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| Bahá’í News | December 1983 | Bahá’í Year 140 |
Spiritual heroines: The Hand of the Cause of God
Agnes Alexander (left) and May Bolles Maxwell, 1934
Bahá’í News[edit]
Agnes Alexander, Part 3: The completion of a life of service to the Faith | 1 |
Bahá’í teachers establish firm foothold for Cause in Oaxaca, Mexico | 8 |
A warm, loving tribute to the late Joy Munson, Bahá’í pioneer to India | 10 |
Around the world: News from Bahá’í communities all over the globe | 12 |
Bahá’í News is published monthly by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States as a news organ reporting current activities of the Bahá’í world community. Manuscripts submitted should be typewritten and double spaced throughout; any footnotes should appear at the end. The contributor should keep a carbon copy. Send materials to the Periodicals Office, Bahá’í National Center, Wilmette, IL 60091, U.S.A. Changes of address should be reported to the Office of Membership and Records, Bahá’í National Center. Please attach mailing label. Subscription rates: one year, $12 U.S.; two years, $20 U.S. Second class postage paid at Wilmette, IL 60091. Copyright © 1983, National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. World rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A.
Biography: Agnes Alexander[edit]
Golden years of service to the Cause[edit]
In 1937 Agnes Alexander received the following message: “I would be pleased to meet you face to face at this Holy Spot. Your true brother, Shoghi.”1
Her dream had finally come true. As far back as 1914 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had given her permission to visit the Holy Land, but world war had prevented it.2
Shortly after the invitation arrived, Agnes received another cable from the Guardian asking her to “extend assistance” to Saichiro Fujita’s mother who was ill. Although she had no address, Agnes was confident she would be assisted to find the woman. And of course, she was: “I know this is always true when we arise in His service and respond to His call.”3 Mrs. Fujita’s hearty laughter explained much to Agnes about the joyous nature of her son.
En route to Haifa, Agnes’ ship stopped at Port Said, Egypt, where two excited Bahá’ís came aboard with surprising news: “The Guardian is married, and you’ll never guess to whom.” Without hesitating Agnes answered, “Mary Maxwell,” which was exactly right.4 Her answer is all the more extraordinary when one considers that no one had the slightest intimation that the Guardian was planning to marry at all.
| The last of a three-part series on the life of the Hand of the Cause of God Agnes Baldwin Alexander was written by Duane Troxel, an assistant professor of educational technology at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. Dr. Troxel, who has a PhD. in education from Temple University in Philadelphia, served from 1979-83 as a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the Hawaiian Islands. |
Agnes Alexander (right) in Haifa, Israel in April/May 1957 with Saichiro Fujita and Miss Adelaide Sharp. The photograph was taken by the Hand of the Cause of God William Sutherland Maxwell, husband of Agnes’ ‘spiritual mother,’ May Maxwell.
Saichiro Fujita met Agnes at the train station in Haifa and drove her to the Western Pilgrim House where she was greeted by her “spiritual mother,” May Maxwell, now a member of the Holy Family through her daughter’s marriage to Shoghi Effendi.
Agnes was a favored pilgrim. The Japanese scroll she brought as a gift was graciously accepted by the Guardian and hung in a place of honor at Bahjí. She was able to listen to his melodic chanting in the Shrine of the Báb. “In his voice there was a power which was different from all others,” she said.5
The Guardian told her, “The immediate future in Japan is very dark. Japan is going to suffer.6 The time is not now for great headway. The Pacific will become a great storm center in the coming war—great suffering. What we require in Japan is the recognition of the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh and of His station.”7
On the first night of her pilgrimage the Guardian asked Agnes to record her Bahá’í experiences. As a result, “Forty Years of the Bahá’í Cause in Hawaii: 1902-1942” and “History of the Bahá’í Faith in Japan: 1914-1938” were completed during World War II and copies were gratefully received by Shoghi Effendi. (These manuscripts
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Left: A passport Photo of Martha L. Root (1872-1939). Above: Martha Root’s resting place in Honolulu, Hawaii.
were not published until the 1970s.)
Agnes was away from Hawaii when Martha Root arrived in Honolulu in June 1939. For 20 years the Faith’s “leading ambassadress” had taught at a pitch exceeded only by the Master Himself during His journey to the West. Cancer had all but eaten the life out of her wasted frame, but her spirit was indomitable. From her deathbed she wrote:
“I am so near the shore of eternity ... I do not speak, so late tonight of the glorious side of life after death ... I am glad to go through this terrible agony, for if it came it must have come for a purpose ... If our love for each other has been deepened, if this servant has been able to witness for her Lord, if the ties between India, Australia, New Zealand and the Hawaiian Islands are strengthened, then I have not come in vain.”8 In her final delirium she repeated often over and over, “Shoghi Effendi, Shoghi Effendi.”9
Agnes Alexander (left) and May (Bolles) Maxwell in a photograph taken in 1934. (Courtesy National Bahá’í Archives of Japan)
Martha Root is buried in Honolulu where she died—a symbolic spot where East meets West, and an appropriate resting place for one who devoted her life to the cause of world unity.
When Agnes learned of Martha Root’s passing she wrote the friends in Hawaii:
“She (Martha) was near and dear to me ever since 1915 when she first came to Japan and we met there .... Shoghi Effendi said to me when I left Haifa, ‘Keep in touch with Martha’, so eternally I pray we may all be in touch and helped by her spirit.
“I long, though, from the human point, to once more speak with her. It is eight years now since we parted, or at least it will be the last of December.
