This appendix contains obituaries of four Friends who made an important contribution to the life of Portadown Friends Meeting. They are known as Testimonies' and record the Grace of God in the life of a particular Friend. They are generally prepared by the local Monthly Meeting and endorsed by the Quarterly Meeting and Yearly Meeting.

In placing on record some outstanding characteristics of our departed Friend, we are reminded that he came over from England to this country whilst he was still young, and having settled in business within the bounds of this Monthly Meeting he gave unsparingly of his time and best efforts in helping forward in the religious and more routine work of our Society during the remainder of a comparatively long and active lifetime.

He filled with acceptance many of the public offices in our Church and disciplinary system - as Overseer and Elder -Preparative and Monthly Meeting Clerkships - Record Clerk and Marriage Registrar for the Monthly Meeting, also Clerk to the Quarterly Meeting Visiting Committee, under which he arranged quietly and almost unnoticed for a number of years many visits to different meetings in Ulster, which, we believe, were mostly in season, and often afterwards referred to as having been very acceptable.

The period during which he held the Monthly Meeting Clerkship was probably more arduous than at present; he was seldom absent from his place and gave of his best to the meeting in the midst of a strenuous business career. His decisions at the table were marked by good judgement and strict impartiality, and were seldom objected to or questioned. He held the office of Marriage Registrar for a greater number of years than any other Friend had done in this Monthly Meeting for several generations, and many can bear witness to the tact and painstaking fidelity with which the work was performed at all times and in all circumstances. His resignation was only accepted a few weeks before his death, and the meeting has since realised how difficult a post this was to fill.

As Record Clerk the books will show for years to come how carefully every detail was looked after under his care, in connection with the requirements of our Society in the clear and-methodical enumeration of all the necessary records and registrations.

The Strong Room at Lisburn is also today a silent witness of many hours of toil and patient labour spent by our Friend on behalf of the Quarterly Meeting, in sorting out, arranging and regrouping all the papers, books and documents of the Society of Friends in Ulster since its commencement three and a half centuries ago. The thoroughness with which this work was accomplished and the completeness of the details, in leaving every bundle of papers so clearly marked and tabulated, must be well known to every member of the Trust Committee, and also to any other Friend who has ever had the privilege of inspecting our Society's valuable books and documents in safe keeping in Lisburn.

No record of the work accomplished by our departed Friend would be complete, if we omitted to mention the service and labour of love, so freely given in connection with the building, equipment and endowment of the Friends Meeting House in Portadown. In the town in which he spent most of his life it was his privilege to see the new house erected and the new meeting established - for which he had travelled so many hundreds of miles in collecting funds and having it completed free of debt and practically free of head rent - all largely brought about by his perseverance and enthusiasm. He attended this meeting regularly until after his removal to Belfast and besides the part he had taken in its outward erection, he still further gave as a ministering Elder of his best for the spiritual up-building of the living church worshipping therein. In large measure it might be said of him, as of one of old - "For he loveth our nation and he hath built us a synagogue."

The news of his home call came to most of us very unexpectedly, as one cut off, who had apparently years of service still to render, forgetting as we are apt to do, that the years are quickly fleeting and with him the three score and ten had already passed. We mourn his absence, still we remember that for the active earthly worker the change was in right ordering, and the call from Him who never makes a mistake, was, we reverently believe, to leave the fields of earth behind and to enter with the redeemed of all ages into the fuller inheritance on high.

Signed on behalf of Lurgan Monthly Meeting

F. HARVEY GREEN

CLERK

who died on 13th March 1951

We desire to place on record this Testimony to the Grace of God in our beloved Friend, William Edward Coulthart whose sudden home call on 13th March 1951 has bereft us of one whose life-was rich in the grace of humility, kindliness, sincerity and service. He was born in Preston, Lancashire in the year 1871. On leaving school he entered the cotton industry and was employed in the largest company of its kind in Great Britain, one bearing a world-famed name. Early in life he came to know the love of God in Jesus Christ and soon after this spiritual experience he began to express his love for his Lord in Sunday School, Bible Class and Choir work in the Church of England, of which he was then a member. Feeling the call of God for fulltime service he worked with the Irish Church Mission in Dublin before the beginning of the century.

His apprehension of Spiritual Truth drew him towards Friends and in 1901 he came to Ulster to work under the care of Ulster Quarterly Meeting Home Mission Committee and settled in Rathfriland, Co. Down, where he was used to expand and consolidate the work. In 1904 he went, with his wife and family, to live in Enniscorthy, to work under the care of Leinster Quarterly Meeting Home Mission Committee. From this centre he journeyed oft in the service of Truth to Waterford, Cork and Dublin, visiting our meetings and mission work. In 1911 he returned to Rathfriland where he laboured until 1914, when he took up residence in Portadown. During the First World War he was released for Gospel Service in the Camps of Ulster under the Y.M.C.A.

For thirty-seven years Portadown was his centre for ministry in visiting meetings and families of Friends throughout the Province, conducting meetings in cottages and mission halls, visiting the sick in their homes and in hospitals, attending funerals and engaging in other service as the way opened. He was a sincere advocate of Friends distinguishing views, especially Peace principles, which he made known in speech and in essays. He knew both joy and sorrow in his own life which made him a sympathetic minister and welcome visitor amongst people in all circumstances. He was recorded a Minister, became Clerk of Lurgan Monthly Meeting on Ministry and Oversight, Registering Officer of Marriages, Quarterly Meeting Representative on the Ulster Temperance Education Board and served the Society and community in many other ways. In 1927 he visited the United States of America as one of the fraternal delegates to the Five Years Meeting in Richmond, Indiana. He was a kindly companion of the other representatives on this trip. He left behind him in Indiana the memory of a kindly man who wanted to be everyone's friend. Humility characterised his life and he made every office he held and every appointment he undertook an opportunity for service to his Lord and Master. He had a long life and was blessed with good health throughout the greater part of it. He was a great cyclist, a familiar figure in country districts visiting homes, and carrying with him the gospel of cheer. His was a life of self-sacri-, fice. Renouncing a promising business career with its greater financial attraction must have meant at times a cross, but he bore it faithfully, esteeming it of more value to be doing the Will of God than enjoying more affluent circumstances in a business life. If ever he coveted a larger share of this world's goods it was that he might use it in helping others.

