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Mr Brian John Stephen Bull died April 2015

Mrs Juliet Bull (wife) writes:

Brian was educated at Beckenham Boys Grammar School, where he was given a scholarship to Cambridge to study languages. His place at Jesus College Cambridge was deferred until he had completed his National Service. He was fortunate to be able to spend his National Service studying Russian for the interpreter’s certificate.

He went up to Cambridge in 1955 where he studied Spanish and Russian. It was during his years in Cambridge that he felt God was calling him to offer for Christian work overseas.

After leaving Cambridge he began teaching at a comprehensive school in Hayes, Kent. We were married in 1959 and moved into a flat in Beckenham and became members of St Paul’s Church in Beckenham. This church has always had keen links with overseas mission and we were led to offer for mission work with CMS. We made an open offer and we spent a year at Liskeard Lodge, the CMS training centre in Chislehurst, Kent.

In April 1964 we flew to Iran. By then we had two small daughters. We went as teachers and our first three years we were running a Boys’ Hostel in Isfahan, a beautiful city in central Iran.

Brian taught English and Religious Instruction at the Diocesan Boys’ School and oversaw the running of the hostel.

Because of his gift for languages, Brian was soon fluent in Persian and was able to talk of deep things and preach in Persian. He also used his musical gifts in playing at church services.

Our son was born in 1966. After our home leave we moved into a house in the town as the Boys’ Hostel and Carr School had been relocated to a compound outside the town, where Brian continued with his teaching.

When we returned to England in 1974, after a period of deputation visiting link churches throughout the country, Brian got a job in the Persian section of the BBC World Service. While there he was given a secondment to the Religious Broadcasting for one year, where he produced a programme about Hudson Taylor of CIM and was involved in a programme about the Turin Shroud.

MISSION PARTNERS’ FELLOWSHIP

Tributes 2016/2017

“Because of his gift for languages, Brian was

soon fluent in Persian

and was able to preach in

Persian”

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He occasionally took the BBC Morning Service. His work continued with the Persian section and when the situation in Afghanistan became very much in the news he was sent to Peshawar to learn Pashtu.

He was very much involved in the life of our church, St Paul’s in Beckenham. Over the years he has had the positions of Church Warden, Church Treasurer, and organist and occasionally organised a wind and brass band which included some of the young people in the church. He also chaired the Mission Committee and maintained strong links with our overseas mission partners.

He was on the Committee of The Friends of Iran (The FDI) and was at one time treasurer.

Over 150 people, many from our links with Iran, came to the service of Thanksgiving for his life, which was at our church St, Paul’s Beckenham on 13 May 2015.

Mrs Beryl Norman died June 2016

Canon Bill Norman (husband) writes:

Beryl Norman was the daughter of John and Elizabeth Welch, who were both teachers. She was born in Bradford, but at an early age the family moved to Wolverhampton, where her father was the head of a C of E primary school. Beryl and her sister Pauline were brought up as Anglican Evangelicals, though her parents later joined the Brethren. Beryl obtained a scholarship in Classics at Girton, leading to a degree in 1947. She then worked as a research assistant in Bantu languages for Professor Guthrie at SOAS. She met her husband, Bill Norman, at a seaside mission; they were

married in 1952, and lived in Eden Park, Beckenham, where he was a curate. In 1954, they were accepted by CMS and spent a year at Liskeard College, which was then the training place for ordinands in the Upper Nile Diocese. (Sadly it is now closed as the road to it is impassable.) In 1962, the first Diploma Course started; this was for students who had obtained the equivalent of GCSE, which was at that time a considerable achievement in Uganda. Beryl taught them New Testament Greek. She also taught Greek to a member of the staff, Janani Luwum, later the famous archbishop and martyr. She and Bill had seven children, including two sets of twins; all except the eldest were born in the Annie Walker ward at Mengo Hospital, Kampala.

When she and Bill returned to England in 1965, he was incumbent of parishes in Yorkshire and then in Birmingham and she became very much involved in Christian/Jewish relationships, taking a diploma in that subject at Selly Oak. Beryl then organised and led tours to Israel annually for some 20 years for the Council of Christians and Jews. For

some time she ran the Israel Information Centre in Birmingham. Later, when Bill was Preacher of Lincoln’s Inn, she also led tours for the Inn’s members not only to Israel, but also to Sinai, Jordan, Turkey and Greece. She was adept at finding excellent agents and guides.

She died on 14 June 2016 after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s.

“She led tours not only to Israel, but

also to Sinai, Jordan, Turkey

and Greece. She was adept

at finding excellent

agents and guides”

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Dr H H “Bert” Osborn died November 2016

Mr Derek Osborn (son) writes:

Bert left for Africa at the end of 1951, to serve with the Ruanda Mission. During the next 17 years, Bert lived and worked in Burundi and Rwanda (with his wife Heather and their three children). Bert was initially a Director of Primary Schools and both he and Heather spend most of their missionary service working with the protestant schools in Rwanda. He became an inspector of secondary schools and finally, after independence, trained government officials to set up an educational system, latterly handing over to them, training them to set and monitor standards to co-ordinate primary and secondary education. He left Africa at the end of 1968 and returned to the UK, where he was a Senior Lecturer at Goldsmiths College in London, training maths teachers. Back in the UK, he also served on the Council of the Ruanda Mission for 17 years, including eight years as Chairman. He was also on the Council of FEBA and a lay reader. During retirement, he turned to writing books, including The Fire in the Hills about the revival which spread from Rwanda, and 12 other books, many of which focused on revival or East Africa. He died having just completed his final book on which he had been working for the last six and a half years, entitled From Birth to Final Destinies.

When reflecting on his years as a missionary in Rwanda and Burundi, Bert wrote: “For Heather and for me those years as missionaries were life changing experiences… The area for which I am most profoundly grateful was that of working among people in whom God had given revival in the near past, and the working of which was still evident for those with eyes to see… I had come to learn the most important effect of revival – personal revival – the simple moment by moment walking in fellowship with God and, as far as possible, in fellowship with, or at least in peace, with other people.” This is where everything else he did, and was, sprang from.

He was born in Blantyre to a missionary family – his father was a missionary with Nyasa Mission in Nyasaland, now Malawi. During the Second World War, he served with Coastal Command as a navigator and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. His wife, Heather, died in 2003 and he died peacefully in Eastbourne at the age of 94, leaving three children (Pippa, Zilla and Derek), nine grandchildren and four great grandchildren.

Several former African missionaries were able to be at his funeral on 2 December at All Saints, Eastbourne. Bert used to tell the story of another missionary from Africa who remarked to him sometime before he died that “the reception committee is getting larger, isn’t it?” He was right and now Bert has joined that “reception committee” ready to welcome us when we get there. He felt that God had spared him when he was shot down during the war in 1944 so that he could dedicate his life to sharing his Christian faith, which he did at every opportunity, as a missionary, a preacher, a lay reader, an educator and in every aspect of his life. So much so that when he was seeing the cancer consultant in September who was telling him that it was no longer possible to treat the cancer but to think about palliative care, Bert began to tell him about the final book he was writing about “birth to final destinies” and how he was not afraid because he knew where he was going.

“During retirement, he

turned to writing books, including

The Fire in the Hills about the revival which spread from Rwanda, and

12 other books, many of which

focused on revival or

East Africa”

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Then just a few days before he died he was leading a Bible study on Moses and the burning bush with 15 residents of the Bernard Baron Care Homes where he had been living in his last years. He was a good and faithful servant, who ran the race and finished the course. Now he is home at last.

Other tributes to Bert from Africa:

From Kabale, Uganda, Joan Hall wrote:

Greetings from Uganda, I praise the Lord for Bert and all the work he did, both in East Africa and then after retirement when the Lord had showed him that he should write books on the East African Revival, many of which have been sold out here, and have focused on the lessons he had personally learnt for himself.

From Kampala, Zeb Kabaza, on behalf of Ugandan Brethren:

The Brethren in East Africa have benefitted tremendously from his missionary services, most especially when he worked in Rwanda. We have also benefitted a lot in his tremendous gift of writing Christian books, in particular The Pioneers of the East African Revival and several others.

We join you as a family and all the Brethren in the United Kingdom in celebrating the life, and bidding farewell, to a great man of God who has left behind a legacy treasured and to be remembered by many. Praise the Lord!!! TUKUTENDEREZA YESU!!!!!!!!!!!

