“When you would have met Edna you met somebody good,” was how a longtime friend of Clarice Edna Northley summed up the avid sports lover who once served in the British Army.
Northley who passed away from natural causes on July 16 this year at her Barr Street, Kitty home was 91-years-old.
At a memorial service at Sandy’s Funeral Parlour yesterday, Northley was given a simple send off in the company of her family, friends and members of the Guyana Legion of which she was a longstanding member.
Northley had served as a member of the Auxiliary Territorial Services of the British Army during World War Two. According to the general secretary of the Guyana Legion, Kingsley Nelson, the ATS was formed in September 1938 initially as a women’s voluntary service.
Northley continued to serve in the ATS even after the war until its end in February 1949. Nelson in his tribute to Northley said, “During her active role, she served with distinction and willingness.”
Apart from her time in the Army, Northley was also an active sport fan and player. She “loved cricket,” said one of her friends in his tribute. And while she played table tennis and lawn tennis, she excelled as a hockey player.
Northley played as the goalkeeper of then British Guiana team and represented the country at every inter-colonial match from 1948 to 1956.
Later on she worked as a stenographer with Bookers McConnell Brothers Limited and then in the accounts department of Wieting and Richter as a ledger machine operator.
“Her relationship within the Guyana Legion can only be described as wonderful and happy for even though during her latter years (mobility became a problem) Edna always found the time to contract the Legion’s secretariat at least once a week,” Nelson said.
“Indeed she shall surely be missed for her humorous interjections during conversations,” Nelson said.
Northley’s final rites were performed by Pastor Lurlene James. She leaves behind her eighty-year-old sister with whom she lived along with other family and friends.
Also attending her service yesterday was current president of the Guyana Legion, Retired Colonel Carl Morgan. Northley was interred at the Le Repentir Cemetery.
