Family History 1.155

Gaze History

NSG Memoir concludes

Margaret Cowie continues:

 

Through father I have a strong impression of a man of compassion and practical kindness. Hal Coop was my eye surgeon till he retired.  When we met after that he spoke of his mother's reliance on Uncle and of her deep sense of loss at his death.

 

I link him with the integrity of the law.  I am back in Grandpa Bigelow's dining room after his death.  His three children have been choosing objects.  Aunty Win wants the pearl ring Grandma left me, for Barbara.  Father had bought this ring for his mother with his first earnings and I longed for it but felt tongue-tied in face of Auntie's claim.  Uncle cut through undercurrents by asking if the ring had been specifically left to me.  On being told it had he said, "The ring is Margaret's; there is nothing more to decide." To my grateful ear those words embodied the inexorability and simplicity of living by the law.  It was one of the small life incidents that helped me finally to develop my adult ethics.

 

Faith.  Was it my father or your mother who told me that when he was dying he said to her, "I'll be better there than here."  To me he belonged with a faith at full tide - not ebbing with that sea we know now.

 

The more I am reminded of his full name the more perfectly it seems to suit him - the celebration of a joyous Christian festival, the social caring, the steady looking. His quiet words carried weight through the integrity and benevolence that lay behind their formulation.  The last words of The Woodlanders feel right for him "...for you was a good man and did good things." 

 

Thanks 

This memoir has been compiled by Frank Gaze with the contribution and help of many family members and friends. 

Many people wrote down their own memories of Noel and contributed them to the collection, where you will find them either quoted in full, or incorporated into the main text.  They were:  Don Bird, Grahame Bond, Edna Buddle, Zaida Coad, Margaret Cowie, Hugh and Dorothy Dickinson, Olwyn Gaze, Stuart and Catherine Gaze, Gladys Massam, Dorothy and Ivan Phillips. 

Others contributed in other ways.  Terry and Karen Gaze and Catherine and Stuart Gaze took photos of houses around Auckland; Matthew Gaze enhanced all these and especially the historic photos of Noel on his computer and helped with formatting and editing the text. The opinions and comments of Olwyn, Stuart, Catherine, Terry, Karen, Margaret, Matthew and Julia have all added to the content and presentation you find here. 

It has truly been a family effort and thus a family tribute to a much-loved father, father-in-law, grandfather and friend.