Dr Peter Bewes died December 2016

Dr Hilary Bewes (wife) writes:

Peter Bewes was born in Nairobi in September 1932, to parents Cecil and Sylvia Bewes who were CMS missionaries in Kenya at the time. As a boy he lived in Weithaga in the Aberdare mountain range, and was home schooled by his parents, along with his brothers and the Wigram children, until he was nine. Peter then went to prep school in Kenya, followed by a year at a Nairobi secondary school, after which he came back to England to go to Marlborough College. He was well looked after by family in England during the holidays, particularly by Reverend Keith de Berry, his mother’s brother. It was during this time, at a parish holiday at Lee Abbey, that Peter accepted Christ as his Saviour and Lord. Although the de Berry family was kind and loving, these times were hard, as the war meant it was many years before he saw his parents again.

Eventually the family came home and, after an unsettled period, settled in Blackheath in London, when his father became Africa Secretary for CMS. Early in his boyhood Peter had been given an injection by a doctor in Nairobi and decided that that was the profession he wanted to follow! He never wavered and so, following school, he went up to Cambridge to read Natural Sciences. He made many friends at Emmanuel College, and was college representative for the Christian Union there. Following Cambridge he went to St Thomas’s Hospital London for his clinical studies. After qualification as a doctor he did house jobs in various hospitals. He had intended to become a physician, but at one of his hospitals his registrar suggested that he would make a good surgeon. Peter thought it over and felt that that would be the appropriate course of action. Indeed, with his technical gifts and practical bent it was just the right thing. So he set about trying to get his FRCS qualification. In order to do this he embarked on a further course of study at StThomas’, where he

5

spoke to a Christian Union group and met a friend of his sister Elizabeth, Hilary Bryant. To cut a long story short, Peter got his FRCS and (later his Cambridge M.Chir), Hilary qualified as a doctor, and they married in December 1966!

During their respective studies both Peter and Hilary had felt called to serve overseas, so during their engagement they approached CMS and were accepted as mission candidates. It was felt that they should not go straight from marriage into mission training, so Peter spent three months at the Lord Mayor Treloar Hospital in Alton, where he gained useful orthopaedic skills. They then went into training at Liskeard Lodge, where they studied and prayed with many friends who were later missionaries with them in East Africa. During this time their first daughter, Carol, was born, in December 1967. After various postings were considered, it was decided that Peter would go to Kampala, Uganda, as a Senior Registrar at Mulago Hospital.

So together with baby Carol, aged 12 weeks, they embarked for Uganda in early 1968. Mulago Hospital was quite a shock for Peter. Although he was of course used to the African environment, the hospital was incredibly busy and full. There were patients not only in the beds, but also between them and under them, and relatives as well! Also, the regime was pretty gruelling: every third day Peter was on duty all night, doing not only emergency operations, but also routine ones for which there was not time during the day. He had to work a full day not only before these nights on duty, but also afterwards. After two years Peter came home on furlough and home service, bringing his wife and – by now – two daughters, as Anna was born in August 1969. On his return to Uganda Peter was promoted to Senior Lecturer at Makerere University, while continuing to work at Mulago, now as a consultant. This meant he had a more formal teaching role, discovering that he really loved teaching and had a real gift for it. Peter’s love of photography also meant that he developed a large collection of teaching slides.

In 1971 the unpopular Head of State President Obote made the unwise decision to go abroad for a conference. While he was away Idi Amin staged a coup, and became President Amin. The hospital rang Peter and told him no other consultant could get there because of road blocks. So, very bravely, Peter drove the five miles from the university estate into Mulago, waving his stethoscope out of the window. The shouting was audible from the house, very alarming, but actually it was just the population cheering – little did they know what was coming. During his time at Mulago Peter had been involved in encouraging the staff Christian Union and also preaching in the hospital chapel. On one occasion during Amin’s time he was asked to preach on Naboth’s vineyard! He spent the service desperately wondering what to do only to find they had double booked, and someone else gave an innocuous talk!

The result of Amin’s rule was that he began to expel the Asian population, among whom were all except one of the anaesthetists at Mulago. As a result surgery became very difficult so, as Peter’s contract was coming to an end, he began to think about moving elsewhere.

Having realized that it was right to move, the question was: where to? Peter had heard of a new Lutheran Christian hospital in northern Tanzania with an international school next door to it, which seemed an ideal place. So in 1972 with wife and three daughters (Helen having been born

“No other consultant

could get there because of

road blocks…So, very bravely, Peter drove the five miles into

Mulago, waving his stethoscope

out of the window ”

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in 1971), Peter started at the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre. He thoroughly enjoyed working at KCMC, and found it very fulfilling. He was completely in charge of his own patients; and realising the limits of finance and equipment there and at the mission hospitals he visited with the Flying Doctor service, Peter started developing simple methods of treatment and equipment. For example he used fishing nylon for suturing patients, and sharpened knives bought in the market to use as skin grafting knives. He also treated femur fractures with traction rather than internal fixation, and, in general, tried to avoid using surgery on bone injuries. He was encouraged in developing these simple methods by the fact that he was at the time involved in teaching medical assistants, to upgrade them to become assistant medical officers (in effect doctors). He found this last task very interesting, teaching them by a system of apprenticeship rather than lectures, and being really impressed by their knowledge and enthusiasm. Peter was also responsible for running the KCMC seminars, when doctors from up-country hospitals stayed in staff houses while listening to lectures and sharing ideas.

In 1979 it seemed that the right time had come to return to England. However, before that Peter was employed by AMREF to write a book on surgery for medical assistants. This book has been in use ever since. He was also asked by Maurice King to assist with writing a surgery book for doctors; Peter was largely responsible for the trauma volume, and contributed also to the general surgery and anaesthetics volumes. These too are still in use all over the developing world.

On returning to England, Peter was employed at the Birmingham Accident Hospital. Here his African experience was useful in that he was able to deal with a wider range of injuries, from those normally dealt with by general or cardiac surgeons to those dealt with by orthopaedic surgeons. However the British surgical establishment was not so keen on simple methods and equipment! He continued his overseas interests by travelling and lecturing in various places, including China and North Vietnam.

In 1993, following a heart attack and triple bypass surgery, Peter decided to retire from the NHS. However, on recovery, he heard that his ex-pupil in Kampala, Professor Omaswa, was looking for someone to do “Continuing Medical Education” around the hospitals of Uganda. So he decided to take up the challenge, and went out, with Hilary, as a CMS mission associate. After a trial of calling people into centres to attend lectures, under which scenario they needed to leave their hospitals and required a “per diem” payment, Peter decided the best way was to visit the hospitals and see the doctors and their problems in situ. This required a lot of travelling, but was very informative, both for the local doctors and for Peter. He often ended up doing operations as well as teaching and doing ward rounds. It was also an opportunity to deliver a small library of medical and surgical textbooks (including his own!) to isolated hospitals. In all the places that he visited, his caring approach was welcomed; in one hospital the medical superintendent even pointed out to his juniors that Peter actually touched the patients! (AIDS was rampant at the time.)

In 1998 Peter decided it was time to retire, so he and Hilary came back, and bought a house in a small Norfolk village. However, rather than stagnating, he became churchwarden, and preached occasionally in the benefice. He also contributed to the CMF medical missionaries’ refresher course, both as a lecturer and, with Hilary, as houseparent.

In time Peter became increasingly disabled, and he died in hospital in December 2016. He was a dedicated and enthusiastic Christian surgeon with a real care for his patients, for whom and with whom he regularly prayed. He was a loving husband and father to his three daughters, who will always remember his calm and loving presence, his sense of fun, and his magic tricks at their parties!

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Mrs Elizabeth Mary (Betty) Carver died January 2017

Mr Nick Carver (son) writes:

Betty Carver passed away peacefully on 22 January 2017 at Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital. She was interred in a Woodland Burial at the cemetery in Hexham, where she and her family had lived for many years. With typical modesty, Betty was adamant that the eulogy at her Thanksgiving Service should not be a litany of her life and many achievements.

Betty was the younger of twins and the third of three children born to John Sullivan and his wife Nellie (Wilkinson) in the Queensbury area of Bradford. Her brothers predeceased her. The family moved frequently with her father’s work at the Board of Trade and lived in the Tyneside area at various times. She regarded the North East as home and spent more than 25 years in the Fenham area of Newcastle upon retiring from CMS. Betty and her late husband, Ron, immediately involved themselves heavily with St James and St Basil, the local parish church, where they leave many friends.

Betty was from a generation that regarded service to family, friends and the community as a natural part of her life. Having had a heart murmur as a child, her application to join up during World War II was unsuccessful on health grounds. Typically unflustered, she waited until her family moved again and reapplied, carefully overlooking the health facts that caused her earlier application to be rejected. She spent the war fire watching at nights in Whitley Bay for fires that were the result of inaccurate German bombing raids on the Tyneside ship yards.