“Blessed Martha, the whole world of Bahá’ís mourn her!”10
On March 1, 1940, Agnes’ spiritual mother, May Maxwell, cabled her husband from Buenos Aires, Argentina: “SEVERE NEURITIS. BEG PRAYERS.”11 A few hours later she was dead. It was scarcely more than a month after she had arrived at her pioneering post.
‘Kindled with divine flame’[edit]
May, whose tender love had been “a guiding star” to Agnes;12 whom Keith Ransom-Kehler called “a gift and evidence lent me by the Master”;13 whom ‘Abdu’l-Bahá described as “pure in heart and attracted in soul,” was now “gathered into the glory of the Abhá Kingdom.”14
Agnes penned a tribute to May Maxwell which is at once luminous and soul-stirring. These are some lines from it:
“From the time May met her Lord in ‘Akká in 1899, and ‘beheld the King in His Beauty,’ her whole being was kindled with the divine flame ... Countless are the souls who have been ignited through her divine love. In every land which had the blessing of her presence they are to be found ... A precious gift from God to May was exquisite speech. One was always conscious that what ever she said was the truth. She had true spiritual humility and reverence which increased as she
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Agnes Alexander in a photograph taken around 1945.
became a member of the Holy Household ...
“A thousand loving hearts are now turning toward South America, and Buenos Aires, in longing to attain the spot (at) which our precious mother is laid to rest and there to supplicate her intercession for us all.”15
Agnes returned to Honolulu in June 1941. That same year, on the anniversary of the Birth of the Báb, she took part in the dedication of the first Bahá’í-owned Center in the Pacific.
Forty-eight days later, on December 7, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Fortunately, neither Agnes, the friends, or the Center was hurt in the suprise attack. “Shoghi Effendi’s thoughts, and mine too,” wrote Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum, “were with you at the time of the raid on Hawaii.”16
An indication of the Guardian’s close contact with and love for Agnes is revealed in a letter she received from the Archives and History Committee of the U.S. and Canada in 1944, acknowledging receipt of 69 of Shoghi Effendi’s letters.
When the guns of war were finally silenced in the fall of 1945, pleas for help were heard—and Agnes answered. From Japan, Mr. Torii wrote: “Dear spiritual mother! Thank God, your heavenly presents reached me safely ... Opening the sugar sack Mrs. Torii doubted her eyes; at first what the white thing is and she tasted it, how sweet it was! Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for your hearty kindness.”17
From Germany came thanks for some Bahá’í books: “O dearest, I know you can duly appreciate what this now means to me ... It is like entering a garden in spring and breathe (sic) the fragrance of the most exquisite flowers and feel the cool and refreshing waters watering that garden directly from the Source of Life itself.”18
Enforced absence[edit]
After an enforced absence of 13 years, Agnes returned to Japan in May 1950. Incredibly, her entire Bahá’í library, which “included hundreds of copies in Japanese of Dr. Esslemont’s book, was found intact in a ruined part of Tokyo.”19 She transferred her residence from Tokyo to Kyoto, which abounds in magnificent temples and quaint gardens.
In the midst of this splendor Agnes continued her habit of living simply. In her tiny apartment “she cooked and served meals to her guests in a kitchen no larger than a closet, and often on trips to Tokyo would astonish visitors by opening up a large suitcase filled with pots, pans, dishes and a hotplate” and proceed “to cook them a meal.”20 Another Bahá’í recalls how Agnes once wore two suits of clothing aboard an airplane flight to avoid paying an excess baggage fee. Though moderate and thrifty in all that pertained to her personal life, she was quite generous where the Faith was concerned.
In 1950 she was 75 ... old chronologically, but not spiritually or mentally. She wrote to a friend at that time, “You will see that I must take time off to learn to use my (new) typewriter. The trouble is I am always in a hurry!”21
The Guardian instructed Agnes to lay special emphasis on the Covenant in her teaching.22 Instantly she directed the friends to focus on its living embodiment, Shoghi Effendi: “... We have to strive to make them (every believer) understand and come closer to our beloved Guardian, as he is ‘the ark of safety for every believer’.”23
At Riḍván 1954 the Guardian instructed the 15 Hands of the Cause residing outside the Holy Land to appoint Auxiliary Boards. Agnes was one of seven appointments for Asia.24 Three years later, in a cable announcing the passing of the Hand of the
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Agnes Alexander in December 1957, the year she was named a Hand of the Cause of God.
Above: Agnes Alexander with the Zenimoto baby, May 1960. Another photo, showing the Zenimoto family, is signed by Agnes: ‘My children and grandchildren.’ Below: With Governor John Burns on the eve of the election of Hawaii’s first National Spiritual Assembly, April 24, 1964.
Cause of God George Townshend, the Guardian added this:
“Agnes Alexander, distinguished pioneer (of the) Faith, elevated (to) rank (of) Hand (of) Cause. Confident (her) appointment will spiritually reinforce teaching campaign simultaneously conducted (in) North, South (and) heart (of) Pacific Ocean.
Shoghi”25
She wrote of her appointment to a close friend, Auntie May Fantom, the first of Hawaiian blood to embrace the Cause:
“Probably you have heard by now that a great new spiritual life has come to me, that is, to be a Hand of the Cause. It is something I could not have dreamed of, but God works in mysterious ways, and this is His Plan, or it could not come, so I leave all and turn to our beloved Guardian; knowing that he will guide me, and if I keep in the right direction, I cannot fail with his prayers. It makes the beloved Guardian seem so much nearer now.”26
Just eight months after Agnes’ appointment as a Hand of the Cause came the shocking news that Shoghi Effendi was seriously ill. Agnes wrote,
“How all the hearts of his lovers fly to Haifa in prayers for our glorious and ‘sacred’ Guardian! whom God in His mercy ... has bestowed on us!”27
The beloved Guardian passed away on November 4, 1957, and some days after he was buried in London’s Great Northern Cemetery, Agnes joined 25 other Hands of the Cause in the Holy Land for a conference. The Guardian’s
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widow, Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum, told the Hands of his last
days. On November 19, they went to
the Mansion of Bahá’u’lláh at Bahjí.
