COMMUNITY TRIBUTE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 June 1941, Page 4

COMMUNITY TRIBUTE

FUNERAL OF LATE DR J. A. COWIE EULOGY BY REV J. DAVIE. All sections of the community joined yesterday in paying their last respects to the late Dr J. A. Cowie, of Masterton, whose funeral took place yesterday afternoon. There was a particularly large and representative attendance, in spite of the unfavourable weather. The Rev John Davie, who conducted a service at the residence, The Terrace, Lansdowne, and also officiated at the cemetery, spoke of the sterling qualities of the late Dr Cowie and of his loyal service to his profession and to those who sought his advice.

"I wish in your behalf and on my own to express to Dr Helen Cowie and family our very sincere sympathy with them in this, their hour of bereavement and sorrow,” said Mr Davie. ‘‘Your presence and the extraordinary tribute of these sincere tokens of esteem, sorrow and sympathy will be much appreciated. It is indeed a very heavy blow, but it will be softened somewhat by a memory rich in the knowledge that Dr Cowie gave, during his 35 years’ practice in Masterton and the surrounding districts, an unparalclled contribution to the health and I well-being of the people. No service could have been given more ungrudgingly. with more kindly consideration, nor with greater skill and sacrifice. His outstanding skill and courage both in surgery and in medicine were placed unreservedly at the disposal of his patients. Night and day he worked on top gear, no one appealed to him for help in vain; busy as he always was, he found time to answer everv demand upon him. He must have had unlimited ability to call up reserves of energy, and indeed it was this continuous call upon his reserves that accounted for his early death. He literally gave his life for the community. "It is remarkable," said Mr Davie, ‘that living at such high tension he was able to make friends of his patients . He had a wonderful memory for the incidents of the innumerable cases that came under his care, and with this he had the rare gift of being able by his mere presence in the room of inspiring his patients with the sense of security. The community has lost a very eminent doctor, an excellent type of character who placed service first and a Christian gentleman whose integrity and uprightness of character in practice and out of it is an example to us all. A big blank in the community has been made by his passing; the people of the Wairarapa whom he served so long and so efficiently will join us in expressing to Drs. Helen and Graham Cowie and Mrs Gilbert their very deepest sympathy. We humbly pray that the God of All Comfort will sustain them in this dark hour.”

The Masonic service was conducted by Mr C. W. Kerry, Master of Lodge No. 19. assisted by Mr E. G. Coddington. Well over a hundred wreaths were sent, including those from the following: President and members of the Masterton Golf Club; chairman and members of the Masterton Hospital Board; members of the Masterton Club; members of the Masterton Rotary Club; Knox Church; Wairarapa Permanent Trustees, Ltd.; Solway Board of Governors; Directors of Tararua Building Society; Matron and Sisters of the Masterton Hospital; National Party; officers and secretary Waipoua Lodge No. 99; Glenwood Hospital; president and members of Masterion Bowling Club; directors and management of W.F.C.A., Ltd.; Tarawa Chapter Rose Croix No. 219; principal, officers and companions of the Wairarapa Royal Arch Chapter- No. 10officers and brethren of Masterton Masonic Lodge No. 19; St Bride’s Convent. The pall-bearers were Dr Archer Hosking, Dr Bruce Baird (Wanganui), Messrs J. V. Gordon, T. F. Watson A D. Low and H. F. Coom.