IN MEMORIAM

Evening Post, Volume CIII, Issue 53, 4 March 1922, Page 5

IN MEMORIAM

A- LIFE AMBITION

MELANESiAN MISSIONARY'S DEATH.

(Mtou on* otrn . corrwtondent.) LONDON, 12th January.

The Southern OroeS Log, published today, contains an appreciation of the late Rev. Norman Dixoh, who joined the Melanesian Mission in 1919, end^who died from malaria at Tulagi last December. It is written by the Re-v. W. li. Potts^ Vicar of Bywell, near' Stocksneld-on-Tyne, who says:

"Norman Dixoil was one o! those fortunate people who find their yoo*tion early in life. From the time ■when, quite ft little boy, he used to assist, he had made up his mind to be a missionary., and with this at the back of his mind he was bent on taking' Holy Orders, and shaped his course so far as he could to that end. Ha had also the good fortune when littla more than a boy to come under the influence of the late Eev. W. D. Hulas, who was at that time Vioar of St. Outhbert's, Newoastle-on-Tyne. Mr. Hulas had a wonderful gift for attaching lade to himself and his church, and enrolling then* as helpers in his various parochial schemes. In him,,.Dixon found a warm and sympathetic friend, % and he soon became attached to . St. Cuthbert's as chorister, server, and later as Sunday school teacher.. His heart was thoroughly in all his church work, and both Mr. Hulas and his successor had reason to be thankful for having him among their helpers, for everything ho undertook was done wijb. splendid thoroughness. He .was very quiet and subdued in his manner; so much so that some (people thought there was not much in him, but they little knew the 6teady, unflinching purpose and determination that laj beneath. . All through those days as a lay-helper 'he was looking, forward and longing for the time when he would be able to take up his life's work in tha ministry, and great was his joy when ho was able to go to Durham as an undergraduate of St. Chad's College, under the Rev. S. R. P. Moulsdale, then —as nowprincipal. But here he encountered his one great difficulty:. he found he was no good at examinations, it was not that ha lacked brains, or did not - know .his work. When helping him for his examination fot Deacon's Orders, I remember being astonished at his knowledge of rthe Prayer Book. It was simply that he had not. the knack of putting: down 'what tie knew on paper. But ho was a man of do^eed determination, and never knew when he was beaten, and by sheer hard work ha won his way through, and had his full reward when, all obstaole3 having been surmounted, he was ordained priest by the Bishop of Durham, and gave himself to his work in the parish of Shadforth. There he remained for some two or three years, and. did great, work among the men and boyr of that rising community. "But his heart was in the mission field, v and he was always longing for the time to come when he might (jb abroad. And at length the time did come, and we remember well the light in his eyes when he came to say that he was going out to Melanegia. Of his work there others will write, but from what we saw of his quiet enthusiasm, and his conscientious devotion to duty, both as layman at St. Cuthbert's and parish priest at Shadforth, we knowthat the mission has, lost one whom it will find very hard to replace." . ....;■...

It is mentioned that Mr. Dixon's f«ther and sister died ouite recently, and sincere sympathy is expressed with his invalid mother.