They were in the abyss of despair. The
Guardian had not left a will, nor had
he appointed a successor. Agnes was
one of those who realized that Shoghi
Effendi could have no will, “as there
was no one the beloved Guardian could
appoint in his place as Guardian of the
Faith.”28
In April 1957 she was elected to the first National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of North East Asia, and served as a member for six years, during which time she shuttled back and forth between Japan and meetings of the Hands in the Holy Land.
Prophecy fulfilled[edit]
In 1963, at the culmination of the Ten Year Crusade, Agnes participated in the long-awaited election of the Universal House of Justice, which was held on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. The nine members of that body were introduced to 7,000 jubilant Bahá’ís who were gathered at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Agnes was present for that event, which gloriously fulfilled Daniel’s ancient prophecy of the “1335 days.”
The following year, at the age of 88, she represented the new Universal House of Justice at the formation of the first National Spiritual Assembly of Hawaii. On the eve of that election, Hawaii’s governor paid tribute to the Bahá’ís and presented Agnes with the traditional flower lei and a kiss.
It was indeed a blessing for Bahá’u’lláh’s “herald of the Pacific” to see her spiritual progeny grow from isolated Groups to Local Assemblies, and now to form the first National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the Hawaiian Islands.
From each of the six major islands in the archipelago the 19 delegates came—Hawaiians, Chinese, Japanese, Samoans, Filipinos, Portuguese, and Haole (white)—all united by Bahá’u’lláh through the efforts of His herald, Agnes Alexander, the Spiritual Mother of the Pacific.
During the Convention she looked backward some 63 years to reminisce about that day in 1901 when, as a timid 26-year-old, she had returned home to the Paradise of the Pacific—as its first Bahá’í. What feelings must have surged within her heart that day! The photographs taken at the Convention portray a supremely happy, confident and radiant soul.
After the Convention, Agnes returned to Japan. In late July 1965, as she was preparing to attend the World Congress of Esperantists in Tokyo, she fell and broke her hip. For the next two years she was confined to a hospital bed in Tokyo; but even in this calamity she perceived His providence: “Dearie, nothing happens by chance,” she wrote to a friend. “It is my great hope and prayer that through this accident the hearts of all the Bahá’ís in all Japan shall be so united and love each other with such deep love, it will be felt by all those around us. Then will the words of the Master be fulfilled, that Japan will turn ablaze.”29
Agnes Alexander (seated third from left) with the first National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the Hawaiian Islands, April 1964. To Miss Alexander’s right is Velma Sherrill, now a Counsellor in the Americas, who represented the U.S. National Spiritual Assembly at the election.
God’s Will was not a metaphysical abstraction to which Agnes paid lip service. It was to her as real and bankable as gold coins. What for others were frustrating and unexpected turns of events were to her opportunities to bring oneself into closer harmony with the Infinite.
“It’s God’s Plan,” was her confident response to all the vagaries of life. A young Bahá’í in Honolulu who tried to help her cross a street was told, “Dearie, do you think my Lord does not guide my step?”30 And when His inscrutable Will snatched “the beloved of all hearts” from this plane, she said, “Our beloved Guardian is now freed from his cares and is very near to us all ... As for myself, I know that I am here because it is God’s Plan. And when He so wills, then the next step will be shown, so I have no care but to ‘turn’ and do my best to serve.”31
On September 10, 1967, Agnes was brought back to Hawaii by her nephew and was housed in an apartment in the Arcadia Retirement Residence. Ironically, from her window she could look down on the site of her birth.
Living in a retirement home did not stifle her sense of humor. On the occasion of her 93rd birthday a young Bahá’í couple visiting from Africa presented her with a hand-carved ebony cane. She took the cane and eyed them sharply. “Who is this for?”
[Page 6]
she asked.
“W-why, it’s for y-you,” one of them stammered.
Agnes threw back her head and laughed. “Hah! As soon as I’m well,” she said, “I’ll be running up and down the hall!”
Somewhat later the young man inquired as to whether she ever had any dreams of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
Preoccupied with teaching[edit]
“No,” said Agnes, “I am not a dreamer.” And she smiled sweetly.33
Most nonagerians are preoccupied with medicine and hot water bottles, with rocking chairs and reminiscences. Not so Agnes Alexander. Teaching was her preoccupation. And deepening. At the age of 94 she told a visitor that she tried to read the Tablets of the Divine Plan as often as she could because “they are full of spiritual food.”34
Shoghi Effendi once told her, “Your reward is indeed great and glorious in the world to come for all your endeavors and exemplary services to the sacred Threshold.”35 At 1 p.m. on January 1, 1971, the “cage” was broken, and the spirit of dear Agnes Alexander winged its long-awaited flight to the Abhá Kingdom. She was 95.
But the story does not end there. It was the desire of Miss Alexander’s family to have her interred in the graveyard of Kawaiahao Church, Hawaii’s Westminster Abbey. Many of the most distinguished missionaries including Agnes’ grandparents are buried there. Unfortunately, space was at a premium, and the officials decreed that her remains could not be buried in the family plot unless they were cremated—a condition unacceptable for a Bahá’í burial.
