SARAH CAROLINE PILSON.

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume XX, Issue 4, 1 October 1929, Page 2

SARAH CAROLINE PILSON.

The death of Miss Pilson must have come with a great shock to her very many friends, one had grown so used to think of her as always strong and well, always ready and able to minister to other people. She was v, born worker, and never was she so happy as m working for others; sacrifice and service were the very breath of her life. For many years, before his marriage, she kept house for Archdeason Simkin, and when she came to reside with him and Mrs Simkin m Napier, that it was possible for thfcm to keep an almost unbroken stream of guests passing through their house, was m great measure, due to the way m which she spent herself for others. When she took a house to herself her main thought was always how she might use it m the .service of others. It was ever open to country visitors or tired workers for the Church. Speaking as a country priest one had only to mention parishioners m hospital, whose friends living far away could seldom visit them, to he assured that such lonely ssufferers would receive at; her hands all the loving ministrations that most intimato relations could have offered. Laden with her gifts, often for those she hardly know, she was an intimate figure at all hours at the hospital. Surely many will rise up and call her blessed. Nor were her sympathies bestowed solely on humanity. Her love and understanding brought her into the closest touch with Nature. Every animal instinctively found a friend m her, while her tender care for plants and flowers would have made the wilderness to blosscm like the ros*.

To a remarkable extent she combined m her life the qualities of Martha and of Mary. She drew her inspiration directly from Our Lord Himself, and her figure was a familiar one at the early celebrations m the Ormond Chapel. She has passed into the fuller life, leaving many the richer by, her memory. We thank God for the worthy fruits of her life. Many m their thoughts will follow her into the unseen, commending her soul to her Saviour, and realising something of. the Communion of Saints into which she has been welcomed by those who, before their passing, learned to love her for her sympathy, her faith, her courage and her immortal hope. ■ / '.. R;F.G. :