Listen to this article
Promoted to Glory
“He was the embodiment of the truth that what life does with you is less significant than what you do with life” (Harold Hill).
Lt. Colonel Lance Rive, O.F. (68) was promoted to Glory on June 28. Many Western Salvationists will be acquainted with his story. He was a New Zealand officer who became a quadriplegic following a vehicle accident in Nigeria.
Lance entered officer training with wife Faye in the Defenders of the Faith Session. They were commissioned in 1967 and served in a number of appointments in Africa as well as in their home territory.
In 1990 Lance became chief secretary in the Nigeria Territory, and Faye territorial secretary for women’s organizations. It was there that they were involved in a motor accident that nearly cost them their lives, leaving them both with fractured necks and Lance a quadriplegic.
Both Lance and Faye have been examples of courage and perseverance. Helpless and dependent in many significant ways, Lance still had his calling to fulfill. He served as a counselor, supervisor and spiritual director, as divisional missionary secretary, as the organizer of the Auckland Congress Hall prayer chain, as the Army’s representative on the group overseeing the Associate in Ministry qualification for the New Zealand Association of Theological Schools, as a regular War Cry writer, and had a worldwide ministry of encouragement and counseling via the internet. The Rives retired in 2003.
Government and community honored Rive when he became an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Both Lance and Faye were admitted to the Order of the Founder in 2004, the Army’s highest form of recognition.
The New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga Territory marked Rive’s promotion to Glory with a service of thanksgiving at Auckland Congress Hall Corps. Son Vernon commented, “I won’t say, ‘Rest in peace,’ Dad, because you’ve been sitting down for 14 years, and you’re probably glad to stretch your legs!”
Rive is survived by his wife Faye and children Elizabeth, Susan and Vernon.
From a tribute by Major Harold Hill
Download this page as a PDF