Gaze History
NSG Memoir
1963 continued
At the end of the year, Franklin and family
returned to India to continue their work, and life returned nearer to normal.
This included the usual Church activities, entertaining friends, and working in
the garden on Saturdays. Noel was again elected Chairman of the Theological
College Board for the 1964-5 year.
In 1965, the family news from India was not
good. Franklin had reached the stage of handing over the leadership of the
school to an Indian teacher, Lalbulliana Rokhum, and was looking for other
fields of work in Agartala. By May he
had come to a dead end and wrote to the Missionary Society to say that he and
Audrey would be returning to New Zealand in August. In those days this was not usual;
missionaries were expected to last a lifetime, like other people, and that had
been the expectation. But in addition, Franklin’s letter of resignation
revealed some deep uneasiness about not only the way the missionary society was
working, but also about the Baptist Church in New Zealand, which he had
observed closely during 1963, and in fact the Christian faith in general and
its organised churches in particular.
In his usual gentle manner, Noel wrote
remonstrating with his thirty-something son, but the decision had clearly been
made, and the rift was clearly too great to paper over. During the winter, Noel
and Mary, with Win, went for a cruise to Honolulu and Suva on the Arcadia.
On the other side of the world, a war broke out
between Pakistan and India a few days before the family were due to sail from
Calcutta on the way home, and their plans changed. At the same time Audrey developed hepatitis
and landed in a hospital in Calcutta as warplanes flew overhead. Franklin took the children and flew home,
Audrey following a few days later when she had rested sufficiently. Noel and Mary went out to Whenuapai Airport
to meet the family from the Comet IV aircraft, and helped them settle back into
life in Auckland. Franklin secured a temporary teaching position at Auckland
Grammar and they found a house at Mairangi Bay. Slowly Audrey recovered her
health.
Noel and Mary were disappointed that Franklin
and Audrey now did not attend any of the churches near them, nor spend time
with any of their old acquaintances. But they were thrilled that the young
people spoke at one last service at the Epsom Church to report on their
experiences, to give an indication of their thinking now, and to thank their
home church for the years of support.
The month after Franklin and his family
arrived, Olwyn came home on furlough for the first time in September. So the
whole family was together when Stuart and Catherine were married on Saturday 27
November, at the Epsom Church and the Mt Eden kiosk restaurant. The last formal photos of Noel were taken on
this occasion.
At this stage, Noel was beginning to make plans
for his retirement. He bought a new car
for the first time: a Hillman Minx, and also invested in a clarinet which he
intended to learn to play.
Noel was
delighted to have his daughter home and accompanied her on her deputation tours
while she addressed meetings about her work delivering babies and helping
mothers in East Pakistan. It was towards the end of 1965 that Noel went to see
a specialist and was diagnosed as having prostate cancer. Mary and Franklin accompanied him. The
prospects were not good.
Olwyn writes:
In those days there was no treatment so he
suffered much pain and strain during his last year. I was so pleased to be here in New Zealand
for that year and to be able to help when I could but I felt very helpless as
there was so little treatment and so little pain relief. While he was at home all he was prescribed
was Physeptone tablets. However there
were some good times. He and Mum came on
some of my deputation trips in my little Mini.
Sometimes Dad was in so much pain he would have to lie on the grass
verge beside the road, but it was wonderful to have that time together. He died peacefully at Brightside Hospital on
1 August 1966.
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