In his life he had this testimony that he pleased God and at his death a large crosssection of the community testified, in Portadown Meeting House, to the value of his life as a man of God. He was laid to rest, in sunshine and calm, beside the remains of his wife in the quiet burying ground at Moyallon on 15th March 1951. In concluding, the following lines would appear to summarise his life:

I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold,
I'd rather be His than have riches untold,
I'd rather have Jesus than houses or lands,
I'd rather be led by His nail-pierced hands.
I'd rather have Jesus than men's applause,
I'd rather be faithful to his dear cause,
I'd rather have Jesus than world-wide fame,
I'd rather be true to His holy name.
He's fairer than lilies of rarest bloom,
He's sweeter than honey from out the comb,
He's all that my hungering spirit needs,
I'd rather have Jesus and let Him lead,
Than to be King of a vast domain and be held in sin's dark sway,
I'd rather have Jesus than any thing this world affords today.

Signed on behalf of Lurgan Monthly Meeting

CHRISTY W. BELL

CLERK

who died 16th January 1987.

George Robert Chapman was born in 1901, the only son of George C. and Sarah J. Chapman. The family lived in Rockmount, Richhill and were members of Richhill Meeting. Later George became a member of Portadown Meeting where he served as an elder. After attending Friends' School, Lisburn, he took up employment in the furniture business where he remained until his retirement in 1971. In commercial circles he was known as a man of integrity whose gracious demeanour characterised his whole life. In 1926 he married Annie McDonagh. This was a happy and useful partnership which lasted over 60 years. Together they exercised a loving and caring ministry for everyone they came into contact with. Their home epitomised everything a Quaker home should be. A simple lifestyle was followed, problems could be discussed in confidentiality and there was always an awareness of the Divine presence. One always left George and Annie's home feeling the better for having been there.

George R. Chapman took an active role in the business life of the Society of Friends, serving on numerous committees. For several years he was clerk of Grange and Richhill Monthly Meeting, secretary of the Ulster Home Mission Committee and held the office of clerk to Ireland Yearly Meeting. He was librarian of Ulster Quarterly Meeting and gave much time ensuring the proper maintenance of the books and in keeping them accurately catalogued. George Chapman was an enthusiastic historian. There was nothing he liked better than to find interesting and amusing anecdotes about Quakers of the past and he delighted in sharing them with others. He had a gift of making characters and lifestyles of former times come alive. He wrote histories of Grange, Richhill and Moyallon Meetings. George R. Chapman achieved a lot in his lifetime because of his quiet determination to get things done and his constant careful and methodical way of progressing. He maintained clear priorities and refused to be side-tracked from them. Many have benefited from his concern and example, his Bible teaching ministry and spiritual leadership. His very presence was an inspiration as was his broad smile, welcome handshake and words of encouragement. Certainly the grace of God was apparent in his life.

On behalf of Ulster Quarterly Meeting

EMMA E. LAMB

CLERK

who died on 3rd April 1997.

William Brien was born in Dublin in 1901 to parents who were members of the Church of Ireland. As a young man he came to personal faith in Jesus Christ and was actively involved in the Dublin YMCA, the Salvation Army and other Christian work in that city. With a desire to communicate his faith more widely he entered the Church Army and served as an officer in both England and Ireland. During that time he encountered members of the Friends Evangelistic Band and was so impressed by their devotion and service that he applied to join their ranks. Travelling through the villages of England, living simply in caravans and trusting his Heavenly Father to supply his daily needs, he shared the message of the Gospel to those among whom he ministered and established friendships which lasted his entire life.

He returned to Ireland in 1939 to work in the Friends Mission in Meath Place, Dublin. He was ideally fitted to carry out this task which brought physical and spiritual help to the residents of this needy inner-city area. During this time he made application to join Friends, being convinced of the truth of Quaker principles. In 1945 he responded to a call to work for the Friends Service Council in their missionary project on the island of Pemba, off the coast of East Africa. His informality, warm friendship and genuine interest in people were much appreciated by the African Friends among whom he served. On his retirement he settled in Grange, Co. Tyrone, giving valued service to the meeting there and throughout Ulster Quarterly Meeting.

Latterly he lived in the Craigavon / Portadown area, maintaining a sturdy independence and a positive outlook despite the frustration of failing physical strength. The grace of God was clearly apparent in his life. William Brien had a unique gift for establishing friendship with people in any situation, both young and old; he had a particular gift in communication with children. As he was unmarried and had no family links in his latter years, the community of Friends and those he met in his residential home, his bowling club and on his shopping expeditions were especially dear to him. His ministry was forceful and direct, based on his Christian experience and on biblical truth. In 1961 he was acknowledged as a Recorded Minister. We give thanks for the unique gifts and personality of our late Friend which were used for the Glory of God and for the service of people of all conditions in many parts of the world.

On behalf of Lurgan Monthly Meeting

HELEN F. BOYD

CLERK