Obituaries Australia

Margaret Wade, n.d.

photo supplied by Adrian Young

In the passing away of Mrs. John [Margaret] Wade, of Ashfield, her family lose one of the best of wives and mothers the Wesleyan Church a loyal and useful member; and the community one whose kindly nature and unostentatious charity endeared her to all who knew her. Ever since the arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Wade in Dungog, in the year 1866, the connection of Mrs. Wade with the Church was continuous and consistent. In everything that pertained to the progress of the Church, as well as to the welfare of the community generally, she took a lively and practical interest. Her charity was of the nature that "beareth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things''; and with such a disposition it is not to be wondered at that her hand was ever open to help good causes and relieve cases of need as far as she had opportunity. Throughout the Dungog district she enjoyed the respect and esteem of all classes of the community; and in the larger and yet more limited sphere of suburban life she so lived her life as to win many friends and make her influence felt for good. The attendance at her funeral was a tribute to the esteem in which she was held. Old Dungog friends sent floral wreaths and messages of affection. Ministers who had known her and her husband for periods ranging up to thirty years were there—nearly a dozen of them. The eulogium pronounced by the brother who spoke at the grave was the outcome of an intimate knowledge of 29 years' duration, and by its manifest sincerity carried all hearts with it. The Women's Christian Temperance Union of Ashfield preceded the hearse, and the members gathered around the grave, and sang with subdued emotion and affection "The Christian's Good-Night"; and all present felt that the whole proceedings were suffused with a tenderness and genuineness that made the tribute one to be remembered and prized by all the members of the bereaved family. Mrs. Wade's last illness was brief. But the end was to her only the beginning of a brighter — a perfect — life of service and fellowship in light. Why should we wear black for the guests of God?