AN OTAKEHO PIONEER

Taranaki Daily News, 16 February 1933, Page 7

AN OTAKEHO PIONEER

MEMORIAL SERRVICE HELD. A memorial service was held at St. John’s Anglican Church, Otakeho, last Sunday for the late Mrs. L. Rogers, who belonged to a pioneer family, her parents, Mr. and Mrs. W. S. Young, having come to Otakeho district 50 years ago. The service conducted by the Rev. C. W. Solomon was impressive, and was a fitting memorial to one who was held in such high regard by everyone in the district. Mr. Solomon recalled that last time they had a service, two weeks’ previously, Mrs. Rogers was present, as was always her custom. She had come first to Otakeho in 1883, and had been throughout a regular worshipper at St. John’s, taking a keen interest in the work of the church and of the Ladies’ Guild. Mr. Solomon reminded the people of the close attachment of members of her family with the building—the beautiful east window being installed tn memory of Mrs. W. S. Young, the alter in memory of her father, and the handsome font of her brother, Sergeant-Major Outram Young, who died in France on Octobex* 4, 1916. The last-named served the church faithfully as lay reader. "We shall all miss Mrs. Rogers very much,” said the preacher, “and our sympathy goes out to her husband, her son and daughter and her brothers and sisters.” Mr. Solomon referred to the life beyond the grave, stressing how little was known but assuring his hearers of his belief that for all who died in the love and fear of God there was a real life, vivid and conscious and calm, and that all would once more meet their loved ones gone before. “The souls of the righteous,” said the preacher, “are with Christ—absent from the body, present with the Lord, which is far better.” During th® service the congregation sang the hymns “Jerusalem the Golden,” “Nearer, My God, to Three,” "For all the Saints,” "On the Resurrection Morning,” “How Bright Those Glorious Spirits Shine” and ‘"The Saints of God," The “Dead March” in Saul was played by the organist, Mrs. L, S. Mackie.