Obituaries

Elma Joyce Thompson
1928 – 2011

Elma was the wife of the late Rev Noel Thompson, and those who knew her remember her as an equal partner with him in the many churches they touched.

Read more: Elma Joyce Thompson

Graham Hamilton Reddell
October 17, 1934 – April 8, 2011

Graham Reddell was born in Christchurch as the country struggled to emerge from the Great Depression, and and died in Christchurch as the city began to grapple with the challenges of rebuilding after the earthquakes.

Graham was an only child. Both his parents were active in Oxford Terrace Baptist Church.

Read more: Pastor’s life entwined with Church and Christchurch

Bessie Chivers, aged 94, died on April 1. As a child, Bessie attended South Dunedin Baptist. She and her husband, Ivan, who predeceased her, helped establish Sunshine Baptist Church (now Musselburgh Baptist). The Chivers came to Rangiora Baptist in 1979 and were active in children’s work and in supporting their new pastor, Ivan Button.

Bessie’s funeral was held at Rangiora Baptist on April 6. Her daughter Helen, son Bryan and his wife Esther, and several members of the extended Chivers family still attend Rangiora Baptist.

A life of service to both church and the Baptist denomination by Jill Bambery, a long-time member of Palmerston North Central Baptist who passed away last August, is culminated by significant bequests she left to a variety of church, missionary and community groups.

Jill was the only child of Mona and Arch Bambery who became members of Central Baptist during the ministry of Rev Alan Finlay. Both Mona and Arch became very active in the church. Arch was a deacon, and the general superintendent when the church embraced the “All Ages Sunday School” movement of the late 1950s and 1960s.

Read more: Jill Bambery – a life of service