Faced with this dilemma, Hawaii’s National Spiritual Assembly cabled the Universal House of Justice to ask for guidance. Meanwhile, Assembly members invited the friends to join them in an all-night prayer vigil at the grave of Martha Root. Clustered beneath umbrellas, the friends prayed at the unlit grave throughout a dark and rainy night.
Early the next morning a long-distance call from the House of Justice advised a direct appeal to the executors of Miss Alexander’s estate. The appeal outlined her exemplary services to the Faith and described the esteem in which she was held all over the world. This approach proved successful, and dear Agnes was laid to rest only a few miles from her beloved spiritual sister, Martha Root.
From the Holy Land, the Universal House of Justice cabled:
“Profoundly grieve passing illumined soul Hand Cause Agnes Alexander longstanding pillar Cause Far East first bring Faith Hawaiian Islands. Her long dedicated exemplary life service devotion Cause God anticipated by Centre Covenant selecting her share May Maxwell imperishable honor mention Tablets Divine Plan. Her unrestrained unceasing pursuit teaching obedience command Bahá’u’lláh exhortations Master guidance beloved Guardian shining example all followers Faith. Her passing severs one more link Heroic Age. Assure family friends ardent prayers holiest Shrine progress radiant soul request all National Spiritual Assemblies hold memorial meetings and those responsible hold services Mother Temples.”37
Agnes Alexander’s 70 years of certitude to the Threshold of Bahá’u’lláh are almost without parallel in the West. In her memory, the National Spiritual Assembly of Hawaii inaugurated, in 1975, the “Agnes Baldwin Alexander Award for Service to Humanity.” To date, six outstanding citizens of the state have received this prestigious award at a banquet held annually on December 26, the anniversary of her arrival in Hawaii as a Bahá’í.
The Bahá’ís of Hawaii and the Pacific, of Korea, Japan and China, and all others whose spiritual inheritance derives from the services of Agnes Alexander are the denizens of that “spiritual empire” spoken of by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: “Had this respected daughter founded an empire, that empire would not have been so great! For this sovereignty is eternal sovereignty and this glory everlasting glory.”
‘Who’s the cane for?’ Miss Alexander says, laughing, in a photograph taken August 15, 1968, in her room at a Honolulu retirement home when she was 93 years old.
- Agnes Alexander, History of the Bahá’í Faith in Japan: 1914-1938, Bahá’í Publishing Trust, Japan, 1977, p. 96.
- Star of the West, Vol. 7, No. 5, p. 35.
- Alexander, Japan, p. 96.
- Ibid., p. 99.
- Ibid., p. 101.
- In 1911 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá met Japan’s Ambassador to France in Paris. The Master told him, “There is in existence a stupendous force, as yet, happily, undiscovered by man. Let us supplicate God, the Beloved, that this force be not discovered by science
- until spiritual civilization shall dominate the human mind. In the hands of men of lower material nature, this power would be able to destroy the whole earth.” (World Order magazine, June 1946, p. 68). And in 1920 He said, “In Japan the divine proclamation will be heard as a formidable explosion, so that those who are ready will become uplifted and illumined by the light of the Sun of Truth.” (Ibid., p. 67).
- Pilgrim notes of Agnes Alexander, May 1, 1937, National Bahá’í Archives, Honolulu, Hawaii.
- Bahá’í News, No. 209, July 1948, pp. 6-8.
- Letter from Kathrine Baldwin, October 8, 1939, National Bahá’í Archives, Honolulu.
- Letter from Agnes Alexander, October 8, 1939, National Bahá’í Archives, Honolulu.
- Letter from William Sutherland Maxwell, March 7, 1940, National Bahá’í Archives, Honolulu.
- Agnes Alexander, Forty Years of the Bahá’í Cause in Hawaii: 1902-1942, National Spiritual Assembly of the Hawaiian Islands, rev. ed., June 1974, p. 32.
- Marion Holley, “In Memoriam: May Ellis Maxwell,” The Bahá’í World, Vol. 8 (1938-40), p. 638.
- Shoghi Effendi, Messages to America: 1932-1946, Bahá’í Publishing Committee, Wilmette, Ill., 1947, p. 38.
- Papers of Agnes Alexander, “Tribute to May Maxwell,” undated, p. 6, National Bahá’í Archives, Honolulu.
- Letter from Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum, February 12, 1942, National Bahá’í Archives, Honolulu.
- Letter from Tokujiro Torii, August 5, 1947, National Bahá’í Archives, Honolulu.
- Letter from Elsa Grossmann, January 17, 1948, National Bahá’í Archives, Honolulu.
- Eunice Braun, From Strength to Strength, Bahá’í Publishing Trust, Wilmette, 1978, p. 31.
- Elena Maria Marsella, “In Memoriam: Agnes Baldwin Alexander,” The Bahá’í World, Vol. 15 (1968-73), p. 428.
- Letter from Agnes Alexander, May 12, 1952, National Bahá’í Archives, Honolulu.
- Japan Will Turn Ablaze!, Bahá’í Publishing Trust, Japan, 1974, p. 54.
- Letter from Agnes Alexander, January 3, 1951, National Bahá’í Archives, Honolulu.
- The Bahá’í World, Vol. 12 (1950-54), p. 40.
- Bahá’í News, No. 315, May 1957, p. 1.
- Letter from Agnes Alexander, April 16, 1957, National Bahá’í Archives, Honolulu.
- Letter from Agnes Alexander, November 6, 1957, private collection of Mr. William Smits, Makakilo, Hawaii.
- Letter from Agnes Alexander, December 1, 1957, National Bahá’í Archives, Honolulu.
