Family History 1.152

Gaze History

NSG Memoir: Obituaries

The Magazine of the Leprosy Mission:

 

 

The Passing of a Leader

 

The late Noel Shaftesbury Gaze of Auckland was a very valued member of the first New Zealand Committee of the Mission to Lepers – the Provisional Council, formed in 1949 – and throughout the years since then he has taken a close personal interest in every department of the Mission’s activities.

 

In the vital early stages of the development of our organisation in this country, Mr Gaze played a particularly important part.  He helped draw up the present constitution and was a founder member of the Council which it established.  From the beginning Mr Gaze was the Mission’s Honorary Solicitor and in later years when this work was done by the partnership of Gaze, Bond, Turner and Sylvester, the Mission’s work always had his personal attention.  In handling the increasing number of estates in which this Mission has been left an interest, in establishing and incorporating the Mission to Lepers Trustees and as secretary of that body, in formulating our submissions on the recently accepted world constitution for the Mission, his advice and guidance have been of tremendous value.

 

Mr Gaze always took a personal interest also in the work of our Deputation Secretaries, in the growth of our finances and of course in the work of the Mission’s Homes and Hospitals in many countries.  He helped very ably to represent New Zealand at the Mission’s Conference of National Representatives in the Isle of Wight in 1962 and came to be held in high regard by successive General Secretaries and by the members of the London Council.  His contribution to the development of this Mission is all the more remarkable when we remember all he did for other Christian causes, especially the Baptist Church, which for many years he served faithfully and effectively in many offices, from that of Sunday School Superintendent to that of President of the Union.

 

Not only his wise and kindly advice, but also his self-giving Christian fellowship will be sorely missed.

 

To Mrs Gaze, also a tireless worker in this and other church and mission enterprises, and to the family we extend our sincerest sympathy.