Miss May MacLeod, Gisborne, New Zealand
AFTER about six months of failing health, Miss May MacLeod died at Gisborne on 29th April 1995, at the age of eighty-five years. She was born at Fielding, New Zealand, on the 12th October 1910, a niece of the late Rev. D.N. MacLeod, Ullapool.
This church connection resulted in a warm welcome being given by her family to church deputies visiting New Zealand, some of whom preached in the MacLeod homestead at Fielding.
It is not known when exactly May was spiritually enlightened. Her early years were characterized by worldly living. It was not until she was well into her forties that she first started to make the long journey to Gisborne and appeared in the public means of grace.
When she went to Scotland, she counted it a privilege to be able to care for her aged uncle, the late Rev. D.N. MacLeod, in his old age, in the manse in Ullapool. It was during this period that she came to know many, if not all, of the ministers of the church as well as many of the members. Because she had an outgoing and friendly disposition, she made many Christian friends then, She became a member in full communion during her period of residence in Scotland at a communion season in Dingwall. Which portions of the truth were blessed to her soul is not known, but what is known is that she became a loyal Free Presbyterian whose delight was to attend the means of grace according to the divine direction: “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is”. Indeed, she delighted in all the means of grace, private as well as public, and also took great pleasure in entertaining like-minded Christians, who always received a hearty welcome from her.
May was such a cheerful and bright Christian that she knew little of the doubts and fears with which other believers are only too often plagued: and yet that in itself became a temptation to her. When she mentioned it to her uncle, Mr MacLeod, in the manse in Ullapool, he said to her, “The gospel came to the Thessalonians in power and in much assurance.”
She had an ardent desire that the gospel witness of the Church should flourish both in New Zealand and abroad. To that end she sent books and tapes to her relatives and others with the prayerful desire for spiritual blessings to be imparted.
During the last six months of her life her strength greatly failed her and she had to be cared for in a hospital first and then in a home for the aged. There she was faithfully visited by her friend, Mrs. Molly van Dorp, and other members of the congregation. She continued her practice of distributing the truth whenever she had the opportunity. The hospital chaplain would go away with a tape-recorded sermon, as did some of the nurses also. When approaching May’s room one would often become aware at a distance that she was listening to a taped sermon by one of the ministers.
As she became weaker, she increasingly desired to depart from this vale of tears. It was often her expressed desire to depart and to be with the Lord. She said to her friend Molly a few days before her death, “I am a useless thing but I love the Lord.”
One of the clear marks of that love to the Lord was her love for the public means of grace. It was her great delight to be in the house of prayer whenever that was possible. Consequently when she was not quite fit to be out she resorted to sitting in a room behind the pulpit where she could follow the service by means of the loudspeaker installed there. Her cheerful witness is much missed in the congregation. Another clear mark she had was her love of the brethren. This influenced her to remain in Gisborne rather than move to some more convenient place in her old age. She never regretted the decision as she greatly appreciated the company of Christian friends.
May other witnesses on the side of the truth be raised, and may there be the fulfilling of the promise: “A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the Lord will hasten it in his time.”
(Rev.) J. van Dorp