Above: Agnes Alexander in her room at the Arcadia Retirement Residence in Honolulu, March 31, 1969. From her window she could see her birthplace and a mango tree planted by her mother 100 years earlier. Below: Miss Alexander is buried in the family plot behind Honolulu’s historic Kawaiahao Church, which was built in 1820. She died January 1, 1971, at the age of 95.
- Elena Marsella, “In Memoriam,” The Bahá’í World, Vol. 15, p. 429.
- Roger White, The Witness of Pebbles, George Ronald, London, 1981, p. 9.
- Letter from Agnes Alexander, January 31, 1958, National Bahá’í Archives, Honolulu.
- Light of the Pacific, Hawaii Bahá’í News, No. 29, September 1957, p. 1.
- Personal notes of Dr. Duane K. Troxel, August 15, 1968.
- Beth McKenty, Bahá’í News, July 1974, p. 5
- Agnes Alexander, Japan, p. 70.
- Personal notes of Mr. Tracy Hamilton, March 1980.
- Light of the Pacific, Hawaii Bahá’í News, No. 61, January 1971, p. 2.
Mexico[edit]
Teaching campaign reaches village areas[edit]
Bahá’ís from Oaxaca, San Lorenzo Cacaotepec, Vera Cruz and Mexico City, Mexico, participated last July 5-August 14 with three traveling teachers from the United States in a teaching campaign in the state of Oaxaca that was carried out under the auspices of the National Teaching Committee of Mexico.
The purpose was to deepen Bahá’ís in that area of Mexico and to reach their friends and family members with the Message of Bahá’u’lláh.
Training session[edit]
The campaign’s organizational phase included a training session conducted by members of the National Teaching Committee which provided an opportunity for pioneers and traveling teachers to improve their Spanish-language skills. A part of the session was spent practicing the use of the Spanish version of the orange teaching booklet.
The team’s first stop was the village of San Pedro, nestled in the high Sierras, a two and one-half hour walk from the road. The friends stayed in the home of an indigenous family, many of whose members are Bahá’ís.
During their five-day stay in San Pedro, team members helped in teaching and by organizing an observance of the Nineteen Day Feast.
“Bahá’ís and non-Bahá’ís alike were impressed by the fact that we didn’t just come and go, but lived and ate with these indigenous people, most of whom are of the Zapotec tribe,” said one traveling teacher who was a member of the team.
“The diversity of our team aroused curiosity,” he added, “and many conversations about the Faith were opened by our being asked what we were doing there.”
The team visited San Pedro Nesicho for two five-day periods. While there, they presented a slide program and held deepening sessions for local believers.
A group of Bahá’í and non-Bahá’í children in Tehuantepec, Mexico, with Elwin Howard, a traveling teacher from the United States.
“The visual presentation was a real attraction because most of the pueblo dwellers have radios, but hardly any of them have television,” said Donald Boone-Wallis, a traveling teacher from Euless, Texas.
Before the team left San Pedro Nesicho, villagers were asking them how to conduct their own Feasts and how to hold children’s classes.
The village of Santo Domingo Tomaltepec was visited each Sunday for several weeks. Deepening sessions were held there with Bahá’í youth whose questions were challenging and reflected deep thought. Children’s classes in San Lorenzo Cacaotepec were well-received; the youngsters enjoyed singing and guitar playing.
The Bahá’í teachers visited several other villages in the Oaxaca valley including San Pablo Etla, Guejovela, Guelatao, Laion Zapata, and La Union. In Ishtepece, about an hour’s walk from San Pedro Nesicho, they met with the village president and received his permission to return to offer residents a slide program.
In Tehuantepec, slides and books in Spanish were used in children’s classes
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and deepenings for older Bahá’ís. One deepening session included a simulated
Spiritual Assembly meeting.
A popular activity among the local Bahá’ís was a trip to the beach with their visitors.
At least one village was opened to the Faith during the nearly six-weeklong teaching campaign, and it is hoped that two Local Spiritual Assemblies that had not been functioning will be doing so by Riḍván as a result of the efforts put forth in this campaign.
A group of young men in Tehuantepec, Mexico, is shown perusing a Bahá’í teaching booklet. Tehuantepec was one of several villages that were visited by Bahá’ís last July and August during a six-week teaching campaign in Oaxaca State.
Panama[edit]
A delegation of Bahá’ís paid a courtesy call last August 10 on Ricardo de la Espriella (second from left), the president of Panama. The Bahá’ís are (left to right) Bonifacia Fuentes, a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of Panama; Counsellor Mas’úd Khamsí, and Rachell Constante, a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of Panama.
Tribute: Joy Munson[edit]
A shining example of steadfastness[edit]
HEARTS SADDENED PASSING FAITHFUL STEADFAST MAIDSERVANT CAUSE JOY MUNSON WHO THOUGH ADVANCED IN YEARS REMAINED AT POST IN DEDICATED SERVICE BLESSED BEAUTY. SUPPLICATING HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS HER RADIANT SOUL.
JUNE 12, 1983
Joy Munson was 73 years old when she arrived in India in 1976 as a Bahá’í pioneer from the United States.
She was, as she said, beginning “one of the most exciting adventures” of her life.
At first glance one might think, what could this tiny woman do in a country such as India? At home, she could be close to her family and children, well cared for and comfortable in her old age. But alone, and in a strange country ...
What a surprise was in store for the Bahá’ís as this strong-willed and determined woman settled in and established herself in the goal town of Sangli, Maharashtra State.
Her first stop was the Bahá’í National Center in Delhi where she walked straight into the office of the secretary, R.N. Shah, introduced herself (they had been expecting her), and said, “I’ve come to pioneer, and will settle any place that the NSA wants me to—and here’s my will.” She made no mention of living accommodations, language, climate, and so forth.
