My Morning Sun, My North Star, My North, My South, My East and West

Adoley Odunton Proser, beloved wife of Jim Proser, passed away peacefully at 6:10 PM on July 16, 2018 at Sarasota Memorial Hospital in her adopted home city of Sarasota, Florida after a long illness. She was 65 years old. She is mourned by hundreds of family members, devoted life-long friends, colleagues and clients from around the world. After a distinguished career as an actor and television producer, Adoley dedicated her life to helping others achieve their personal goals through her work as a Spiritual Life Coach.

Born in Kumasi, Ghana of Joseph Bennett Odunton and Mercy Akua Thompson, Adoley attended Ridge Church School in the capitol city of Accra.

Adoley at age 3 with brother Allotey

In 1958, her family including her mother and 2 brothers moved to London for 3 years to be with their father during his historic appointment as the first black Press Secretary to Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace. He represented the newly independent Republic of Ghana. Returning to Ghana after her father’s duties had been fulfilled, Adoley was then sent back to London in 1962 to continue her formal education. She earned a scholarship to attend St. Paul’s Girls’ School and went on to attend St. Anne’s College at her father’s alma mater of Oxford University where she graduated with a degree in English language and literature.

Adoley at age 6 with loving family

Adoley was a talented Shakespearean actor widely acclaimed for her portrayal of Olivia in an Oxford production of Twelfth Night, directed by Patrick Garland. She was also a gifted stage director of works by Harold Pinter and others. At the age of 25 she achieved international fame as the lead female character in the first racially integrated popular television series in the UK entitled Mixed Blessings. However, with limited opportunities for black actors in the UK at that time, Adoley left London for Los Angeles, California in 1981.

Adoley at 25 as a famous actress

In Los Angeles, she had a distinguished career as an executive for television producers Norman Lear, Republic Pictures, CBS and other top flight producers. She went on to direct the film A Place for Sarah that dealt with the subject of abuse and mental illness. Turning from the entertainment industry to pursue her passion for a spiritual path and for helping others, she became a Licensed Spiritual Practitioner in Science of Mind at the Agape Spiritual Center in Los Angeles. She met author Jim Proser in 1997 in Los Angeles and they married on January 2, 1999 at her family home in Accra, Ghana under an enormous, equatorial full moon among over 200 members and friends of her extended family. As a couple, Adoley and Jim enjoyed 19 years of loving and devoted marriage.

Moving from Los Angeles to Sarasota, Florida in 2014, Adoley again achieved international success as the host of The Wellness Revolution, a popular internet interview program. Her mellifluous, sonorous voice and British enunciation was widely appreciated by thousands of listeners. In person, friends remarked on her rich and colorful fashion sense, beaming smile, sharp, humorous wit and graceful beauty. She enjoyed reading, ballroom dancing, Ghanaian high-life music and African foods. She is loved and will be deeply missed by her husband Jim, her wide, extended family and her many dear friends.

Private services will be held in Sarasota, Los Angeles, London and Accra. Her legacy of kindness, devotion and mentorship will be carried on by the Adoley Odunton Proser Scholarship Fund to help the neediest children in Ghana receive an education. The scholarship will be administered by the non-profit organization Ghanaian Mother’s Hope. In lieu of flowers or other memorial gifts, please make a generous donation to Ghanaian Mother’s Hope for the Adoley Odunton Proser Scholarship Fund at www.gofundme.com/help-adoley.

Funeral Blues by W.H. Auden

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message ‘She is Dead’.
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

She was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.