Methodist Supernumerary Minister, the Rev. Dr. S. W. Hodge, a product of traditional Anguilla, when Christian virtues and religious living ranked at their highest in the society, has appealed to the younger generation to live prayerful and exemplary lives as in earlier years.

The Late Terese Connor

He took the opportunity to make this appeal to the young people at the Thanksgiving Service for the late Terese Leonie Connor, at a crowded Bethel Methodist Church on July 18. Such was the capacity congregation that the Preacher told many persons forced from a tent outside by a sudden squall: “There are seats inside, but you will have to sit on the floor.” Miss Connor, a young person, and former civil servant at the Inland Revenue Department, died quietly in her sleep on July 1 at the family home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Franklyn Connor, at Little Harbour.

Family members and other at Bethel Methodist Church

“One thing I remember from my childhood days is a prayer all the children were taught, and I believe that most children from those days [still remember it],” Rev. Hodge recalled. “It goes like this (with the congregation saying it with him): 'Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.'

In using that prayer as the base for his homily, he said in part: “Terese’s death sends a clear message to her contemporaries - the young generation - because one never knows how life will turn out. Will there be any tomorrow? There is a sizeable portion of the young generation who have no time for God…They have become captains of their own souls and guardians of their own fate. They never know when the bell will toll…They need to confidently ask God to be the guardian of their souls and to watch over them.”

Rev. Hodge joined Rev. Cecil Weekes in officiating at the Thanksgiving Service in the absence of Superintendent Minister, the Rev. Dr. H. Clifton Niles and Rev. Careen White. The committal portion of the service was at the church from where Terese’s body was taken to St. Maarten for cremation.

Family tribute in song

During the touching service, a number of young girls, members of the Connors’ family, gave a tribute in song and Terese’s aunt, Daphne Connor, delivered the Formal Remembrance in poetry form and in praise of the qualities of the departed young lady.
In lieu of flowers, a special offering was collected for the Zion Methodist Church Fund and the Zion Care Fund for distribution to the needy.

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