Mrs Carol Hamill, aged 60, was called Home from Antrim Hospital on 12th July. As a young girl she attended the Kilnock Sunday School, where she heard the Gospel and was saved in 1972 at the age of 17. In 1980 she was baptised and received into the Clonkeen assembly. She is remembered for her quiet and caring disposition. Her calmness and confidence in the Lord was also outstanding during her four-year illness. She was very supportive of her husband Ivan as he carried the Gospel to many parts of the Province on Sunday evenings. A large company attended her funeral which was conducted by local brethren. Prayer would be valued for her husband and the family, particularly those still not saved.
Mr Tommy McAdams, in his 93rd year, was called Home on 11th May after a long period of weakness. Tommy was saved as a boy of 16, and shortly afterwards joined the believers in the Victoria Hall assembly. As a young man, he had a great interest in spiritual things. The Victoria Hall brethren encouraged him, and he was commended to full time work in France in 1948 to help the late Mr Herbert Beattie. It was while he was in France that he met his future wife Liliane. They eventually settled in Northern Ireland with their family. They joined the Cloughfern assembly, and Tommy was a respected overseer for many years. He and Liliane lived a very uncomplicated lifestyle, their priorities being their family and the local assembly testimony. Tommy was a great visitor around the area, particularly in Whiteabbey Hospital. He was very knowledgeable in the Scriptures and had an extensive library at home. His funeral service from the Gospel Hall at Cloughfern was conducted by Alan McMillan with a very fitting tribute by his son. Prayer is requested for his widow Liliane, their daughter Muriel, son Eric, and their families.
Mrs Ivy McMillen was called Home on 12th April, in her 90th year, after a short illness. Ivy and her late husband Willie were founder members of Cloughfern assembly in Newtownabbey. Indeed it was Willie and a number of other Christians with a vision for the Newtownabbey area who physically built the hall in 1957. Ivy fully supported this work, and continued her service in the assembly until her death. Willie was a respected overseer from the inception of the assembly and both he and Ivy were given to hospitality. Over the years, many families benefited from the kindness and generosity of Willie and Ivy McMillen, often meeting a need unknown to others. Ivy had great organisational skills and worked efficiently and zealously in all she undertook, especially on any occasion where refreshments were required. She had a great missionary interest, and was fully involved in the woman's missionary class in Cloughfern assembly. A private funeral service was held. Prayer is requested for Ivy's immediate family - John, Anne (Lowe) and Marion (Morrow), their spouses, and the grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Mr Herbert (Herbie) Millar was called into the presence of the Lord on 2nd June, aged 87 years. Our beloved brother was saved by grace during the war years while still at day school, having heard the Gospel and God speaking to him through it. He came to Larne to work, and was baptised and received into the old Pound Street assembly. With others, he was involved in the work in the then new Craigyhill estate, which resulted in an assembly being formed on 2nd June 1963. Herbie was the last surviving male foundation member of the assembly. For 53 years he moved quietly and consistently amongst the saints, his seat rarely empty. He was a faithful elder, and for many years he welcomed both saint and sinner at the door of the Gospel Hall. Herbie was a devoted husband to his wife Anna, and a loving father to four sons and one daughter, and their respective family circles. All who knew him held him in high esteem. His large funeral service was a fitting tribute to a well-respected brother.
Mr Theophilus (Theo) Andrew Poots went peacefully to be with Christ on the morning of 31st January, one day short of his 91st birthday. The fifth of 12 children, and the third son born to David and Sarah Poots of Ballycross Farm, he was familiar with the Gospel from a young age in the family home and at Mullafernaghan Gospel Hall. As a young man of twenty he was invited by a believing work colleague, the late W Radcliffe, to a Gospel Meeting. There, for the second time in a week, but at a different location and with a different preacher, he heard a message on Proverbs 29.1: "He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy." This was instrumental in his conviction and conversion, and he never looked back in his Christian course. He often quoted the hymn "My old companions, fare ye well, I will not go with you to hell, I mean with Jesus Christ to dwell."
A loving and kind husband and father, he was known for his generosity to others. Often overheard on his knees in his bedroom, where he prayed audibly, the Gospel and the Christian testimony were uppermost in his mind, particularly in their local expression. From 1948, and for most of his working life, he identified with the company meeting in Moneymore Road Gospel Hall in Cookstown, where he was in business for 35 years. Regular at all assembly meetings, and an overseer, he was active in Sunday School and children's work, in Gospel preaching and ministry, and especially in Bible Readings. Latterly, upon retirement in 1984, he moved to Ballymoney Gospel Hall, where he was "given to hospitality" (Rom 12.13). Even when declining health prevented his continuing attendance, his interest in assembly matters still remained keen.
Predeceased by his wife Kathleen (daughter of the late James Petrie, evangelist) in 1988, he leaves four children, nine surviving grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren. Prayer would be valued for the family, especially those who have not yet confessed the Lord, or who are not going on in spiritual things. "Until the day break, and the shadows flee away" (Song 4.6).
Mrs Robina Wallace Stapley was called into the presence of her Lord on 16th June, aged 80, after a severe illness which she bore uncomplainingly with true Christian fortitude and patience, retaining to the end a vital interest in the Lord's work in Tayport, Fife, and further afield. Robina was brought up in Stevenston. When aged eight, she lost her mother Agnes, and was first brought up by her grandmother, then by two aunts. When she was 13 she became concerned for her soul, and trusted Christ for salvation one evening by putting her name in John 3.16. Thereafter Robina's life was devoted to serving the Lord and learning of Him. Baptised at 14, she was added to the fellowship at Bethany Hall, Stevenston. In 1958 Robina married Bernard Stapley, whom she had met three years earlier at St Monans. Thus began a fruitful partnership and a life devoted to Bernard and family (son David, daughter Fiona, and grandsons Jonathan and Andrew). She was quick to encourage, being also a corrector and faithful instructor. The example of kindness and hospitality shown by the St Monans saints led to her vowing before the Lord to do likewise. For 20 years she poured her heart into the work at Stevenston, entertaining the saints and helping with smaller assemblies round about. In 1979 the family moved to Tayport, where Robina and Bernard kept 'open house', entertaining the saints, particularly on the Lord's Day. Over the years many students have been indebted to her for her prayers, care and advice. During these years, she walked the streets of Tayport with the Gospel, also giving practical help where she could. Robina had a particular affinity with, and care for, elderly ladies. With Bernard she was involved in the large children's work known as Singavision. Robina retained the joy of the Lord which had been her strength, right to the end, and this could be seen in her radiant smile, brightness of eye, and keen mind. Her homecall has left a deep sorrow in her family, for whom prayer is requested. The saints at Tayport Gospel Hall will also miss her greatly, for she was such a tremendous example of devotion to, and service for, her Lord. Truly it can be said of her "She hath done what she could" (Mk 14.8).
Mrs Emma Stewart, aged 82, was called Home on 1st July. Emma grew up in Ballymena where her parents were highly-respected members of the assembly that met at that time in Wellington Street. She attended Sunday School and became a Christian as a young girl. In 1957, Emma married Harold Stewart, who was also in fellowship in Wellington Street assembly. They were blessed with a son and two daughters. The assembly later moved to its present location in Cambridge Avenue, and Harold became a highly-respected overseer. In 2010, for family reasons, Harold and Emma moved to Hillsborough, where they joined in fellowship with the Wallace Avenue assembly in Lisburn. Emma suffered a severe stroke in December 2015 and, after a time in hospital, moved to Faith House where she was well cared for, and the family were able to visit every day. Her condition deteriorated, and Emma was admitted to hospital on 1st July, where she passed away within a few hours of admission.