After the war, Betty met and subsequently married Ron Carver, a young architect, in Jesmond. Two sons, Nicholas and Andrew, followed shortly afterwards and Betty devoted the next few years of her life to bringing up her family and supporting her husband. When the family moved to Hexham, they found in Hexham Abbey a place of worship that suited them and made them feel at home. With a zeal that was to be repeated regularly in the future, Betty swiftly became involved with many aspects of church life. When Ron trained as a lay reader, she went with him to many small country churches where he would take evensong services that were often the only services that the local farming communities could attend. In time, Betty’s sons had reached the age where they went off to university. Ron had been made a partner with his firm of architects and taken over the office in Hull. The firm was doing well and Betty and Ron had moved into a house they had had built in Beverley, but perhaps driven by their elder son’s career path taking him abroad, they decided that there was more to life than a comfortable suburban existence, which led to a decision to do the Lord’s work with CMS.

After training and a brief stay in Lusaka, Zambia, they went to Kabale in Uganda, where Betty became the secretary to the diocesan bishop Festo Kivengere, sometimes referred to as the “Billy Graham of Africa”. Her outgoing manner and interest in everyone she met was completely in keeping with the friendly and open approach to life in Central Africa. She and Ron (whose architectural experience was used in the building of the cathedral in Kabale and the establishment of brick making works in various parts of the diocese) committed themselves wholeheartedly to

“Betty was from a generation

that regarded service to family, friends and the community as a natural part of

her life”

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life in Uganda, taking a keen interest in education and supporting both schools and individuals. They were also a key part of expatriate life among church workers based in Kabale and their house was open and welcoming to any travellers passing through. This is part of a theme that was to be continued in their retirement in Newcastle, where they maintained contact with old friends from CMS and Africa and happily entertained overseas church representatives at regular intervals.

Betty remained mentally sharp and alert to the end, living in sheltered accommodation that had been designed by her late husband back in the 1970s. She suffered badly from arthritis, which affected her mobility, but she managed to attend her local church whenever possible. In hindsight, it is possibly an indication of the state of her decline that she was unable to go to the Christmas services barely a month before her death.

In Betty, one could not wish for a better wife, mother or friend. She goes to a better place but will never be forgotten. The Carver Hostel in Kabale was dedicated in 1998 by the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey, and Betty and Ron’s names are commemorated on a plaque in the building.

Mrs Dorothy Elizabeth Miller died January 2017

Mr David Leake (brother) writes:

Early Years

Many people will have only known Dorothy in an English context, but there is a much fuller canvas to a rich, fascinating and unique life.

She was born to missionary parents in Northern Argentina, where her parents worked and lived among the Toba Indian tribe in the extreme north of the country. Her birth was in the hospital of a sugar cane plantation in San Pedro, and being Argentine born of British parents she had dual nationality.

She grew up with the Toba Indian children, which gave her a rich experience and deep understanding of their culture as well as a firsthand knowledge of their language.

She loved nature and animals, and as a child she had a small anteater, but as it grew up her father became concerned that it might be dangerous and harm her so it was sent away to a small private zoo. Other pets she had were a small fox cub and a baby deer. She learnt to identify the forest fruits, those which could be eaten and those which could not.

Dorothy appreciated the Indian art forms and crafts and, along with her Indian friends, she would set up a loom and frame for weaving and would go to the river bank to get damp clay to make dolls and little animals. The only limitation was that she could not swim in the river for fear of her being bitten by a piranha.

Her early schooling was undertaken by her mother, but at the age of nine she followed her sister to boarding school in Buenos Aires. In those early days it involved a five or six day journey, starting with a mule drawn cart, and because of the distance she only returned home once a year for summer holidays.

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It was at Barker College in Buenos Aires, a school run on English lines, that Spanish was added to her language skills, which later gave her the opportunity to work as a Spanish teacher.

In due course her parents returned to England. Dorothy came with them and finished her education in North Norfolk, where her parents had a home near Cromer.

Her father became the vicar of a Norfolk country parish, but a few years into their work her parents felt God was leading them to return to Argentina and work once again with the Toba Indians. Dorothy insisted that she would go back with them.

So Dorothy returned with a firm commitment to serve Jesus and the desire to “keep an eye on her parents”. Here again her language skills, coupled with her understanding of the culture and her deep love for the Indians, led her to be involved in literacy courses and other areas of teaching.

Eventually she once again returned to England, where she undertook further studies at Lincoln Teachers’ Training College, and at Dalton House, in Bristol. There she met Philip in 1969. He was at Tyndale Hall theological college.

Philip had gone to theological college believing that God had called him to full time service. His interest in the work of the South American Missionary Society was due to a past curate from his home church in Manchester now serving God in Argentina.

At this early stage and in spite of the relationship growing there was one problem: Dorothy believed that God had called her first, back to Argentina – so back she went.

Nevertheless, regardless of the miles which separated them the relationship grew, long before emails, texts and skype – it was called handwriting in those days!

When Philip finally arrived in Argentina in 1970, friendship was renewed, a friendship that had started in Bristol but over a year later became cemented by God in marriage in a little adobe brick Church in the Argentine Chaco – the service was in four languages.

Middle Years

Their first tour of service saw them visiting and working amongst some of the 50 Indian villages in the Argentine Chaco where the Mataco and Toba Indians lived – by this time Mataco too had become part of Dorothy’s linguistic skills. It was a ministry she loved and it was a ministry that was loved by the various Indian communities she visited.

In 1973 they returned to England for furlough, but this time with one more family member. Cristina was born in Argentina, by a strange coincidence on Dorothy’s birthday, and, like Dorothy, she also has dual nationality.

The very first time Dorothy went into M & S in Manchester clutching the £75.00 clothing allowance she was given by the Missionary Society she burst into tears, as she just could not take it in. She

“…Her language skills, coupled

with her understanding of the culture and her deep love for the

Indians, led her to be involved in literacy courses and other areas

of teaching”

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has never changed, preferring the seven charity shops in Felixstowe. Her motto clearly was to live simply so that others could simply live.

After just over a year in England, long enough for Paula to be born, the family returned to Paraguay, where once again Dorothy, as well as bringing up two small children, involved herself in the work of the Paraguayan community with the same love and gentleness she had displayed all her life.

In 1977, Dorothy finally said goodbye to South America as the family returned to England to start life in an English parish.

First to inner-city Liverpool, then to Burscough Bridge, then on to this parish of St John’s

Woodbridge. It was while here that Dorothy hosted “Springboard”, a Tuesday lunchtime meeting for ladies, where growth in numbers and growth in spiritual depth soon became evident.

Philip recalls that in spite of the demands of running a family, Dorothy’s love and pastoral care for people always shone through. She had no time for answerphones or fax machines. If people ring it must be important was her philosophy!

On more than two occasions the family were having an evening meal in the Vicarage and the phone rang – Mrs Such-and-such has fallen was the message! Dorothy’s knife and fork were left on the plate, the bike came out and the immediate visit took place. It was something that was ingrained within her, call it pastoral care, call it compassion, but above all call it a heart that loves and cares for people.

The same theme is now coming through the great number of cards we have received in remem-brance of her – a gentle, kind, caring, loving person, and even to the end this was still evident.

As far as parish life was concerned, Combs followed Woodbridge, and then finally to the Benefice of Yoxford, Peasenhall and Sibton. It was while in Suffolk that Dorothy’s linguistic skills shone through again as she taught Spanish privately, as well as evening classes in Woodbridge, Stowmarket, Saxmundham and Leiston.

The Later Years

When retirement beckoned so did Woodbridge, for Dorothy wanted to be near the girls as well as the grandchildren. In the autumn of 2009 cancer was diagnosed in the bowel, the bladder and the colon. Philip recalls praying at the time that as with Hezekiah in the Old Testament, God would graciously extend her life.

The family has been blessed with seven more beautiful unexpected years together with her, and during that period there was never any questioning “why me?” or anger with God as consultations and treatment continued; there was just a quiet acceptance of the situation.

In the final months both girls insisted that we looked after and cared for Dorothy at “home” in the place where they had received such love from her over the years, and as the weeks slowly passed so did the depth of the care until God finally called her home in the early hours of 4 January.

As a family we would like to place on record our thanks especially to the care workers and community nurses who looked after Dorothy and supported each one of us this difficult and yet precious time.

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Dr Helen Joanna Anderson (Lenie) died January 2017

Mr R G Anderson (husband) writes:

Although associated with the Mission for only a few years, as doctor in charge of Mengo Hospital, Kampala, Uganda, upon leaving the Mission Lenie was appointed senior obstetrician and gynaecologist in the Ugandan government and posted to Gulu Provincial and District Headquarters of the Northern Province, where I was the senior district commissioner.

