LIFE'S LAST REWARD

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22059, 15 March 1935, Page 10

LIFE'S LAST REWARD

GIRL GUIDE'S FORTITUDE ■ r\. DEATH AFTER PRESENTATION The rally for Lord and Lady Baden- 1 Powell-in Christchurch was a ted letter day for most of the guides, a day of. eagerness and excitement, but for one it was a golden day, one of tremendous incident, and the last of a lifetime. . , - - 1 Miss Gladys. Emma Clever ley, a Post Guide, and an invalid for 13 years," who received at the Shotfgrounds last Saturday from Lady Baden-Powell a certificate for endurance became unconscious on Sunday morning and died early on Monday. Miss Cleverley was born- 34 years ago and lived at Papakaio, North Otago, and in Southland. She contracted rheumatic fever at the age of. nine, but ISO independent was the little girl that nhe insisted upon studying at home for# a special proficiency examination to en*, able her to attend the Technical School, Here she fitted herself for a business life, and for a few years; interrupted lby intervals of illness, she followed »; . business career as a stenographer When she was 21, her fa.mily having , moved to the North Island, Miss Clev-. erley entered the Waikato Hospital and was considered a hopeless case. For 13 .years she .struggled against, a relent* :less disease, fully conscious of it* nature,. and yet still determined to live, every moment of life. She was a Post Guide for the past five years. Although in-the last few weeks her illness reached a dangerous stage, of which she understood the significance. Miss Cleverley, unaware that any certificate was to be presented to her, or v that she was to be singled out in any 'way, made a courageous effort to attend the rally as an ordinary Girl Guide —and succeeded at,, great cost. Unaware of the"significance of her own part in this poignant little dranu* Lady Baden-Powell passed down the line of invalids, to shake hands with each, and then returned to honour this guide. She shook hands again, and said, "Have this framed and hang it in your bedroom," and then moved on. The certificate will be framed and hung, just too late to give pleasure to its gallant recipient.