Small in stature but mighty in faith, Mrs Elizabeth Foord died on July 25 at the age of 97.

A servant of God wherever he placed her, Mrs Foord was known and loved throughout the Diocese and other nations for her love of the Bible, her willingness to talk to anyone about Jesus, her sharp mind and her teaching – both of women, and of groups in partnership with her husband of 55 years, Bishop Dudley Foord.

Born into a Christian family as Elizabeth Mildenhall on May 14, 1929, she grew up attending St Stephen’s, Willoughby, asking endless questions about God, who he was and how she could know him, before coming to a clear conviction about Jesus as her Lord and Saviour at the age of 18.

Young Miss Mildenhall was working in the city and heavily involved in church activities but had a growing conviction that she should attend Bible college – specifically, the then Melbourne Bible Institute (MBI, now the Melbourne School of Theology).

She asked the Lord for confirmation that this was the right path, and a few days later another woman at church just happened to invite her to a reunion of her cohort from MBI. She attended, and then signed up for college, beginning her two-year course in 1955. Many years later, she wrote: “My two years at MBI gave me a wonderful love for the Bible and a desire to serve in whatever capacity”.

Teaching “seven to eight Scripture classes a week"

On her return to Sydney in 1957, she was invited to work in the parish by the new rector of Willoughby, Alan Begbie. She taught seven to eight Scripture classes a week from kindergarten to high school, visited people in the 12 nursing homes dotted throughout the parish, ran an ISCF group for girls from Willoughby High School in the church hall, taught Sunday school, sang in the choir and took an active part in the youth fellowship.
In that year, she also met a final-year student at Moore College, Dudley Foord, who was a student minister at Willoughby. They were married the following year, and their long ministry partnership began. 

One of the young people also in the parish that year was now-bishop and New Testament scholar, Paul Barnett. In addition to sitting under Mr Begbie’s teaching, he “began attending theological classes led by Elizabeth Foord – from memory, PTC out of Moore College”. He recalls how capable she was as a teacher, adding: “I am sure that, under God, the pastoral care of the Begbies and Elizabeth led me to accept Jesus as my Saviour and Lord. 
“Then, in 1959, came the God-anointed Billy Graham, most of whose meetings I attended as a counsellor. All the good things I had learned from the Begbies and Elizabeth were confirmed by the preaching of the great man of God. The next year I went to Moore College to begin what became a lifelong ministry.

“But critical to that, all those years ago, was Elizabeth Foord’s careful and loving teaching.”

The Moore College years

The Foords had a long ministry that touched many. From (then) Mr Foord’s years as a Moore College lecturer (1965-72), when the couple regularly hosted local and overseas students for meetings or meals, to ministry in parishes such as St Ives (1972-84), where they worked together to reach out to the community, disciple believers and run ministry conferences, to Bishop Foord’s years as presiding bishop of the Church of England in South Africa and Zimbabwe (now REACH-SA). Whatever the ministry, they did it together.

Their daughter, Cath Clarke, recalls how her father was often away for preaching engagements while they lived at Moore College, and has “vivid memories” of her mother walking all four of the children down to St Barnabas’, Broadway – where Paul Barnett was now rector – for church each week.

“She was very diligent about that,” Mrs Clarke says. “She would have people over and just share the gospel with them. A lady who was the first convert at St Ives [while we were there], kept in contact with Mum... they’d catch up every few months. She told me the other day that, ‘Your mum was like another mother to me. She mentored me and cared for me and enabled me to know the Lord.”

Elizabeth's irrepressible joy in the Lord, her compassion … hospitality, prayer and love for sharing the gospel …

Archbishop Raffel says Bishop and Mrs Foord’s “call to live our ‘best life for the Lord’ that challenged us to prayerfully consider how we could spend our life in the Lord’s service. They encouraged us to pray for evangelical Anglican ministry outside of Sydney – which ultimately led to us serving in Canberra and Perth; they kindly visited us in the rectory over many years, to pray with us and offer counsel.
“Elizabeth's irrepressible joy in the Lord, her compassion for the hurt and lost, her hospitality, prayer and love for sharing the gospel with others were deeply inspiring and encouraging to us.” 

After retirement the Foords continued to serve – separately and together – as teachers and mentors, with Mrs Foord running a Bible study in her Anglicare retirement village until she moved out of independent living.

Said Mrs Clarke: “Her passion for God’s word and for wanting other women to know and understand the Bible and to apply it to their lives never died. Before her birthday a few months ago, I asked her what she would you like, and she asked for books and tracts that she could give to the non-Christian staff. She always wanted to have something on hand for somebody who was yet to know Jesus.

Married to the rector of Manly, the Rev Bruce Clarke, Mrs Clarke added: “Mum would pray for us all, every day: for her children, her grandchildren and her great-grandchildren. She also rang Bruce every Saturday and say, ‘I’m praying for you, for church tomorrow’. At 97, she was still doing that. She was a prayer warrior.”