood have started mourning since they learnt on Monday that Maimuna Anyene, a Connecticut-based Nigerian woman, her four young children, and her husband, were among the 153 passengers and crew killed in Sunday's crash in Lagos.

"We're all very sad. The whole community is very tight knit. I saw her leave with her husband and all four kids, going to her brother's wedding," said Elyse Fox, who lived next door to Maimuna Anyene.

Anyene and her children lived on Park Place Circle. Her husband worked in Nigeria, neighbors said, but returned to West Hartford every few months and was traveling back to Nigeria with the family to attend Anyene's brother's wedding.

"I'd see her with her kids, and she seemed like a very nice person," said Keith Elis, of 32 Park Place Circle, who also has a preschool-age child. Elis said that his mother, who babysits for his daughter, knew Anyene better because the kids would sometimes play together. "She was always smiling; I don't know how she did it," Elis added.

Elis said that word of the family's death in the crash spread through the neighborhood Sunday night after a neighbor found Anyene's name on the passenger list.

Anyene had lived in her townhouse, in Elmwood's newly-developed Quaker Green condominium complex, for several years.

According to the Hartford Courant, she was a human resources manager for United Technologies who worked in the Gold Building in Hartford.

Residents describe the neighborhood as very community-oriented, where neighbors immediately reach out to meet newcomers. Anyene's family would socialize by the pool, and come to neighborhood parties, they said.

"I knew her as a neighbor, from being out playing with the kids," said Lisa Ohayon, who has a 2-year-old grandchild. "They were going to be moving, and that alone devastated the neighborhood. Six people gone – it just doesn't make sense," she said.

Lisa Ohayon and her husband John said Anyene's children were cared for during the day by an aunt and another family member while Anyene worked full time. "The twins were so cute, always dressed the same, and the aunt used to carry them on her back," Lisa Ohayon said.

Another neighbor, Tagen Gonzalez, believed Anyene's mother and perhaps at least one other relative were also on the plane. Gonzalez, also the mother of a preschooler, said Anyene's oldest child was just about four, the twin daughters would have been two in July, and the baby was about six months old.

"Her kids were always happy. This community is close, and this is surreal," Fox said.

Gonzalez said that she has already contacted United Technologies and is hoping to do something to formally honor the memory of the family.

Maimuna was born into the family of Mr. and Mrs. Ndanusa and Birikisu Mijindadi on July 30, 1979. Her father, from Bida, Niger State, was a professor at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Her mother had worked for a few years as a nurse in the United States before returning to Nigeria where she began and ran several enterprises, including a large grape farm in Zaria.

She attended primary school in Zaria and completed secondary school at Queens College, Lagos.

Later, she proceeded to the University of Ibadan (UI) where she studied Economics, graduating in 2001 with a second class (upper) degree. At UI, she made many friends, staying close to several of them years beyond her university days.

On graduating from UI, Maimuna returned to Zaria for a few months before heading to Lagos for the mandatory one year stint as a member of the National Youth Service Corps. She served with Citibank in Lagos.

One friend said she stood out as the most studious in her circle of friends. “Maimuna was the one who talked to her friends to focus on their academic work whenever she found them in danger of getting too distracted by the many temptations of student life,” said the friend. “No surprise that we called her ‘effico,’ a nickname for nerds and bookworms. It meant she was efficient in organizing her study and play time. She was diligent and hardworking, and simply never lost sight of her priorities.”

Another friend said she fondly remembered how she and others called Maimuna “effico.” “It was a term of endearment but also a playful kind of derision. We derided her for keeping us honest by enforcing group discipline. And, at last, we cherished her for keeping us honest that some of us graduated with honors from Ibadan and other universities.”

Maimuna was married to Onyeka Anyene, a lawyer who has offices in Abuja and Lagos. Friends described the marriage as one founded on religious tolerance and broadmindedness. A devout Muslim, Maimuna married Mr. Anyene, a Christian.