Her skill and fame were confirmed within the area, for she became known for her medical aptitude, performing hitherto unknown procedures (like her famous brother in the veterinary field, Toni Harthoorn, inventor of M99 and Capchur gun and drug immobilization of big game) and was generally popular with the locals and government colleagues alike. I first heard of her as a climber. She had climbed Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa, unshod some of the way, as her shoes had disintegrated. Obvious choice for medical officer to the expedition I led to climb Kinyeti, the highest mountain in the Sudan at 10,000 feet, at Easter 1961 – a feat never before achieved from the Uganda side. Having achieved this, we all know why!

Fortunately her shoes lasted out but we were benighted as we reached the summit. We had to bivouac at 9,500 feet and snuggled down in a bunch around the camp fire. Later she confided to me that she chose me because I was the warmest! Foodless and in extreme cold, we survived the night.

We were married in August and, because we were both in our late thirties, had our family of four boys within the next seven years. Lenie was operating up to the last minute before producing her large boys by Caesarean section. In our 56 years of marital bliss, we have lived and worked in five different African countries. Wherever she has worked, she has proved competent and popular with everyone, and was co-operative with all races and colours. In Entebbe, the administrative capital of Uganda, she worked as D.M.O. in charge of Cabinet, His Excellency the President, Governor and all Ministers and their families, as well as civil servants and civilians. Idi Amin, as Regimental Sergeant-Major in Acholi District, the largest in the country, would accompany me on night patrols, providing several patients as we ferreted out terrorists and ruffians who brought bovine pleura-pneumonia into the country from the southern Sudan. We were obliged to co-operate with the Sudanese government despite their tyranny over southern tribes, who fled their homeland to seek peace and safety in the neighbouring Uganda. Unfortunately, they brought with them human and bovine diseases, widespread disorder and disregard for the rule of law.

Our wedding took place in the small mud 5 foot-thick-walled CMS church in Gulu. The Rt Rev Keith Russell, Bishop of N Uganda, who married us, stated he had never seen such a sight with children literally cramming all windows and doors of the church, excluding every breath of fresh air.

Her subsequent life of love and service to all merely confirmed her commitment to God and to his people. She passed away peacefully and quietly, opening her beautiful eyes, smiling at my oil-painting I had gifted her at Christmas, of an Italian village where we had spent a wonderful holiday in 1969 in Torno, five kilometres from Como. The crowd at her Memorial Service on 16 January came from near and far, and was a tribute to her memory and honour and helped her to meet her Master in heaven.

“Her subsequent life of love

and service to all merely

confirmed her commitment to God and to his

people”

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Rev Canon Roger Bowen died February 2017

William Challis writes:

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

That verse from Romans 12:1 makes me think of Roger, because it speaks to me of commitment – and Roger modelled Christian commitment to me and to many others, especially in the world of CMS. Commitment was part of his character – he was, after all, a pretty useful prop-forward and you don’t get anywhere as a prop without commitment, certainly not in Lancashire. But Roger’s

supreme commitment, of course, was to Christ – and that commitment meant that Roger was a rock, a solid, reliable part of the landscape. Roger’s commitment to Burundi provided a secure bridge for wimpier types like me to take the scary step of moving to that country, and indeed to go back 20 years later, so much more easily; it was OK because Roger was there. Roger’s shared commitment alongside Miranda and their family made it so much easier for Melanie to join me in Burundi in due time.

There is, of course, another side to commitment – it can be a bit scary; those great walls that make the world seem secure from one angle can be a bit threatening when viewed from the other side. And, in a good and powerful way, Roger’s commitment was challenging – and possibly even threatening at times. He was not prepared just to accept assumptions – that was what made him such a good teacher and leader in mission, in Africa, in Mid-Africa Ministry and the wider world of the Church Mission Society, at All Nations – his work on reconciliation after 1994 challenged long-held assumptions in both the missionary community and the local church. He wanted to challenge students about their own spiritual lives – he challenged me with his commitment to honest and open prayer, his preaching was designed to disturb, not to leave you where you were.

I am here to represent CMS, but I am here primarily as myself, because I have received so much from Roger and Miranda: simple friendship and fellowship; the opportunity to talk and explore theology; an expanded knowledge of British sheep breeds; an unending passion for CSI; the joy of playing word games with someone as unable to hide his emotions as Roger; psychological analysis of archdeacons; and loads of laughs, most of them – let’s be honest – at Roger’s expense.

But what I take away above all from all my encounters with Roger is that deep, comforting and challenging commitment to Christ, to Burundi, to mission, to Miranda and his family; so, with Roger’s example before us, I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Rev Pat Brooks (friend) writes:

“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.” Psalm 116:15.

Roger was a man who inspired you before he had spoken to you! He had a strong physical presence which, for those who worked with him to further God’s kingdom, seemed to be protective rather than dominating. I don’t imagine he looked like that to the other side on the rugby field!

“Roger was a rock, a solid,

reliable part of the landscape”

13

I first met him when I was a missionary teacher linked with my home church of Holy Trinity, Rusholme, Manchester. He was a curate there in the early seventies beginning to sense God’s call to Burundi. I became aware of the strong appeal he held for almost everybody! Men and women who were committed Christians, but also young people unsure of faith and trying to find their way in life. His quiet strength, which lived with a clear vulnerability, disarmed whoever it might have been and helped that person to share something of his struggles.

In Burundi with Miranda and their young son, Mark, Roger proved to be a hardworking man of vision, helping to build the Community Centre and working with the young people in the capital, Bujumbura. He later launched the Theological Institute at Matana where he was a gifted leader and teacher. I noticed when I was there with him how students related easily to him. They would have gone the second and third mile for him without any pressure!

Back in England, as General Secretary of the Mid-Africa Ministry, his hand on the rudder had a light touch and his sense of humour eased the prickly moment. He did not overwhelm you with brilliant ideas but knocked on your door and asked for your contribution. Without always realising it himself he was a great enabler and set you free to do better than you thought you could.

After his time as vicar, Roger returned with Miranda to Burundi to teach once more at the Matana Theological Institute for a couple of years. His experience of teaching at All Nations Christian College enhanced this later contribution, offered in humility but welcomed with joy.

With Miranda and his lovely family, Roger has been a towering gift to us. The way he bore his illness reached and challenged us. As his death was precious to the Lord, so was his life precious to us.

Douglas Milmine died February 2017

Rt Rev Henry Scriven writes:

Douglas Milmine CBE (3 May 1921–28 February 2017) was the Bishop of Paraguay from 1973 to 1985. He was educated at St Peter’s Hall, Oxford, and ordained in 1947. He began his ordained ministry with curacies at St Peter and St James, Ilfracombe, and St Paul’s Slough. In 1954 he immigrated to South America, where he served in Chile, Bolivia and Peru and finally (until his ordination to the episcopate) as Archdeacon of North Chile, Bolivia and Peru.

He was consecrated Bishop of Paraguay during 30 years of missionary work in South America. These are just two chapters in the remarkable life of 94-year-old Douglas Milmine.

The Rt Rev Douglas Milmine and his wife Rosalind lived in retirement in a seafront flat in Eastbourne, where he recalls his days at Sutton Valence, life as a prisoner-of-war in Stalag Luft 3, and riding out on horse-back to visit indigenous Indians in his vast South American parish. Leafing through a photo album of pre-war photographs taken at his school, Douglas recalls his days as a 1st XV wing forward, company sergeant major of the Officer Training Corps (forerunner of the CCF), and leader of the school’s Christian Union, an early indicator of the life he would subsequently lead.

He was also captain of swimming at school, but not before he and other pupils dug the hole which became the outdoor pool and remains the foundation for today’s somewhat more luxurious

14

indoor complex. After leaving Sutton Valence, Douglas went up to St Peter’s Hall, Oxford, to study theology. But with World War Two raging, he joined the RAF and underwent basic flight training at Babbacombe, Devon, where he first met his wife-to-be Rosalind. A gifted flyer, Douglas became an instructor himself, before applying to join Bomber Command.

Aged just 22, Douglas was given command of a Halifax bomber, flying raids over Germany and France. But on his eighth mission his luck ran out, and he and his crew were forced to bail out after the plane’s engines were hit by anti-aircraft fire and burst into flames. Landing in a small copse, Douglas tried frantically to disentangle his parachute from a tree and scrabbled around to collect up propaganda leaflets, which his plane was to drop along with the bombs. All the while he could hear the sound of German voices nearby. “I knew roughly where I was,” he says, “so I decided I would try to get to Amsterdam”. Moving only by night and surviving on stolen apples and milk, Douglas was finally captured after six days. He had made it to Holland, but was sent to the Stalag

Luft 3 camp in Germany, and remained a prisoner for the rest of the war. In a comment reflecting his phlegmatic and humorous view on life, Douglas recalls: “Actually, it wasn’t that bad, if you could survive boarding at an English public school then you could survive prison camp!”

