[weihsien_camp] Death of Weihsien-er, Margaret Young

Alison Bennet, daughter of Chefoo School student, Joan Young, has forwarded to me a letter reporting the death of Margaret “Pooh” Young. Margaret was a Chefoo School classmate of mine, who lived in the Weihsien dormitory called the Lower School Dormitory — more frequently called the “L.S.D." How sad to lose another friend of our childhood and youth!

Mary Taylor Previte

Margaret Young – Eulogy

Compiled by Alison Bennett, with grateful thanks to Rev Rab Donald of Stirling Baptist Church for editing this tribute, and special thanks to family and many friends for their most helpful contributions.

It’s been no easy task for the family to gather a eulogy of Margaret. Nobody would be in doubt that Margaret lived a life that was not only full, with far too much to be able to share here, but also one that was faithful. Faithful to friends, even more faithful to family, and most of all, faithful to God, who she loved with all her heart, soul and mind.

Margaret was born in China, the youngest child of Baptist missionary parents George and Nora Young. She had a sister Joan and brother Jim. Her father’s diary for the day of her birth records big sister Joan, aged 23⁄4 years enquiring in wonderment, “And what are we going to do with this one?”

Like most missionary children they experienced school hundreds of miles away from their parents working in Inland China, and it couldn’t have been easy only travelling home to their parents once a year for a fortnight at Christmas. In 1937 the Japanese army invaded the east coast of China, and from 1939 Joan, Jim and Margaret, like many of their schoolmates, did not see their parents again for nearly 6 years.1 (NB I think that possibly their parents, George & Nora, came to Chefoo to visit them at Christmas 1940, so it would be 5 years they didn’t see them.) On 7 December 1941 the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour: later the staff and pupils sang ‘God is still on the throne’ as they were forced out of the school buildings and marched through the town to a new location.2 In 1943 they were interned in a larger prisoner of war camp made famous to many because it also held Eric Liddle, the 1924 Olympic winner known by the children as ‘Uncle Eric’. Although tough, there were some surprising normalities, even continuing a Girl Guides and Scouts. In the camp, Margaret was affectionately known as ‘Pooh’ (as in Winnie the Pooh) and she is recorded in one of the log books with the statement, ‘Pooh must win more badges.’ 3

The children were often hungry and did not grow very much during the camp years. The teachers made the children eat a daily spoonful of ground-up eggshells to endeavour to provide important calcium. On Friday 17 August 1945, a day that no internee would ever forget, a plane with American markings circled over the camp and 7 parachutists ejected into the nearby fields. There was such jubilation that the American soldiers were carried in on the prisoners’ shoulders, where the Japanese surrendered without a fuss and US control was quickly established. Arrangements were made as soon as practicable to dispatch the children to their various homelands and before too long Joan, Jim and Margaret were on a British Troop ship from Hong Kong to Southampton, enjoying double rations. Sister Joan’s diary describes 13 year old Margaret gaily chatting away to the sailors. By Christmas they were reunited with their parents in Edinburgh. The diary records, “What a happy first evening we had. They haven’t changed much – same dear old jolly pair. How delightful it is to be home again – all together, under the same roof ‘Truly our cup runneth over’ and our saucer too! 1

The family settled into life and church in Edinburgh, with the girls attending George Watson’s School for Ladies. After a couple of years their father George went back to China and their mother joined him some time later. Margaret started General Nurse training in 1950 at the Victoria Infirmary in Glasgow, where she made lifelong friends, in particular Margaret, Elsa and Ina. Together they went on to do midwifery and district work. Her friend Jean taught her to ride a bike as she had never before had opportunity to learn, and she would cycle to the home visits in Anniesland in her smart navy uniform, on her bone-shaker of a bicycle, (as anything else would have got stolen!). She could never quite master putting out her arm out to indicate turning, so just hoped for the best!

They all attended Adelaide Place Baptist church services, where Margaret’s father, the well- known Reverend George Young, was minister from 1952. They were involved in supporting the 1955 Billy Graham Crusade in Glasgow’s Kelvinhall, and Margaret was always looking for ways to involve young folk in the church whether it be in Sauchiehall Street inviting folk in, or conducting services for the patients in the Ophthalmic Institute on a Sunday evening. Her friend Anne writes ‘Her ministry in Adelaide Place Church Youth Fellowship helped steer me through college days.’

Surprising to some, she loved attending rugby matches with her brother Jim. To the end of her days she always watched the 6 nations rugby tournament, and kept a tally of the scores on her fridge door!

