Logo

 

Banner Image:   Baptist-Times-banner-2000x370-
Template Mode:   Baptist Times
Icon
    Post     Tweet

Tributes to Gladys 


Gladys Clarke, possibly the oldest Baptist in the country, has died aged 108.

Tributes to Gladys 19 March 20

Gladys attended Abbey Centre Baptist Church in Northampton for much of her life. A service celebrating her life followed by a crematorium took place last Tuesday (19 March).
 
She had three children, Ken, 86, Norman, 83 and Susan, 68, five grandchildren, six great-grandchildren and four great-great-grandchildren.

'She loved the Abbey Centre,' said Norman, ' and she was a Baptist through and through. She joined in everything that was going on.

'She would spend Christmas with one of us (her sons), until she decided she would spend them at the Abbey Centre. She preferred it there - there were many friends.'

He added, 'She was a determined woman. 'When people asked her what was the secret, she would say, "I'm still trying to find out."'

Born in Long Buckby, she married husband Bob aged 21. He worked on the railways and they settled in Northampton after working in Oxfordshire. They became members of Abbey Road Baptist Chapel, and when this closed they went to the new building, the Abbey Centre.

When Bob died in 1986 Gladys continued to live independently, only moving into a nursing home when she was 104.

Norman said her health was good until about 18 months ago, and that right until the end she would see her daughter on Tuesdays, and each of her sons on Wednesdays and Thursday. She always had several visitors. Current minister at the Abbey Centre, the Revd Gareth Shepherd, was a regular visitor.

The Revd Ted Hale, a former minister at the Abbey Centre, and knew Gladys well, describing her as 'a remarkable lady'. 'She lived to be 108 and almost to the end retained a special kind of down to earth dignity,' he said. 

'If one thing should be said above all about Gladys it would be that she had a deep faith. This was not at all the same thing as certainty, because Gladys had and would ask deep and sometimes unanswerable questions about life's complications and death's mysteries.

'But her life-time of faithful worship in Long Buckby Baptist Chapel as a child and then in Abbey Road-cum-Abbey Centre Baptist Church in Northampton gave her spiritual roots which went deep, providing an anchor for her soul. 

'Gladys was rightly concerned about some people, especially her daughter Susan who has had learning difficulties. 'But it was a real joy, and a very moving, living parable, when some years ago mother and daughter were received into church membership together.'

He added, 'It might seem odd to also record that at her 100th birthday party Gladys danced the Hokey Cokey - but Jesus criticised some people because they knew neither how to mourn or to have a party. Gladys knew how to do both. To be in her company was to come close to the spirit of God in Jesus - a real privilege.'

Oldest son Ken told the local newspaper, 'My mum looked after the whole family. Not many children get the chance to meet their great-great-grandmother, so our family were lucky.

“My mum will be missed by all of us.'
 
    Post     Tweet
CBA Home Mission stories
Examples of how Home Mission funds are being used in the Central Baptist Association
SubArticleD2019
'I hope my songs resonate with others'
Baptist minister Simon Cragg returned to songwriting this summer – and is now releasing tracks which are engaging with different people, including a local line dance group and a professional football club
Dagnall Street Baptist Church bids fond farewell to retiring minister
There was a heartfelt farewell service as the Revd Simon Carver concluded a significant 17 year tenure at the St Albans church
Marshalswick Baptists welcome new minister 
The Revd Darren Street has become only the sixth minister in the 55-year history of Marshalswick Baptist Free Church (MBFC)
We took our church through the 12 steps of recovery, and here’s what happened… 
With several people joining Life Church in Cuffley from local recovery groups, pastor William Wade wondered if it might be helpful to go through the 12 steps of recovery programme as a discipleship series on Sunday mornings
'You can’t save the world but you can do small things'
Trip of a lifetime awaits as the Vlok family from Milton Keynes prepare to visit their sponsored child in Cambodia
'We’re excited to be partnering with so many people of goodwill'
A series of partnerships have formed to 'bring some good to everyone' in Milton Keynes, thanks to Christian charity Redeeming Our Communities (ROC). Nathan Marlam, minister at Loughton Baptist Church, explains more
     Regional News 
    Posted: 30/04/2021
    Posted: 21/08/2020
    Posted: 20/12/2019
    Posted: 23/08/2018
    Posted: 22/06/2017
    Posted: 07/02/2016
    Posted: 27/04/2015
    Posted: 16/03/2015