A Tribute to Mrs Shirley McCauley
A thanksgiving service was held for Mrs Shirley McCauley at Cloughmills Reformed Presbyterian Church on Friday, 10th December 2010. Shirley tragically lost her life in a road traffic accident on her way home from church on Sabbath 5th December. A very large congregation gathered and the pastor, Rev. Peter Jemphrey, paid a moving tribute to the life and service of a dear friend and partner in the Gospel. The presence of so many was an indication of how dearly Shirley was loved and how highly she was thought of. But it was also a testimony to how the Lord had worked in and through Shirley making her a blessing to so many.
Shirley originated from Pennsylvania, USA. Through God’s amazing grace to her Shirley was convicted of her sin and came to know the Lord Jesus Christ as her Saviour and Lord when she was young. On leaving school she trained as a biology teacher. Then in the summer of 1979, at the age of twenty-one, Shirley came to Ireland on a mission team - an indication of her pioneer spirit and of her great desire to spread the Gospel. During that first visit to Ireland Shirley was involved in outreach work both in Northern Ireland and in the South, in Cork. That was when she met Trevor McCauley her husband-to-be. One of the things that drew them together was that God had given each of them a heart for the work of His Gospel in Southern Ireland. At that time Trevor was training at our Theological College to be a pastor in the Reformed Presbyterian Church. Trevor did his third year of training out in the States, in Geneva College at Beaver Falls. Following his year there Trevor and Shirley got engaged and then, just some months later, in December 1980, Shirley came to Ireland and they got married. Shirley served Christ along with Trevor for eleven years, first in Dervock Reformed Presbyterian Church between 1981 and 1984 and then in the Church’s Galway mission work for seven years.
Almost twenty years ago, in the autumn of 1991, Trevor died suddenly from a brain tumour leaving Shirley to raise and care for their four young children, Gillian, Peter, Cameron, and Jeremy who was just eighteen months old. In the following years it was quite remarkable how the Lord enabled Shirley to care for her young family and to keep walking with Christ her Rock and her Redeemer. Following Trevor’s death Shirley remained with her children in Galway for about two years and then came back up north to live in Ballymoney, near friends from her Dervock days. She joined Ballymoney Reformed Presbyterian Church but then, in December 1995, she heard about the new work starting up in Cloughmills. And with her pioneering spirit she immediately felt drawn to helping in the new cause.
So, over the past fifteen years, Shirley has lived in Ballymoney and has worshipped in Cloughmills Reformed Presbyterian Church where she has served wholeheartedly in a whole variety of ways because of her love for Christ and for others. Throughout all those years she taught many classes in Sabbath School and she was a leader in our Friday night youth club where she gave numerous talks from the Bible in creative and engaging ways to the many children the Lord brought to us. She was also renowned for the many wonderful crafts she did with the children. Shirley was also fully involved in our women’s group, in its times for fellowship, study and prayer and in its many outreach events. Each Sabbath she was with us for morning and evening worship with a hunger for God’s Word and a desire to glorify Him. Behind the scenes she prepared children’s sheets for each Sabbath morning on the theme of the service, produced a lovely, illustrated song book of psalm portions for each child, and compiled a prayer file for our congregation with photographs of everyone to help us in praying for each other. She gave herself to helping in these and in many others ways in a quiet and humble manner. Her contribution to our church family was immeasurable and of eternal worth and she will be sorely missed. Since 1994 Shirley has been the secretary at Dalriada Prep. Her contribution there was also immeasurable as she went beyond the call of duty in numerous ways. The staff and children at the school will greatly miss her.
Our hearts go out especially to her four children. They are a credit to her. They have excelled academically, but what brought Shirley her greatest joy was the Lord saving her children and giving them hearts for service. Like Phoebe in the early church (Romans 16:1-2) Shirley was a real servant who was a great help to many and we thank God for our sister in the Lord, a true saint of God. Even though her family and church family and many friends will miss her so much we rejoice that Shirley is now in glory and experiencing the fullness of joy in the presence of the One she loves the most, her Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
“Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labours, for their deeds follow them!” (Rev. 14: 13)