In 1958 Margaret and her friend Margaret, responded to an urgent appeal for trained midwives by the Nazareth Hospital, which was supported by the Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society. They were seconded from their jobs for a year, and within 3 hectic weeks, the two of them found that they were the entire trained midwifery staff with little equipment available. They set to: often one of them did day duty and one did nights, and they trained and taught the local midwives at the hospital. They initiated and developed a nationally recognised midwifery training school, which still exists today. Her doctor friend Runa recalls ‘Margaret was just so kind to everybody and everyone. Those who remember her just remember her for her kindness - she was just so lovely.’

After returning to their UK jobs, Margaret then spent a year in 1960 at the Glasgow Bible Training Institute, following which, after careful consideration, she returned to Nazareth. On her mother’s sudden illness in 1969 she came home to Scotland. She felt guided by a Daily Bible reading book entry on 4 February which was ‘The Lord hath said unto you. Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.’ and when her mother died the next day, Margaret knew she would now stay to keep house for her father who had recently-retired to Kippen, though still fulfilling many preaching engagements, and her brother, Jim, who had a long- term illness. She encouraged others to go to Nazareth in her stead, including her dear friend Sheila, who worked there for many years.

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Her niece Alison and nephew Andrew remember many happy visits as children to Kippen in the holidays, playing the exciting RSPB ‘Conservation’ Bird board game in the evenings, as Margaret loved birds, especially the amusing puffin, and was an avid RSPB member. She had a keen sense of fun, and was full of jokes and laughter. She introduced them to much of Scotland including its mountains and holidays in the North, and usually had uplifting Christian song tapes playing in the car. She was always there for them throughout the different stages of their lives, remembering special dates with cards and gifts, and was delighted at Andrew and Tracy’s wedding and the arrival of Ryan and Siân. Their annual visit from Hong Kong brought her tremendous pleasure and was a highlight of the year. Family and friends were very important to Margaret, and she supported, prayed for and kept in regular touch with, all her immediate and extended family members, as well as many friends, frequently clocking many miles to visit them, even as far as South Africa, USA and Canada. She greatly appreciated the warm Christmas Day welcome given her by John and Hilda, and Anne, while her niece Alison visited the family in Hong Kong at Christmas. She was an intrepid car driver – most of her cars were bright red Volkswagens. Distance was never a problem, and she often eased friends’ and family’s journeys by taking them in her car.

She trained as a Nurse Tutor and taught at Stobhill in 1977 for 2 years. She and her colleague Elma car-shared daily so they could pray in the car for their colleagues and students. She was a good teacher with a clear, confident voice and she had an apt illustration for every point she made. She thereafter returned to Stirling Royal Maternity Unit. Once, on enquiring how the parents were going to name their new little baby boy, and learning it was ‘Montague Alexander Dunlop’ or something similar, she inadvertently exclaimed ‘Oh you can’t call him that! He’ll have MAD on his schoolbag!” Her colleague later commented “It was such a grand name until you said that!” In later years when Peter took her shopping it took them 3 hours to get round Tesco because of chatting to folk they met, many of whose babies she had helped deliver, and with whom she kept in touch for years. This was one of Margaret’s amazing gifts, she made everyone she met feel valued. She saw encounters with people as not just work colleagues or clients in the wards, but valued them as people, remembering to send them cards, and remembering details and dates that mattered to them.

On retiral in 1992 her kind colleagues presented ‘Maggie’, as she was known to them, with a lovely picnic set, which was immediately pressed into service, and many remember the lavish picnics with Margaret, either out on a car run to some beauty spot, or on one of the many Munros she enjoyed climbing with friends!

In 1993 she moved into 3 Abbot Road, the first home of her own, and enjoyed planting her garden with camelia, magnolia, jasmine, and eucalyptus to remind her of China. In a characteristic Margaret moment, she obtained the electoral role of the entire estate in order to pray for everyone in her neighbourhood and deliver Christmas message cards to each home. Through this she met Carole, who had just moved in a week before and who became a special friend and neighbourhood prayer-partner. She had many good neighbours, and great

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friends, far too many to be able to mention, who showed tremendous kindness especially as her health declined.

Margaret threw herself wholeheartedly into retirement and a whole new life opened up to her. She even took up piano lessons! Her friend Freda called her ‘Mrs Never-in’. She helped with the Mother & Toddlers group for over 10 years and loved keeping in touch and praying for many mothers and children, and following their progress as they grew up. This led on to compiling and distributing a prayer list every April of church teenagers sitting exams. Great is the gratitude of many young people and parents, to her and others, who prayed them successfully through their exams. Highly organised and capable, and a meticulous record- keeper, she organised the church’s Christmas Cracker café in December for 7 years, raising large amounts for charity, and also dealt with registration and security at the annual August Children’s Holiday Club for up to 100 children. One friend says ‘When I think of Margaret I think of Faithfulness and Thoroughness.’