After the war, Douglas went to see Donald Coggan, later Archbishop of Canterbury, to ask his advice about continuing his studies, and attended Clifton Theological College before being ordained an Anglican priest in 1947. For the next seven years, Douglas was a curate at churches in Ilfracombe and Slough, where a colleague told him there was a need for missionaries in South America. Douglas joined the South American Missionary Society, and in 1954 boarded a ship with Rosalind and their four small children for the 31-day voyage to Chile. They settled at the Araucanian Mission, an outpost almost 700 miles from the Chilean capital Santiago, where Douglas preached at

a little wooden church that had been built half a century earlier by Canadian missionaries. Douglas said: “Most of the Indians spoke the Mapudungu dialect and Spanish, so I decided pretty quickly I needed to learn Spanish”. The sheer size of Chile, coupled with relatively few Protestant Christian missionaries and just one Anglican bishop in the southern region of South America, meant that Douglas was kept busy, travelling around to Indian villages on a broken-down bike, sometimes riding 25 miles there and back.

In 1962, Douglas found that his “patch” was even bigger, when he was appointed an archdeacon of North Chile, Bolivia and Peru. After a brief spell back in England, Douglas and his wife returned to South America, this time to Paraguay, a challenging posting, because at that time the country was a dictatorship, and the subject of suspicion and criticism in the American and European media. Based in the capital, Asuncion, Douglas at least had an improved method of transport to visit Paraguayan Indians on their ranches and villages: he was provided with a horse, sometimes taking up to eight days to ride to various ranches visiting different communities! His work was not only spreading the Christian message, but also helping to develop St Andrew’s College, which flourishes in Asuncion to this day. In 1973, Douglas was consecrated Bishop of Paraguay at a service attended by nine other bishops from across South America, and his work throughout the continent was recognised in 1983 by the British government with his appointment as CBE. In 1988, Douglas and his wife moved back to England, and he retired the following year, although

“Douglas was kept busy, travelling

around to Indian villages on a

broken-down bike, sometimes riding 25 miles

there and back”

15

remained actively involved in the church as assistant Bishop of Chichester, as well as helping at his local Eastbourne church. During the ‘90s, Douglas wrote two books: his autobiography Stiff Upper Smile and a history of Anglicanism in South America. Recently he took life at a gentler pace, but particularly enjoyed the time he spent with Rosalind and the family of one daughter, three sons, 13 grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren.

Mr Michael Grace died February 2017

Mrs Ros Goater (daughter) writes:

My father, Michael Grace, died on 2 February 2017, aged 92. He was born in Uganda to missionary teachers on 4 November 1924, and lived there until he was eight years old. He continued with his education in England, and started at Queens’ College, Cambridge, in 1942. There was an interruption in his studies for a few years when he had to serve in the Royal Navy during the war. He studied Geography in Cambridge and graduated in 1948. This was followed by a teacher training course.

Following in his father’s footsteps, he joined CMS and, from 1950, spent 20 years teaching Geography at schools in Uganda. He met his future wife, Rae, also a teacher, in England before going abroad. They married in Uganda where their family of three children, Frances, Rosalind and Nick, were born, and where we all lived until 1971.

Once back in England, he taught at a Prep school, but found the common somewhat negative attitudes of British children towards receiving an education rather disheartening, after seeing the gratefulness and honour of having an opportunity to attend school that he encountered previously in Africa.

He left the teaching profession, and spent some years with Rae and several employees running a care business, doing care work, as well as general chores, for clients.

Michael and Rae lived in a Hampshire village from the mid 1970s, and latterly managed to remain in their own home, where Rae still hopes to stay. They were very busy in their retirement years, with church and village activities, and both enjoyed entertaining and spending time with their numerous friends in the village. Michael also enjoyed painting, sculpting in clay, playing the viola, and working in the garden.

After suffering a stroke in late 2011, which rendered him unable to walk, Michael endured his limitations with great patience as they progressed in his final few years. He still enjoyed having visitors, including their seven grandchildren and six great grandchildren.

Michael’s priority in life was to serve the Lord, and he shared his faith with so many people who came into his orbit. His love of Jesus gave him strength to cope with the various difficult phases he encountered in his life. People were drawn to his gentle and caring nature, and he will be sadly missed by his numerous friends and family.

“Michael’s priority in life

was to serve the Lord, and he

shared his faith with so many people who

came into his orbit… People were drawn to his gentle and caring nature”

16

Mr Michael Harverson died March 2017

Mrs Susan Harverson (wife) writes:

Michael and I met when we were both in training for CMS, Michael at Liskeard Lodge and me at Foxbury, in Chislehurst.

We married in 1966 and went to Iran for only 12 months in 1966/67, but Michael had spent a previous couple of years in Iran before we were married, helping at the boys’ hostel and teaching English, in Isfahan. He developed a long-lasting love of Iran. I had a longer association with CMS, working in the early 1960s as secretary first to Max Warren and then to John Taylor. I worked for five happy years at 6 Salisbury Square in London. Seems a long time ago!

After we returned home in 1967, Michael took up a post teaching languages and history at Watford Boys’ Grammar School, where he remained until he retired in 1994. He never lost his interest in Iran, and in the 1970s had a sabbatical term away from school, and spent some months travelling through Iran, searching for and recording windmills! This is not as strange as it sounds, as Michael had developed an interest in windmills (and watermills), linked with research into historical use of wind and water in Middle Eastern countries. He became something of an expert!

In his retirement he continued research into the importance of the use of the energy produced by harnessing wind and water – and while he remained fit, enjoyed travelling to do his research. There is no doubt that his time in Iran with CMS all those years ago established a deep interest in the Middle East and the use of natural resources worldwide.

Mrs Pamela Margaret Wadhawa Mall died March 2017

Miss Shama Mall (daughter) writes:

Pamela Snowball was born in Yorkshire, England, on 7 March 1935. She trained as a nurse and midwife at Scarborough Hospital in England in the 1950s and was awarded the Graham Prize in 1967 for her outstanding accomplishments. Nursing provided her a platform to serve others so it was no surprise that she felt a calling to serve people in Pakistan, despite the difficult decision of leaving family and friends behind. She came to Pakistan in 1963 through the Church Missionary Society (CMS) and was sent to Bannu and then Christian Hospital, Quetta.

She married Raj Wadhawa Mall, whom she met at Christian Hospital, Quetta, on 8 April 1967. The idea was not universally well received in those days and as a consequence she had to leave CMS and was no longer a missionary, but her mission had just begun. For a time they stayed at Quetta, but then Raj was asked to manage some family land at Okara, Punjab. They spent a few years farming during which Ashraf was born in 1968. Unfortunately, in 1969 circumstances changed and Pamela and Raj decided to move south to Sind, where they eventually settled at Rattanabad. Raj had a vision to serve in an underdeveloped area and Pamela, locally now known as “mem sahib”,

“His time with CMS all those

years ago established a deep interest in the Middle East and the

use of natural resources worlwide”

17

was at his side. The land was underdeveloped; the only feature was one “Kicker” tree outside where the village now stands.

The first few years at Rattanabad were a struggle to develop the buildings, establish water rights, and bring the salty soil into production. Conditions were harsh, hot and dusty – and there was no electricity. During this time her second son Wahid and later daughter Shama were born. The war in 1972 caused more uncertainty and disruption but brought new opportunities. The Christian Caravan Hospital was then based at Umarkot. Raj and Pamela gave a plot of land to the Church of Pakistan upon which the hospital relocated and operated successfully for several years before permanently relocating to Kunri. The plot of land is now transformed into the Christian Conference Centre. During this time Pamela and Raj began outreach to member villages with health education and a vaccination programme, helped by St Theresa’s Hospital, Mirpur Khas. They began to recruit and train local workers, especially those from the minority communities. Pamela provided ante- and post-natal care to rural women, educating them on basic health and hygiene, including family planning services. She trained numerous women from far-flung villages as midwives to reduce risks to mother and child. Pamela wrote the Child to Child healthcare lessons to promote basic health and hygiene practices amongst children, now translated into several local languages.

Raj and Pamela, who always remained members of CMS, also requested new missionaries to assist in the developing work. During the 1970s, Rev and Mrs Tovey, Paul and Valerie Rennie, Richard and Wendy Sutton, Ailsa Newton and Dianne Windsor arrived. To all of them, Pamela was a constant friend and support as they adjusted to life in Sind.

Raj and Pamela played an instrumental role in establishing the local church in Rattanabad. The first round church, built by community effort in 1979, has continued to grow and now is a sub parish with its own pastor and outreach.

