Obituary MRS CLARA GORDON

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29293, 26 August 1960, Page 2

Obituary MRS CLARA GORDON

Mrs Clara Clifton Gordon, who died recently in Cambridge, lived in Christchurch for 12 years until 1957. Mrs Gordon was a daughter of the pioneer founder of Matamata. Mr Josiah Clifton Firth. Her association with Cambridge goes back to 1880. Educated at the Auckland Girls’ High Schodl (now the Auckland Girls’ Grammar School) and at the Misses McHargs’ School, Clara Firth soon showed her gift for drawing and painting and had special tuition from the wellknown artist of the times, L. J. Steele. She specialised in landscape and seascape painting and retained her interest in painting all her life. When living in Christchurch, she often painted seascapes at Waimairi Beach, chiefly in oils. Mrs Gordon’s works are all privately owned. In 1898 she married Mr J. Trevor Gordon, of Auckland. During World War I she was a member of the staff of a St. John Ambulance Division and gave outstanding service as a nurse during the 1918 influenza epidemic at a camp hospital in Devonport. Mrs Gordon and her daughter. Miss Mona Gordon, lived in Christchurch for 12 years from 1940 and for five years at Sumner. They returned to Cambridge in 1957. Mrs Gordon is survived by her only daughter, Miss Mona Gordon.