SAD DROWNING FATALITY AT OAMARU

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 7, 18 February 1925, Page 31

SAD DROWNING FATALITY AT OAMARU

A sad drowning fatality occurred at Friendly Bay, Oamaru, on the 14th inst., when Miss Ellen Magee, of Eden Street, Oamaru, lost her life in the Oamaru harbor. At about 9 a.m. that day, Miss Magee loft her home in Eden Street, apparently in her usual health, with the intention of having a swim at Friendly Bay. It is surmised that the deceased, who was a fair swimmer, was attacked by cramp, as the 'body was found floating face downwards in about three feet of water, and quite close to the shore. Dr. Smith-Morton was summoned, but alter efforts at artificial respiration had 'been carried on for some considerable time, could only pronounce life extinct. The deceased, who was 35 years of age* resided

with her widowed mother and family in Eden Street, to whom the sympathy of a wide circle of friends is extended. At the early Mass on Sunday at the Basilica', reference was made to the sad occurrence by Rev. Father Fenelon, who spoke of the exemplary life led by the deceased. To use the words of the preacher, “Little did she think when she ■ received her Lord in Holy Communion that morning at Holy Mass that she had received Him as her Viaticum. He reminded his hearers of the uncertainty of death, and asked them as they had taken a lesson from her exemplary life, to also take one from her sudden death. He asked the prayers of the congregation for the repose of the deceased’s soul and for the bereaved relatives. At devotions in the evening, the organist played the “Dead .March” while the congregation stood as a tribute to the memory of the deceased.

Requiem Mass was celebrated at (lie Basilica. yesterday morning, and the remains of the deceased were conveyed to their last resting place in the Oamaru Cemetery in the afternoon. —R. I. P. AX APPRECIATION. (Contributed.) “Arise, my beautiful one, and come! The winter is now oast, the rain is over and gone. Arise and come.” In loving words such as these, we can imagine Our Divine Lord welcoming to FI is eternal Home the soul of His faithful servant and friend, Nellie Magee. This favored child of grace received Tier early education at the Dominican Convent, Oamaru. Duriifg this period of her life she was ever a docile, generous pupil and gentle, kind companion. At a very early age she showed that remarkable devotion to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament which was to become her characteristic virtue in later years. Throughout her short earthly career her greatest delight was to spend her leisure hours gathering and arranging for His Throne the fairest flowers of Oamaru. No labor was too great, no task too strenuous in accomplishing this duty of love. On Exposition days how often, during many long hours, we saw her gentle form passing to and fro in the sanctuary. Hers, too, was the privilege of keening the light constantly burning before the Blessed Sacrament, and how faithfully she discharged that office her Silent Friend in the Tabernacle alone could tell, for gently and sweetly, unobserved by human eyes, she came and went. Never did she fail to he present at daily Mass. Summer and Winter', in the wet and in the cold, lovingly six' came to receive her Lord in Holy Communion. Only a few short hours before her' death she knelt in the Basilica in sacred converse with Him Mho was so soon to he her Judge. "Well can wo imagine how that sweet intercourse was changed into that more perfect communion where, the veils of earth being lifted, she mether God and Friend face to face in His divine beauty and glory. She has gone to her eternal reward, but her example will remain as a guiding star to direct others in the ways of righteousness.

“Thrice hle-t whose lives ere .faithful prayers, Whose loves in higher Love endure; What souls Dosses'? themselves so pure, Or is there blessedness like theirs?”