Reverend Father Monsignor Robert Gbatiae Tikpor, who should have turned 97 years old today, September 12, 2023 begins his final journey eternally as his remains leave the Samuel Stryker Funeral Home and will be taken to the Sacred Heart Cathedral Catholic Church for a night of wake-keeping.
Thereafter, tomorrow, Wednesday, September 13, 2023, a funeral service shall be held at the same Sacred Heart Cathedral Catholic Church on Broad Street in Monrovia, where people from all walks of life shall gather to bid farewell to the oldest priest of the Catholic Church in particular, and perhaps Liberia in general.
Tikpor was born September 12, 1926 in Freetown, Sierra Leone, unto the union of Giahwhaxwi Tikpor and Michen Gbatiae Flow, who were both from Grand Bassa County, Liberia, and predeceased him.
He was later sent to his grandmother in Liberia, with whom he grew up. He got his early education at the Saint Peter Claver Catholic School in Lower Buchanan, Grand Bassa County, and the Saint Patrick Catholic School in Monrovia.
On December 17, 1961, Tikpor was ordained into the priesthood at the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Monrovia by his former teacher and mentor, Archbishop Francis D. Carroll. He (Carroll) was the then Ordinary of the Archdiocese of Monrovia.
Robert became the second Liberian Indigenous Roman Catholic Priest after Bishop Patrick Kla Juwle, who was once his teacher at the Saint Peter Claver Catholic School.
Following ordination, Tikpor worked in many parishes in Voinjama and Foya, Lofa County; Gbarnga, Bong County; Tappita, Nimba County, and Monrovia until 1972.
His first appointment was as Assistant Parish Priest of Cathedral Parish, then he was principal of Saint Patrick’s Elementary School, now Cathedral school, Priest-in-charge of Saint Mary’s Church, New Kru Town, with Catholic Mission Out-station in Bomi Hill, and Choir Director at Sacred Heart Pro-Cathedral.