Through all the struggles and difficulties, Pamela’s quiet spirituality was tried and developed. Despite the sheer busyness of family life, running the clinic, helping with the farm and Raj’s illness during the last 15 years of his life, Pamela continued prayerfully, seeking always to move forward and putting her faith into practice. Pamela’s experiences, choosing to forego comforts and privileges, immersing herself in a rural culture, staying alongside poor and needy people, supporting but never patronising all who came for any support, gave her deep insights which she expressed through poems she wrote.

After Raj’s death in January 1999, Pamela continued to remain involved in LSRDA (renamed SSEWA Pak) health work. As a board member, she provided advice and support to the management team and edited annual reports. Pamela was also a member of the Rotary Club of Rattanabad, and went on to become a Paul Harris Fellow in 2012.

She was a proud mother to Ashraf, Zahid and Shama and was blessed with seven beautiful grandchildren – Rohail, Rohit, Sameer, Rohan, Simran, Ronnit and Sarah. She cherished her extended family of friends from local communities, neighbouring villages, local parishes and church members developed during her 54 years in Pakistan.

“Pamela wrote the Child to

Child healthcare lessons to promote

basic health and hygiene

practices amongst

children, now translated into

several local languages ”

18

Mrs Joan Constable died March 2017

Mr David Constable (son) writes:

Joan Singleton was born in Bickerstaffe, Lancashire in 1929. Her father was a coal miner, her mother took in washing. She was one of nine siblings. She left school at 14 and then did some farm work and some nannying. At around the age of 16 she committed herself to the Lord Jesus and was baptised in a local Gospel Hall in Skelmersdale.

When she was 18, Joan went to do her nursing training at St Helen’s Hospital. It was there that she met a young doctor called Guy Constable. They found they shared a common calling to work abroad in the Third World. They got married and after some preparation work, which included attending Bristol Bible College, they left the UK under the auspices of Ludhiana British Fellowship (LBF) in 1954 to set sail for India.

At that time they had a baby of 6 months (John) and another on the way (Rosemary). A fellow passenger observed that Joan was seasick, morning sick and homesick!

They arrived in India two and a half weeks later and then began the process of adjustment and acclimatisation to a new country, culture, climate and language. This brought many challenges, but Joan and Guy grew to love India and the people they lived among and worked with.

Two years after arriving, they had twins, David and Mark – life was never the same again. With four children under four, Joan’s life was more than busy with childcare. Meanwhile, Guy took up his post as Professor of Anatomy at the teaching hospital in Ludhiana, 200 miles north west of Delhi.

In view of the arrival of the twins, LBF could not continue to provide financial support to the family, so Church Mission Society (CMS) stepped in and took over the mission obligations to the family.

When the children went off to boarding school, Joan’s work revolved around hospitality and entertaining. She learned to cook well and baked amazing cakes and cookies in extraordinary quantities for all sorts of events. Her house was like a guest house, being asked to host all sorts of visitors to the hospital. She was also expected to entertain in her capacity as wife of the principal of the college and acting director of the hospital. She enjoyed hosting colleagues and students and also providing a home from home for the many single expat workers.

In 1971, Joan and Guy returned with the family to the UK.

This posed new challenges, as they had no jobs, nowhere to live, four teenagers to find schools for and next to no money. Guy adapted his medical expertise to find work in community medicine and Joan went and picked apples to make some money.

Joan soon got back into nursing, working with the elderly. As sister of the ward, she was well respected by her colleagues, loved her patients and became something of an agony aunt to

“Joan and Guy grew to

love India and the

people they lived among and worked

with”

19

the young nurses. She was asked by CMS to assist on one of their mission committees which considered appeals for assistance from mission families working for CMS. Joan’s own missionary experiences helped the committee as they considered the various appeals.

Never having had formal school qualifications, Joan now decided to do her English and Maths O levels. She passed these and then did a typing course, took piano lessons and completed a cake decorating course. So, while previously she had baked delicious cakes, she now iced and decorated them skilfully for many family or friend’s special occasions. Joan’s grandchildren had many an amazing creation for their birthdays. Meanwhile, Joan continued to entertain family and friends whenever possible.

As mentioned, life was challenging for them financially, which meant that Joan and Guy had to accept the inevitable career moves which many other equivalent UK people would have already completed. As Guy Constable moved up the ladder in the community medicine sphere, Joan was a constant support as they moved from London to Bury, Lancashire in 1974, then to Ipswich in 1976 and after a number of happy years there a final career move to Bolton in the 1980s.

Just over 20 years ago, Joan and Guy moved to Ashbourne to be near family. Soon after, Guy developed a neurological wasting condition. Joan took on the role of nurse and main carer until he died in 2001.

Theirs had been a long and loving marriage and Joan missed Guy dearly. Caring for Guy took a toll on Joan’s health, but being determined, and with the support of family, Joan continued to live independently until around two years ago when she started to develop dementia and had several life changing falls.

It became evident that she now needed full time care. She was given this initially at St Mary’s and then for the last 4 months at The New Lodge nursing home in Mickleover.

Joan was a very honest person; you knew exactly what she thought of what you were wearing, how you had done your hair or whatever decision you had made. But she was also very kind hearted and generous to a fault. She also had a sharp sense of humour and she maintained these qualities to the end.

Friends and family were very important to her and she liked nothing more than having a house full of people. Right to the end she took great pleasure from visits from family and friends.

“Joan was a very honest person;

you knew exactly what she

thought… But she was very kind hearted

and generous to a fault. She had a sharp sense

of humour and she maintained

these qualities to the end”

20

Rev Marilyn Monica (Mandy) Dees died April 2017

Dr Elizabeth Edmunds (friend) writes:

Mandy was born on 10 October 1934 and grew up near Cardiff. She had an elder brother, Nigel, who pre-deceased her.

Mandy won a scholarship to Howell’s School at Llandaff and then went to Nottingham University where she took her B.Sc. degree in Botany in 1955 and the Postgraduate Certificate of Education in 1956.

It was at Ashtead in Surrey, in her first teaching post, that “she found a strong faith and felt the first stirrings of a missionary vocation”. In due course she went to Foxbury, the CMS training college at Chislehurst. A condition of being accepted by CMS was agreeing to undergo surgery for a hole in the heart, which she did. She was accepted in 1961 and went to the Archdeacon Crowther Memorial Girls’ School at Elelenwo in Niger Delta Diocese to teach science. The school was the oldest girls’ grammar school in what was then the Eastern Region of Nigeria, and in 1961 started full sixth form work for the Cambridge Higher School Certificate.

In 1967 the Nigerian Civil War broke out when the Eastern Region seceded from Nigeria so Mandy went to the Annie Walsh Memorial School in Freetown, Sierra Leone, from 1968–69. She went home on leave in 1969 and wanted to return to Nigeria but was unable to do so immediately due to the war (schools had all been closed), so she taught for a while at a mixed comprehensive school in South London.

She eventually returned in 1970 when the war was over and she was appointed principal of the Anglican Girls’ Grammar School in Asaba in what was then the Mid-West State of Nigeria. (The school is now called Ujom GGS and is run by the government.) With the help of Mary Eldridge and the Nigerian staff, she developed it into a very well-regarded school, which, by the time she retired, was the fourth best school in the state on the basis of the previous year’s School Certificate results. She was much loved by AGGS Old Girls, some of whom are now in the UK and visited her in her

final years. They made a very Nigerian contribution to her funeral, after which they sang and danced – something rather new for a Herefordshire village! They have also posted tributes to her on the internet.

Mandy retired from CMS and Nigeria at the end of 1977. She taught Biology in various state schools and then was appointed headmistress of Parson’s Mead School in Ashtead, where she remained until she retired in 1990. She then returned home to Herefordshire to be near her family and to help them care for her mother, while training for readership and then for ordination.

She was ordained deacon in Hereford Cathedral in 1996 and priested the following year. She served in her own benefice at Fownhope and in neighbouring village churches. She retired on her 70th birthday, but with “permission to officiate”.

During her years at Asaba, Mandy and I spent a number of weekends together, mostly at Iyi Enu but sometimes at Asaba – it was always refreshing to have her company and fellowship.

Mandy died on 23 April 2017 and is survived by Nigel’s widow Frances and their children, and many friends.

“It was always refreshing to have her

company and fellowship”

21

Rev Richard Bailey BA died April 2017

Marilyn Bailey (wife) writes:

Richard was born in Bradford, Yorkshire, the oldest son of Sidney and Margaret Bailey. Sidney had served during WW2 in Burma and South Africa, where he acted as a driver for the Bishop. Margaret was a nursing sister and district nurse in Bradford. Sidney’s family were in transport, beginning with Shire horse haulage, and Margaret’s were a family of adventurers from Dorset. Her father, Major Reginald Major, chief engineer for Beyer Garratt railway engines, met her mother in Temperley, BA. He had worked in Peru, Cuba and Iran. They married at the church in Lomas de Zamora where, years later in 1977 and totally led by God, Richard and I spent four months learning Spanish for service in Northern Argentina. Margaret’s uncle was among the few Argentines decorated for their service to Allied forces in WW1 and was mortally wounded on the Somme. We knew none of this until recent years when looking into family history!

