OBITUARY

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 829, 19 June 1912, Page 5

OBITUARY

elizabeth-mathewsqn, . ; ■ , kokon&av - At Kokonga on Thursday >vening last -Miss Elizabeth MalnewsOH'j" second daughter ; of Mr y Math*jWsoh, shsepfarmer of passed peacefully 'to her long home. Those who. knew "jLiz," as we affectionately, called her, will saying that few brighter, cheerier, or. moire patient, sufferers have Jever graced this mortal sphere.. More or less an invalidduring her life .she maintained throughout, a bright cheerful disposition, and. culled withv patient hopefulness the brightest flowers from the'wayside of the hard pathway of life -"which fell to her lot,, It was a treat to meet her and to chat with her, and no one could know " Liz." Mathewgbn without loving ; her, or be even once in her company without feeling the better ; for the, experience of the sunshine she diffused in her walk talk .and demeanour./ Widely, read, of $ contemplative and philosophic : dispositiony deeply imbued with the. highest and best of religious conviction, a something, embedded in her very soul, and soaring far beyonoVereeds,. she shed around, her an influence that will live for year'sin the little circle of Kokonga and Hyde;. We write feelingly, for we write under a sense of deep personal loss. ''Liz." was; our editor's cousin, she was also the friend and boon companion of his late wife, and her death, therefore, comes to him as- another sad loss. To her aged father and mother, who are now called upon in " the sunset of life," to face the first break in their family circle, and that break the death, of one who by reason of her lifelong illness, had grown into their very hearts' corej we extend our deep and heartfelt sympathy, a sympathy which .words and printer's ink can bat inadequately Miss Mathewson was a writer >of no mean repute. Her contributions to the local press and to the Witness, were marked by their high literary style, and she was ever able to draw from a well stored mind an apt quotation or a pithy epigram. Socially Kokonga has sustained a very severe loss and those of us who had the great pleasure of knowing her in her home and at her best which was a " best" that was infectious and left an impress for better on our lives, will long.♦' sigh for the touch of a vanished hand and the sound of a voice that is gone." Kokonga and ancle Mathewson's cheery home have lost a hopeful, earnest, clever and unassuming wo-uan, and of such is, the Kingdom of Heaven. f ;

MES THOMAS SPAIN' Off CLSTDE

The news of the death of Mrs Thos. Spain, of Clyde, wife of Mr Thos. Spain qf that town and mother of Mr S.T. -Spain of Earnscleugh, reached us on Friday last; and once again a gap is made in the ranks of that fine band of men and women who hailing from all parts of the globe came here in the early days to lay the.foundation* of our prosperity and progress*- Mrs Spain was a fine type of a woman, as most of those of ** the old: brigade " were, and during 3&1 long residence in Ida Valley, where she lived the greater portion of her days, she gained the universal respect and esteem of the whole neighbourhood. Few men are belter known amongst us than her husband Mr Thos. Spain, or her son Mr S. T. Spain, atad we join with their many friends in Central Otago and elsewhere in extending to. them our sincere sympathy in this the hour of their sadness. _The funeral took place at Omakau on Sunday last, the service at the grave being conducted by the Bev. Father O'Dea, and a large concourse of mourners following the cortege to its last resting place.