EXTRACTS FROM THE BEACON - MARCH 1967 ISSUE NO. 178
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F. E. CORDELL
WITH the passing of Miss Cordell we have lost our last link with the beginning of our church in Goodmayes. She came with her father and sister to form part of the first membership of the Baptist Church in 1914 and she was the only founder member still in membership at the time of her death.
We shall miss her for she has served the church faithfully during the years as pianist and organist, later as deacon, minute secretary & in many small ways until she became unable to continue through failing health; her sight and hearing became bad and she was diabetic. She was able to attend worship on Sunday evenings due to the kindness of Mr. Giller and others who brought her by car right up until she entered hospital.
We shall thank God for our remembrances of her & her varied gifts she used in the service of her Master, and we shall try to be worthy of the example she and others have set us.
F.W.T
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Around The Church Family
MOST OF US will have heard that our oldest member, Miss Florence Cordell died in Grove Rd. Hospital on Feb, 23 [1967]. Our friend had been unwell for a long time and, indeed, since her illness in 1963 she had been unable to continue the tasks that she had done so faithfully & for so long in our church.
Miss Cordell was one of the original group of Baptists who founded our church in 1914, and she knew its history so clearly and told the story so accurately. She has a long and outstanding record of ardent Christian service. She once wrote a regular “Children Column” in The Beacon & kept up a wide correspondence with old friends until her death.
Her familiar figure will be greatly missed, and these who knew her and appreciated her will remember her with affection. Since her father and sister passed on she had lived by herself, bravely carrying on despite the loneliness that she felt more perhaps than was realised.
She had worked hard in her own business & her meticulous efficiency was in keeping with her character and high principles. She had some of the virtues of the “old school” and her dedication to the church was consistent and most generous. She tried never to miss a service even in the last weeks when life became so difficult for her, and her tenacity was an example.
She was so grateful to all those who offered her transport, and at the last spoke with touching gratitude of Alice & Gordon Giller, whom she had known so closely for so long. She was very serene in hospital and said to me when I saw her for the last time: “I have many good friends to think about.” She has no surviving relations. Her good friends and neighbours like Mrs. Lee and Albert Bailey were a great comfort to her, and would want to put on record our appreciation of what they did for her so patiently and faithfully.
K.W.P [Rev Ken Parkhurst]