Richard spent the first 10 years of his working life as a carpenter and in the building industry in Bradford, with secure prospects of going into management. He worked extensively with asbestos during this time. Early in his employment, at the age of 16, he fell from a high scaffold, fracturing his skull and wrists and suffering severe concussion. This could have resulted in death, had he fallen outside the building! As a result of this miraculous survival and other serious experiences, Richard has had a ministry with those in pain or suffering, physically and mentally.

A keen biker, he took a long break travelling through Europe in 1972. On the top of a mountain in Liechtenstein he experienced the presence of God, and went on to meet Christians who shared the Good News, which profoundly changed his life. It took him on a journey which convinced him to leave his employment and his home and apply to All Nations College, simply to study what it meant to be a Christian. Richard made his commitment in Scargill Chapel, Yorkshire, and was baptised in Hertfordshire. During the time at All Nations he worked for Tearfund at a hospital in Nazareth as a carpenter, and also had a short ministry in Spain.

After we met and married at Ware, in 1975, we attended a CMS Conference, but found that God’s calling for us was to go with SAMS in mission – they were in need of a carpenter/building manager and a teacher in Mision Chaquena among the Wichi (indigenous) people. Richard served there with SAMS from 1977 to 1981 until the Falkland Islands crisis broke out, which prevented us from returning and changed our lives. He became a full time lay minister at St Johns, Great Horton, in Bradford, until he was called to ordained ministry and we went to Oak Hill College, London, with our children Caroline (born in Salta) and Stephen (born in Bradford).

From Oak Hill, Richard was appointed curate at St. Georges Huyton, Liverpool. In 1986 he was diagnosed with testicular cancer, had surgery and gruelling chemotherapy. Had we been in Mision Chaquena the treatment would not have been available, as it had to be done swiftly! It was then

“On the top of a mountain in Liechtenstein

he experienced the presence of God, and went

on to meet Christians

who shared the Good

News, which profoundly

changed his life”

22

that asbestos was first discovered on his lungs. God overruled, as he did many times in Richard’s life, with miraculous power. Richard’s illness brought very closely together the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches in Huyton (in a city where there was deep seated division) and days of prayer together continued afterwards.

Following this, Richard became vicar of St Mary and St Leonard’s, Wombridge, Telford, for 10 years (where our third child, Jeanette, was born). From Telford, we travelled with our caravan to many parts of England and Europe. Richard gained the nickname of vicar of Ebury Hill! In 1997 Richard became the vicar of St John’s Shenstone and St Peters, Stonnall, Staffs, for a further nine years. Both churches are in the Lichfield diocese. It then happened that, at the age of 60, when we got our first mortgage, Richard took up the post of Prison Chaplain at a Cat B prison in Uttoxeter, Staffs – a ministry which he really enjoyed. In 2012, awaiting a major spinal operation, he retired on health grounds. He continued in ministry for both the Lichfield and Derby dioceses.

We do so very much miss him, but I like to think that Richard is continuing in his passion for sharing the Good News and in help and encouragement of others in quite a different way. He gave his permission for St Giles (the hospice in Lichfield where he was looked after so well just before he went to be with the Lord) to use his photo with his nurse in their five year strategy. For five years he will be featured in their publications, in their shops and on their mobile clinic!

Richard was a man of vision, an adventurer, senior scout, potholer, part of the fell mountain rescue team, worker with St John Ambulance, caravanner and miraculous survivor of many physical battles. But above all he shared with others his profound faith and trust in God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Rev Trevor Green (a friend and colleague) has these words of tribute:

I first met Richard when he and Marilyn moved into Oak Hill College. I can remember Richard taking their bedroom window out in order to get their furniture in, as the stairs were too narrow! That gave me an early indication that he was not the sort of man to be thwarted by minor issues such as furniture that won’t fit in your house!

Richard was completely committed to Scripture and sharing the Word of God. He believed that it contained all we need for belief and living. Sharing the Good News was his passion, wherever he went. Richard’s life and example brought hope, 153 men gave their lives to Christ during his ministry at Dovegate Prison. Richard was also an equipper – that is, he passionately believed that every Christian was a bearer of the Good News and a steward of gifts given by God. He encouraged and enabled ministries in others. Richard served his Lord with humility. He wasn’t seeking honours or rewards. He wanted to glorify the Lord by his life and service. He wanted to see others flourish in Christ. He was a leader who wanted to be there at the “coal face”, encouraging his members and doing the work of an evangelist. He was a man who brought everything to God and committed every part of his life in prayer.

Richard has been taken from us at an early stage of life, especially in these days when we talk about longevity. He leaves us with the challenge to continue with the calling that Jesus gave us: “to go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them and teaching them everything I have commanded you.”

23

Miss Jenny Ottewell died June 2017

As written by Richard Rukundo:

I thank you all for your encouragement and love in the last months which saw us go through the joy of celebrating a life well lived, and the pain of nursing and losing our friend, mentor and blessing to Children’s Ministry; Jenny Ottewell. Praise God for her life which we shared both in Uganda and England.

I still have many memories with her during my last visit to England in November 2016; the long drives to Kendal, with many stopovers either to greet friends or to just have a snack and take pictures of the beautiful scenery along the way.

Archbishop Stanley Ntagali in his message “Rise to Glory Jenny Ottewell” wrote:

Jenny Ottewell served as a CMS missionary with the Church of Uganda from 1975 to 2001. She served as the Diocesan Education Secretary in Ruwenzori Diocese and Bunyoro Kitara Diocese before taking on her role as the Provincial Children’s Ministry Coordinator at the Provincial Secretariat from 1987 to when she retired in 2001.

Jenny left a legacy for her zeal, passion and commitment to the Church of Uganda while with us in Uganda and even when she left to return to England. She will be remembered for having dedicated her time to CRE Curriculum, Sunday School Teachers Training, Christian Teachers Association, initiating the bookstall, writing of Christian books, working towards the establishment of Namirembe Resource Centre Girls Hostel (NAREC) and many others. Indeed, this is what Jenny Ottewell has done – she has lived as a witness, ambassador of Christ and fought a good fight. We will miss her but we know that she has gone to be with the Lord.

Mrs Rosemary Stephens died June 2017

Elizabeth Deeks (friend) writes:

Rosemary was a Nightingale-trained nurse and midwife. Rosemary joined CMS in 1950, and was sent out to Zaria in northern Nigeria. She worked as a nurse and midwife and used the experience to write a book called Home from Home, about adjusting to a different culture and climate, from the perspective of a young English nurse coming to work in a Nigerian hospital.

In 1952 she married John Stephens, the Canon Missioner at Akure. They first lived in Ado Ekiti and a year later moved to Akure. Rosemary worked in Ile Abiye hospital and trained Nigerian midwives, many of whom would be working in rural areas, and here she began her fight against female genital mutilation.

In 1957 they moved to Owo and in 1959 Thomas was born. Susanna arrived in 1961. In 1962 they moved to Ibadan. There they founded the Daystar Press, a publishing company devoted to making

“Jenny left a legacy for

her zeal, passion and

commitment to the Church of

Uganda”

24

Christian literature available to all Nigerians, and finding local writers and authors. Rosemary was crucial in editing works to be published. She also began working with Carina Robins, also of CMS,

involving people in simple dramas to illustrate the Gospel stories, as a different media to get the message of the Lord to the locals.

After the coup of General Gowan in 1968, John and Rosemary, with their children, left and returned to England.

After they retired from parish work in UK they lived in Sway in Hampshire, where Pauline, Rosemary’s sister, also lives. Rosemary’s daughter, Susanna, now lives in the United States but she was able to come and visit her mother who has been in a nursing home recently and to stay with Pauline. Susanna wrote to inform me of her mother’s

death and said that she and her daughter, Miki, were with her reading Psalms and Celtic Prayers when Rosemary died peacefully.

Daphne Eunice Carver died 14 October 2017

Mr Tim King (nephew) writes:

Daphne Eunice Carver died peacefully on 14 October 2017, at the Halifax Infirmary, Nova Scotia, Canada, surrounded by her loving family. Born in 1933 at Maidenhead in the south of England, Daphne was the daughter of Leonard and Rhoda (Rolfe) Ash. She was the beloved wife of Dr John B. Carver.

After graduation from the Kendrick Girls Grammar School in Reading, Daphne trained in London, in nursing at the Mildmay Mission Hospital, Bethnal Green, and at the Royal London Hospital, Whitechapel, and then in midwifery at the Beckingham Maternity Hospital and with the Nursing Sisters of St John the Divine in Deptford.

