OBITUARY

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXVI, Issue 144, 3 June 1936, Page 8

OBITUARY

Mrs. Mary Masters Gawith

I'ho death occurred recently at “Glenniore,” Upper Plain, Mastertou, of Mrs Mary Masters Gawith, widow ®f the late Mr C. F. Gawith. The late Mrs Gawith, who was iu her 83rd. year, was a link with the days of early settlement iu the Wairarapa. A daughter of the late Mr and Mrs B. P. Perry, of Penrose, she was brought to this district as a young child by her parents when they first settled hire and took up the Pearoso property. Ou the journey over the Rimutakas from Wellington she was conveyed on a pack on the back of a working bullock. 'fhe la’e Mrs Gawith spent the whole of her life in the Wairarapa and to the last took a keen interest in all that went on within its l>orders. She had a wealth of interesting memories of the early days of the district, some of them of the Native hostility which for a time gave the pioneer settlers a good deal of anxiety. Taking a very kindly interest in all with whom she came into contact, Mrs Gawith was long associated with various activities for the good of the commumtv. She was an active member of a number of church organisations and even in verv recent times her interest and sympathy, particularly with organisations of young folk, were made manifest iu a very practical way. Mrs Gawith was a foundation member of the Masterton Sketch Club, and the art of painting, in which she had no mean skill, was one of her absorbing iiperests to tho last. Sho was a life member of the Plunket Society and also of tho Navy League.

Mrs Gawith was predeceased by her husband, Mr C. F. Gawith, who was the first practising solicitor in Masterton, in 1911. Her surviving relatives, to whom much sympathy will be extended in their loss, include two sons, four daughters and ten grandchildren. The sons are Messrs 8. R. Gawith and A. C. Gawith, both of Ma>tert<>n, and the daughters are Mesdaines K. 51. Ellison, Havelock North , B. V. Skeet and H. G. Moser, both of Masterton, and Trevor Thomson, Auckland.