The National Assembly suggested either Sangli or Miraj, also in Maharashtra State. Joy was then asked to travel to Panchgani to meet with its Assembly which would act as a “mother” Assembly to guide and advise her.
| This tribute to Joy Munson, who pioneered to India at the age of 73 and passed away recently at her post, was written by a former pioneer to that country, LaNelma Johnson of Hardesty, Oklahoma. |
Panchgani was a six-hour journey by bus from Sangli.
From the time of that first meeting it was evident that Joy viewed the Panchgani Assembly as her “parent” and made no decision without first informing the Assembly or consulting with it. She always did her utmost to carry out the wishes of the Assembly and was absolutely obedient in every way.
What a shining example Joy became to all—young and old alike. She was a radiant spirit, always smiling, happy and uncomplaining. Joy was truly a “joy” to everyone.
She visited our family on many occasions, and became like a family member and “grandmother” to our three children. She had a wonderful sense of humor that everyone loved. Many times, especially at the dinner table, she would have everyone laughing. She was so well-read that she could converse on almost any topic. Her mind was unbelievably sharp, and she read almost constantly, sometimes as many as five Bahá’í books at a time, taking notes from each one. While reading those books she was also studying Persian and Marathi, and almost always had those books with her too. She loved trees, flowers and birds, and at times would sit on our patio for long periods drinking in the beauty of nature.
Largely through Joy’s efforts a new Bahá’í Center was purchased in Sangli, a Spiritual Assembly was established, and children’s classes with more than 100 youngsters attending were held regularly. Joy was named an assistant to Auxiliary Board member M. Jawnmardi, and in April 1983 was elected chairman of the Spiritual Assembly of Sangli.
Joy’s only real concerns during her stay in India were an inability to communicate as well as she would have liked (she communicated with love), and a desire to be buried in a Bahá’í cemetery. She often spoke of this, to which I would say jokingly, “Joy, if you ever feel you are going soon to the next world, just get on a bus and come to Panchgani. We have a lovely cemetery here for you.” She would laugh and reply, “That’s a fine idea.”
Joy Munson was a living example of the fact that love and steadfastness can alone win souls to this Faith. That is precisely what happened to her, and the waiting souls did indeed come knocking on her door. She would lovingly invite them to the Center, prepare a cup of tea for them, and give them literature about the Faith in their own language. She was the essence of a true loving spirit in that whatever happened, and with whomsoever she came in contact, she always saw the beauty and the good qualities and overlooked poverty, disease, and flaws in character.
As the years passed Joy came to love the New Era Bahá’í School in Panchgani, its staff and its students. One day, as we strolled across the campus, she said to me, “Oh, I love this school and the children so much! I wish I could do something for them.”
As it happened, a second floor dormitory was to be built, but funds were not available. That evening, we discussed the matter with my husband, Ray, who was principal of the school. Joy became quite excited, and left early the next morning for Sangli, saying she would return in a few days. Checking
[Page 11]
Joy Munson, who pioneered to India
in 1976 at the age of 73, with the Hand
of the Cause of God Abu’l-Qásim Faizí
at the New Era Bahá’í School, Panchgani.
her bank account, she found to her dismay that she had only several thousand rupees there. The following day, however, a letter arrived from her son, Victor, who was living in California. “Mom,” he wrote, “you have $12,000 just sitting here in the bank. Why don’t you put the money to good use somewhere?”
Again, Joy’s prayers had been answered. She arrived in Panchgani the next day, her face beaming, and said, “Well, it’s all set. Let’s write to Victor right now and explain about the new dorm.” Within a few weeks $10,000 was received and work was begun on a new girls’ dormitory, Munson Hall, which was opened in September 1983 for 30 girls.
In February 1983 Joy returned to the U.S. to see her four children, and the Munsons held a family reunion in California. After visiting for two months with her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Joy boarded a plane for Bombay, arrived there unannounced, and traveled eight hours by bus to Panchgani to be with her friends there.
My son, Kirk, and I were pleased to welcome Joy as a guest in our home for 10 days until we left India to return to the States on May 10. Two days after we left, she fractured her hip and underwent surgery in Poona. The operation was a success, but on May 26 Joy’s heart failed and she passed away. She was 81 years old.
Joy spoke often of her death, and looked forward to that glorious journey. She passed away at her pioneer post, had a lovely funeral, and was laid to rest in the beautiful Bahá’í cemetery at Poona.
Those of us who were fortunate enough to know Joy Munson were deeply influenced by her example of total detachment, sacrifice and steadfastness, and will miss her greatly.
The world[edit]
Nearly 100 in Thailand camp declare[edit]
As a result of teaching initiated by two Bahá’ís, the number of Bahá’ís in Thailand’s Phanat Nikhom refugee camp now stands at close to 100.
The two Bahá’ís who work at the camp are employed by humanitarian organizations. With their help, four other Bahá’ís were given permission to visit the camp last July 31 to observe the Feast of Kamál.
The visitors found a surprising degree of personal and community development among the new Cambodian Bahá’ís in the camp.
The first to become a Bahá’í there, a Cambodian student who came to Thailand about eight years ago, was told by fellow refugees that his ideas resembled those of the Bahá’í Faith. After a long search, he finally found the Faith through an English teacher at the camp.
After enrolling he began to teach others, and, as he later learned, on the same day last June that the martyrs were hanged in Shíráz, Iran, 50 of those he was teaching suddenly decided to become Bahá’ís.
The Cambodian Bahá’ís in the camp began visiting another camp across the road, and by last August there were eight new Bahá’ís there, most of whom are Laotians in the process of resettlement to other countries.