She was a committed Christian and her faith in the Lord Jesus underpinned her whole life. One friend commented, “If Margaret was a stick of rock and you cut it in half, it would have ‘Christian’ through and through.” She leaned daily on God for guidance in matters big and small. It was her practice to read through the entire Bible in a year. Prayer was also very important to her and she attended the early morning prayer meeting at church each week, and was part of prayer groups for Parliament, Scotland and Israel. She organised Celebration Rallies for central Scotland with Agnes and Betty, and the three of them also went annually to the Dales Bible week in Knaresborough, taking friends with them. She was faithful as a deacon, and in attendance at Church and as she got older she greatly appreciated the kind friends who gave her lifts. She astonished Janette and John by announcing one Sunday that this was a special day as it was the 100th time they had taken her to church! She had somehow kept a record, never taking it for granted.

Margaret had a quiet demeanour and a bright welcoming smile: she had strongly held opinions but was reluctant to express them. She used her abundant energy to the full in her particular gift of encouraging others, by doing special things for them like taking them on outings, bringing them handpicked strawberries in July, writing to them, and sending inspiring cards and books from the Faith Mission bookshop. Every card Margaret sent had a Bible text on it. Margaret had a wonderful memory, and diligently recorded names, addresses, ages, birthdays, because she cared and wanted to remember and pray for everyone in her life. She preferred to hear about others rather than talk about herself, and when asked how she was feeling, even when clearly unwell Margaret would give a bright smile and say ,"Praise the Lord!" Cheerful, outgoing and gentle, with humour and hilarity never far away, she wanted above all that her large circle of acquaintances might know of God’s love for them, which she reflected to them so faithfully and powerfully.

To:weihsien_camp@yahoogroups.com
Fri, 4 Nov 2016 at 12:27

Re: [weihsien_camp] Advocate Fall 2016 (26 Oct 2016) FINAL.pdf

Just post the one story on your Weihsien Camp site.

Thank you,
Mary

tapol@skynet.be [weihsien_camp]
To:weihsien_camp@yahoogroups.com
Fri, 4 Nov 2016 at 10:34

RE: [weihsien_camp] Advocate Fall 2016 (26 Oct 2016) FINAL.pdf

Dear Mary,

The article is accessible on the Weihsien Paintings’ website:
http://weihsien-paintings.org/Mprevite/2016-JAVA-Nagaki/NAGAKI-WANG.pdf

I assembled the 1st and 8th pages … the rest of the magazine is accessible on the Internet.

Best regards,
Leopold

Mary Previte mtprevite@aol.com [weihsien_camp]
To:weihsien_camp@yahoogroups.com
Thu, 3 Nov 2016 at 23:33

[weihsien_camp] Advocate Fall 2016 (26 Oct 2016) FINAL.pdf [1 Attachment]

Article printed in fall Japanese American Veterans Association magazine

Sent from my iPad

Begin forwarded message:

> From: michael yaguchi
> Date: November 3, 2016 at 2:50:49 PM EDT
> To: Mary Previte
>
>

Subject: Advocate Fall 2016 (26 Oct 2016) FINAL.pdf

> >

Hello Assemblywoman Previte:

> Thank you for posting our newsletter on the Welhsien website!

> > Regards,
>
> Michael J. Yaguchi

> Executive Director
> Japanese American Veterans Association
> 703-340-9305
>
>
> www.java.wildapricot.org
>

>> On Nov 3, 2016, at 12:05 PM, ttshima@comcast.net wrote:
>>
>>

Assemblywoman Previte. Thank you we are pleased with your proposal. I am sharing our correspondence with Mike (Lt Col Michael Yaguchi, USAF

>>
>> From: Mary Previte
>> Sent: Thursday, November 03, 2016 9:25 AM
>> To: ttshima@comcast.net
>>

Subject: Re: Advocate Fall 2016 (26 Oct 2016) FINAL.pdf

>>
>>

Thank you Mr. Shima.
>>
>> What a wonderful newsletter!
>>
>> May I forward your article to be posted on the Weihsien web site?
>>
>> MARY PREVITE

>>
>> Sent from my iPad
>> >> On Nov 2, 2016, at 9:56 PM, wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>

Assemblywoman Previte, Thank you for your contribution.
Pls see page 8 of the Advocate below.

Terry