Following a year of studies in Pastoral Theology with the Church Missionary Society, in 1957, Daphne and John were married in India. They spent three years in a small village hospital near Aurangabad, Maharashtra, where their daughter Claire was born. These were happy, rewarding years, and always a source of sustaining memories for Daphne. In 1960, the family returned to England, where their son Daniel was born. In 1962, John and Daphne immigrated with their children to Nova Scotia. Two sons, Jonathan and Paul, were born in Halifax.

Daphne graduated from Mount Saint Vincent University in 1980 and continued with Clinical Pastoral Education and theological studies at the Atlantic School of Theology. In 1982, the Anglican Diocese of Nova Scotia appointed her as a hospital chaplain. She served for eighteen years at the Victoria General Hospital and the Halifax Infirmary, always with a special concern for palliative care.

In retirement, Daphne volunteered with the Victorian Order of Nurses, working on the seniors’ information line and on various committees engaged in introducing supportive community programmes for the elderly.

“Rosemary was crucial in editing

works to be published”

25

Daphne was predeceased by her beloved husband, John, brothers, Raymond and John, and brother-in-law, John King. She is survived by her four children, Claire (Brian), Daniel (Pamela), Jonathan (Teresa), and Paul (Shauna), all in Halifax; and by seven wonderful grandchildren: Julia and Katrina; Sophie, Mairi, and Ian; Samuel and Benjamin.

Daphne’s interests were many and varied. In her youth, she excelled in field hockey. Throughout her life, she took great pleasure in gardening. She thrived on hiking (not easily deterred by weather or terrain), and gloried in the natural world around her. She was an avid reader and was sustained by music. Her faith, family and friends were her greatest joy.

Pastoral care was not only Daphne’s profession, but her natural inclination. She was an engaged member of St John’s Anglican Church where, to the end, she was seen circulating among her fellow parishioners, greeting and quietly listening attentively. She was a person of deep faith, and her guiding principle was to always do “whatever is the most loving thing”. Daphne touched the lives of all who met her, and will be sorely missed.

Miss Myrtle Hall MBE died October 2017

John Clark writes:

Myrtle Hall, who died aged 89 at the College of St Barnabas on 7 October, was a CMS missionary who pioneered education for children with physical disabilities in Nigeria. The youngest of three sisters born and educated in Barnet, she initially undertook teacher training and worked in schools in Eastbourne and St Albans from 1949 until 1953. From 1953 she taught at special schools in Eastbourne and Gloucester, where she became deputy head, before going out with CMS to Nigeria in 1964.

In the course of the next 12 years she founded and developed The Atunda-Olu School for children with physical and mental disabilities in Lagos. This was the first school of its kind in the country, beginning as a pilot project in a private house, eventually moving into architect designed premises. Her work completed at Atunda-Olu, Myrtle returned to Britain as a tutor at Crowther Hall, the CMS College in Selly Oak, Birmingham. Her commitment to Nigeria was such that she returned to the country in 1978 to found The Otun Ireti School for Handicapped Children in Ikare, in the newly formed Ondo State.

In establishing the schools Myrtle had to visit the villages and find the children with disabilities. Until then schooling was not available for such children who were “hidden” in their communities. Not only did Myrtle negotiate with the families to find the children, but she also had to negotiate with government departments and financiers. Life in Nigeria had its challenges but she rose to them with faith and aplomb.

Myrtle was appointed MBE in recognition of her achievements. Both schools have developed and continue to flourish.

“Her faith, family and

friends were her greatest

joy”

26

In 1984 she returned to Eastbourne where she helped to establish five starter homes for adults with learning disabilities and later became the first manageress of the town’s World Craft Shop.

Myrtle was a person of deep faith and trust in God. She was a member of the Companions of Brother Lawrence. Her prayers and reflections drawn from her Nigeria experience Everyman is a brother, Lord (1982) and The Kaleidoscope Pattern (1991) were both published by CMS. In retirement she self-published two more collections – Offerings (2005) recently reprinted, and Overflowing (2008) which also included some of her own paintings.

In retirement from 1988 she and her older sister Gwen (also a CMS missionary in Nigeria) lived in Devon and then Bexhill. Sadly Gwen died in 1998 but Myrtle remained in Bexhill until 2005

when she moved to Whittington College. As her health declined she transferred to the College of St Barnabas. In later years she lost the use of her legs but was a skilled driver of a mobility scooter and wheelchair on which she used to visit residents in other rooms and enjoy the College grounds, until confined to bed earlier this year. Her faith and spirit never dropped and she was always an encouragement to her many visitors.

Elizabeth Deeks (friend) writes:

I first met Myrtle in 1964 when we were together at Foxbury in the days of Mollie Kluht and Mary Childe. She was older than most of us so she was a senior person who we all looked up to. I remember she sang in the choir group. I followed Myrtle to Nigeria in 1965 to found that we were

together again at the Nigerian Youth Camp where we went for six months to learn some Yoruba. I remember that Myrtle was much better than I was in speaking Yoruba because of her musical ability, which is so useful when learning a tonal language. John Fowler in Ibadan was our language tutor and he set up some very interesting sessions where we were introduced to Yoruba culture. I also remember Myrtle was the leader of a Scripture Union Camp. Myrtle was with Pat Green from CMS Northern Ireland and they worked together to set up Atunda-Olu School for children with disabilities, which began in their house in Badaru Street, Suruleri. I then went on to teach in Ondo State and in 1978, after Myrtle spent a year on the staff of Crowther Hall, she came to set up the first school for children with disabilities in Ondo state in Ikare, Akoko. This one is called Otun Ireti. Before starting these schools she went to find the children with disabilities, who were often hidden in their homes – maybe under the table in the kitchen, or even outside in a shed where they could not be seen by the neighbours. (Atunda Olu means “recreated by God” and Otun Ireti is “new hope”.)

Myrtle was an inspiration and a tower of strength to us in CMS in the Western Region of Nigeria. She was an encouragement to me and to many others. She had a daily early morning quiet time when she wrote down the thoughts that came to her. These became the source of her four books of prayers and meditations. Everyman is a brother, Lord and A Kaleidoscope Pattern were published by CMS in 1982 and 1991 and Offerings and Overflowing came later in 2005 and 2008. These are really special books and are a challenge to all who read them. Myrtle was a member of the Companions of Brother Lawrence, who wrote The Practice of the Presence of God. She also attended retreats in Painting and Prayer organised by The Creative Arts Retreat Movement (CARM). Her art work enhances her books.

“Her faith and spirit never

dropped and she was always an

encouragement to her many

visitors”

27

Myrtle will be remembered for her love of the children in her schools and for the time that she spent talking to God. The last nine months of her life were difficult because she was unable to move independently and had to be hoisted from place to place in her room, but she always found something to be thankful for and was always grateful that she was in St Barnabas College nursing wing.

The funeral service, in which the music, the hymns and the readings were chosen by Myrtle, was held in the chapel of St Barnabas College on 24 October. Her niece, Carol, gave a tribute and her spiritual director, Fr David Ivorson, gave a homily. One thing that he said was that Myrtle didn’t pray to ask God to do something for her but rather she prayed to ask God what she could do for him.

I thank God that Myrtle came into my life and became such a good friend.

Rev Trevor Patterson died October 2017

As written in the Belfast Telegraph:

The Rev Trevor Patterson (57) passed away on 10 October after he suffered a heart attack while out running.

Originally from Lisburn, he was vicar of Holy Trinity Church in Richmond, south-west London.

Trevor was born to Harold and Meta Patterson in 1960, the second of three children. The family attended Railway Street Presbyterian Church. Educated at Friends’ School in Lisburn, the young Trevor was often found working during school holidays at Smyth Patterson Ltd, founded by his grandfather in 1936. He graduated with a degree in music from Queen’s University in 1982, then attended Stranmillis College where he qualified as a teacher, going on to take up posts at Killicomaine Junior High School and Knockbreda High School.

He met his wife, Kate Peppiatt, during a two-year spell with the Church Mission Society in Nairobi, Kenya. They married in 1991 and had three sons – Johnny, Connor and Ben.

Trevor and Kate studied theology together at Trinity Bristol and Trevor then served as a curate in Ashtead in Surrey.

In the spring of 1997 he was instituted as vicar of Holy Trinity in Richmond, where he was also appointed Area Dean.

A much-loved pastor, he was delighted when, in 2009, Holy Trinity subsumed a church in Barnes that was about to close.

He helped found two charities that work with vulnerable families and refugees, and also supported the work of Karis Kids charity for orphans and made several mission trips to Kampala.

“He helped found two

charities that work with vulnerable

families and refugees”