MISS GLEN’S WORK IN CITY

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 22941, 10 February 1940, Page 2

MISS GLEN’S WORK IN CITY

SEVERAL TRIBUTES PAID

“BROUGHT SUNSHINE INTO MANY LIVES”

Regret at the death of Miss Glen was expressed yesterday afternoon by representatives of organisations in Christchurch with which she was connected. Tributes were paid to her work among the children of the city and further afield and to her interest .in social welfare activities. Speaking for the Mayor (Mr R. M. Macfarlane, M.P.), who is away in the North Island, the Deputy-Mayor (Mr J. S. Barnett) expressed profound regret at Miss Glen’s death, and appreciation of her work in the city. “She brought a great deal of sunshine into the lives of the; children who were closely connected with her, as well as of those in more distant:'parts,~ wMSe. association with her was through the children’s supplement of ‘The Press’,” said Mr Barnett. “Miss Glen’s assistance in many charitable enterprises has been of great benefit to the city of Christchurch,” Mr Barnett continued. “As well as brightening the lives of young people, she inspired them to make their , contribution to good works.” Home Service Association For the Christchurch Home .Service Association, the following tribute to the memory of Miss Glen was paid by Mrs H. C. Hewland: “The Home Service Association and its hundreds of members will not forget Miss Glen. Our work is perhaps a modest monument to her first quality—her constant interest in other people’s problems and her anxiety .to. be of, help in tackling them. “In 1929, when she,was with the, ‘Sun,’ Miss Glen received a letter from a person who was left without means and had to find temporary work. This woman Miss Glen to help her through the ‘Sun.’ The letter was published. It brought others flowing in from girls and women who were anxious to earn money at cooking, sewing, shopping, arranging dinners Sor-. dances', looking after children, and doing, capably and well, the thousand and one tasks that are always to be done about the home. . “Then, too, Miss Glen received letters from harassed mothers, who, however dearly they loved their children, wanted to get away from them for an afternoon or a day to come to town or go visiting, but who could find no one to take charge in their absence. These worried mothers and their would-be helpers had no common meeting ground. Miss Glen sympathised with them, but she did more' than that. She called a public meeting and gave an address. She aroused the enthusiasm of others and brought the Home Service Association into being. Purpose of Organisation . “She was, then, the founder of the Christchurch Home Service Association. She'asked that its purpose be. ‘To promote a spirit of co-operation between employer and worker, and to raise the status of the workers in the home.’ This purpose we have pursued since, and it has been carried further afield, for Home Service Associations have been formed in other centres.

“Miss Glen was a member of, our committee in the earlier days, and later we had the privilege of electing her a life member; but she was a woman impatient of committee meetings and minutes and resolutions; she was interested, rather, in the human values that lay behind them. As a journalist, she reported upon our trials and troubles, and our good fortunes and celebrations,' but she did more than that; she entered into them with us and we were able to share the enthusiasm, the vitality, and the essentially practical outlook which she brought with her. “We shall miss her presence, but her spirit will continue an inspiration.” Mr E. A. Adams, "president of the Cholmondeley Memorial Children’s Home, said that Miss Glen’s advice when the committee of the: home, of which she was a member, was reorganised’, had been of great value. She had always taken a keen interest in the home and had shown this in many practical ways. Her attitude to children, and her insistence that conditions at the home should be the most suitable for them, were characteristic of her.

“Miss Glen was a wonderful woman, and the children are going to miss her very much,” Mr Adams added.