Similar developments have been reported in another refugee camp for Laotians in northeastern Thailand. In three months, the number of Bahá’ís there reached 80 in spite of the fact that there are no Bahá’í workers at that camp.
The Faith is being taught instead by the new Bahá’ís themselves. Also, Mr. Kana, a former pioneer to Laos from Malaysia who is now an Auxiliary Board member, visits the Bahá’ís in the camp and works with them.
Pictured are some of the 263 people who were enrolled in the Faith between May and August 1983 at the Phanat Nikhom refugee processing center in Chonburi, Thailand. The first to become a Bahá’í in the camp was a Cambodian student who learned of the Faith from Francis Mausley, an American who teaches English there. This led to 263 enrollments in a few months. Now, there are Nineteen Day Feasts, deepening classes, and daily classes on two levels for children, while groups of Bahá’ís are working on the translation and publication of Bahá’í writings. In September, the National Spiritual Assembly of Thailand authorized the election of a Local Spiritual Assembly at the camp.
World Centre[edit]
On June 27, the Universal House of Justice announced through its Secretariat the appointment of four new members of the Continental Boards of Counsellors. They are:
In Africa—Mr. Gila Michael Bahta, Mr. Kassimi Fofana. In the Americas—Mr. Shahpoor Monadjem. In Australasia—Mrs. Joy Stevenson.
Transkei[edit]
On May 27, the Daily Dispatch of Umtata, Transkei, published a news release from the International Convention with a photograph of the eight members of the National Spiritual Assembly of Transkei who attended.
The article mentions the 174 localities and 50 organized Bahá’í communities in Transkei. The National Assembly says that, to the best of its knowledge, this is the first mention of the Faith in the Transkei newspaper.
Austria[edit]
Fifteen hundred Bahá’í youth from 40 countries gathered last July 23-26 in Innsbruck, Austria, for a European Youth Conference whose special guest speaker was the Hand of the Cause of God Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum. Other participants included seven members of the Continental Board of Counsellors in Europe. Ten youth declared their belief in Bahá’u’lláh during the conference while 36 offered to travel to international pioneering posts. The conference theme was ‘Setting Aglow the Hearts.’
Ivory Coast[edit]
Rouhaniyyih Tirandaz, a traveling teacher from France, visited Ivory Coast, Guinea and Mali last June and July following a productive three-week visit in May to Upper Volta.
In Mali, Mrs. Tirandaz and David Rhody, a long-time pioneer from Canada, visited Segoa where they held an institute for youth, a meeting for women, and made individual contacts with non-Bahá’ís.
In Mali’s capital city, Bomako, Mrs. Tirandaz conducted deepening classes each afternoon for 10 days.
There were deepening sessions for new Bahá’ís each afternoon during a week-long stay in Guinea, and a one-day institute was presented for all of the friends.
While Mrs. Tirandaz was in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, that country’s National Spiritual Assembly asked her to visit the western area of the country for two weeks.
In the village of Man, she conducted an institute attended by people who were invited from nearby villages where there are Spiritual Assemblies. She also visited the governor-general and his deputy, presenting them with a book about the Faith.
In Bangolo, Mrs. Tirandaz spent a week visiting villages where there are Spiritual Assemblies and conducting evening classes.
She stayed three days in Daloa, meeting with Bahá’ís and seekers. An important element of her visit to Daloa was a meeting with members of its Spiritual Assembly.
Nicaragua[edit]
About 160 people attended an International Day of Peace program September 20 in Managua, Nicaragua. The program was sponsored by the National Spiritual Assembly of Nicaragua.
Speakers included five men prominent in the fields of education, law, medicine and politics. The lone Bahá’í panelist was Rodrigo Tomas, an Auxiliary Board member from Costa Rica.
Two unsolicited newspaper articles announced the event along with a paid ad placed in a leading newspaper by the National Spiritual Assembly.
Following the meeting, another article appeared in a leading newspaper. All articles mentioned that the Peace Day program was sponsored by the National Spiritual Assembly of Nicaragua.
New Zealand[edit]
When the Bahá’í community of Whangarei City, New Zealand, asked Han Hanh, a Vietnamese Bahá’í who lives in Christchurch to visit their city to establish contact with the 50 Vietnamese who are now living there, he took a leave of absence from his job to carry out the request.
Invitations in Vietnamese to attend a special fireside were sent to nine families in Whangarei. The 30 guests who attended said later it was the first meeting they had gone to in New Zealand that was conducted in their native language. Each guest who wanted one was given a Bahá’í prayer book.
For three days, Mr. Hanh visited Vietnamese and Polynesian families in the area. At a potluck supper for Vietnamese who wished to learn more about the Faith, a talk in English was translated by Mr. Hanh. Local Bahá’ís then answered questions, with Mr. Hanh translating the answers into Vietnamese.
Some Vietnamese families now attend Bahá’í Holy Day observances, and some of their children are attending Bahá’í classes.
In reporting the activity, the Whangarei Bahá’í community says, “Han’s warm personality, knowledge of Buddhist background and Vietnamese culture, and his devotion to the Cause ignited the spark of investigation in the local Vietnamese people ...”
Canada[edit]
The Ṭáhirih Choir, composed of Iranian Bahá’ís now living in southern Ontario, Canada, is working to revive early songs inspired by the Faith.
The choir has sung at several large Bahá’í functions including the annual Conference of the Association for Bahá’í Studies which was held in November 1983 in Chicago, Illinois.
The choir hopes to be used as a vehicle for teaching the Faith while serving its other purpose of preserving the classical Persian music that is now forbidden in Iran.
