19 - Epilogue

Summary

A number of more permanent tributes were deemed appropriate by church members and others whose lives she had affected, especially in her last three churches. The walls of the chapel at Chulmleigh have long been adorned by several plaques and the church members there decided, one month after Elsie's death, that they wanted to commemorate her by adding another in marble and brass. Particular friends may wonder whether Elsie herself would entirely approve of this commemoration, yet she knew the sincerity of these West Country people's feelings. The plaque is situated on the wall to the left of the chapel entrance and it reads:

We remember The Rev Elsie Chamberlain 1910–1991

Congregational Leader

Minister of this Church 1980–1983

Minister Emeritus

‘She hath done what she could’, Mark 14. 8.

The Congregational church members at Castle Gate, Nottingham also chose to honour their friend and first minister but in a different way. At the church meeting in September 1991 they decided to consult, with the Congregational Federation, about commissioning a portrait of Elsie to be hung on the wall of the sanctuary there. Some years earlier a portrait of Reginald Cleaves had been painted by Roy Porter and this had been hung in the church building in Nottingham. Porter was again commissioned and his painting of Elsie was duly placed there.