Lettice R.S. Pepple at 100

About this book

This biography celebrates the extraordinary century-long journey of Mrs Lettice Roberta Soba Pepple (née Toby), born on 4 October 1926, and uses her life to explore a much larger story of nursing, education, faith, womanhood and public service across colonial and post-colonial Nigeria.

Raised in Port Harcourt and educated at institutions including St Cyprian’s, Mary Hannie Memorial Girls’ School, Hope Waddell Training Institution and Archdeacon Crowther Memorial Girls’ School, she chose nursing despite her father’s preference that she study medicine. She qualified as a Nigeria Registered Nurse with distinction in 1950 before pursuing further professional education in Britain.

Her career eventually took her from practising nurse and midwife to Nursing Sister, nurse educator and administrator. She served as Acting Chief Nursing Officer of Rivers State and became the pioneer Principal of the Rivers State School of Nursing in Port Harcourt, helping to educate and mentor generations of nurses.

But the biography is deliberately about more than professional advancement. It examines the faith, discipline, compassion and commitment to service that shaped Mrs Pepple’s character and follows her life against the enormous social changes Nigeria experienced across a century.

Photographs, documentary sources, family history and personal testimony place her individual journey within the broader history of Opobo, Port Harcourt, nursing and Nigerian society.

The result is both an intimate biography and a work of social history. Mrs Pepple’s century becomes a lens through which to consider what constitutes a meaningful life—and the book ultimately argues that enduring greatness is found less in status or wealth than in service, healing, mentorship and preserving the dignity of others.

About the author

Sotonye Afiesimama is a multidisciplinary creative professional, certified manuscript editor, digital media strategist and publishing consultant with a background spanning graphic communication design, art, architectural history and publishing.

Educated in Nigeria and the United Kingdom, he has been involved in manuscript editing, illustration and publishing since the 1990s, collaborating with distinguished scholars and contributing to a wide range of creative and literary projects.