Bahá’ís participated last June in the annual convention of the Associated Countrywomen of the World in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Bahá’ís from Vancouver took part in an interfaith service during the convention, while a Bahá’í from Transkei served as a delegate.
The organization works at promoting rural living and creating opportunities for country women to become better informed through women’s institutes that are operated in Canada and 68 other countries.
Dominica[edit]
Sixteen people who were attending a week-long Bahá’í Summer School last August in Dominica declared their belief in Bahá’u’lláh.
One of the new Bahá’ís was the minister of an important church on Dominica. He is a dynamic young man who had studied the Faith for more than two years.
Dominica is the site of a new National Spiritual Assembly in the Caribbean.
Hawaii[edit]
People of several ages and ethnic backgrounds ride the Bahá’í-sponsored float in this year’s Aloha Days parade in Honolulu, Hawaii. The float, bearing the words ‘Bahá’í Faith’ on its front, was covered with more than 40,000 flowers.
The Hawaiian Bahá’í community’s
float in the 1983 Aloha Week parade
held September 24 in Honolulu received the Mayor’s Award designating
first place in the non-commercial division.
Bahá’ís from many communities on the island of Oahu, and some from other islands, worked throughout the night preceding the annual parade to prepare the float, which was covered with more than 40,000 flowers.
The Bahá’í-sponsored float included a large model of the famous Aloha Tower, and replicas of the Koolau Mountains and a waterfall.
Fourteen people of various ethnic backgrounds, ranging in age from six to 80 years and dressed in colorful costumes, rode on the float.
This marked the 17th year in which the Bahá’ís of Hawaii have entered a float in the Aloha Week parade. So far, they have received 15 awards.
Aloha Week is observed each year in Hawaii to recall the days when it was ruled by kings and queens.
India[edit]
Some 2,219 women in 187 localities in Uttar Pradesh, India, declared their belief in Bahá’u’lláh last July during a teaching campaign aimed especially toward women.
Most of the new believers are the wives, daughters or mothers of Bahá’ís.
The Uttar Pradesh Teaching Committee, helped by Auxiliary Board members, has begun a deepening program in which selected Bahá’í women from the Kanpur, Farrukhabad and Etawah districts, where the enrollments took place, receive instruction in conducting special deepening classes.
That teaching committee also intensified activities in five districts of the eastern zone with a three-week program in which several new Spiritual Assemblies were established and 1,852 new Bahá’ís were enrolled.
Forty villages in Uttar Pradesh have been chosen as sites for establishing tutorial schools.
Vocational training for rural women was begun last February at the Faizí Institute in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India.
From 10 to 20 village women at a time are being trained in eight vocational areas during their approximately two-week stay at the Institute.
Women from villages near Indore, India, are seen attending a Bahá’í vocational training class at the Faizí Institute in Indore. Classes range from mat weaving to soap-making and include basic hygiene and health care. They are designed to provide village women with some economic assistance through cottage industries and to give them hygiene training to help their families and villages. It is hoped that these women, who also learn Bahá’í concepts, teachings, prayers and songs at the institute, will be able to train village children as well.
Counsellor Zena Sorabjee, who was present at the February inauguration of the program, reports that 23 women were trained in candle and soap making during the first two sessions. They came from 12 villages, and some brought their children.
Skills to be taught in future sessions will include sewing, shelling and packing ground nuts, poultry farming, and mat weaving.
Basic health and child care information is also a part of each training session. Instruction for the first two groups was given by a local Bahá’í who is a medical student.
Bahá’í community development is being served by the participants’ increased knowledge and sense of self-worth. It is expected that women so trained can be a basis for the education of children in their villages.
The Illustrated Weekly, the most popular English-language magazine in India, published a two-page article in June on the Bahá’ís in Iran.
Written by Counsellor Zena Sorabjee, the article refers to Bahá’ís as “the untouchables of Iran.”
Pictured are members of a sewing class in the village of Nagalur, Tamil Nadu State, southern India. Karin Ferguson, a traveling teacher from Canada, is standing second from left. Miss Ferguson, who visited India last February, described the Nagalur Bahá’í community as an active one with daily classes for 40 children, a women’s deepening group, regular meetings of the Spiritual Assembly, Nineteen Day Feasts, and observances of Bahá’í Holy Days.
Alaska[edit]
“Claritea Coffeehouse,” begun last January by a group of young adult Bahá’ís in Anchorage, Alaska, has become the most successful teaching effort undertaken this year by the Bahá’í community of Anchorage.
“Claritea” refers to clarity of mind and environment, and the coffeehouse was begun as an alternative to night spots that serve alcoholic beverages.
Fourteen Bahá’ís and non-Bahá’ís attended the first evening at Claritea. Six months later, the typical audience was better than 100, more than half of whom were not Bahá’ís.
Nearly every well-known local musician has now performed or is scheduled to perform at the coffeehouse, and several declarations have resulted from the activities at Claritea.
Publicity includes monthly paid ads in the Anchorage Daily News and public service announcements on local radio stations.
Kenya[edit]
At Kenyatta University College in Nairobi, Kenya, a Bahá’í professor on the faculty of education has been invited to give a course in the department of philosophy and religious studies to candidates for the M.A. degree who are training to be tutors in Kenya’s teachers colleges.
The course will run for a full year and consist of 52 lecture hours divided into 10 segments. After segments on eight earlier religious traditions, units 9 and 10 will deal with the Bábi and Bahá’í Faiths.
El Salvador[edit]
One hundred twenty-five people including 80 non-Bahá’ís attended a special conference for prominent persons last May 23 in San Salvador, El Salvador. The event was sponsored by the National Bahá’í Public Relations Committee.
The conference and reception had as a theme “The Door of Hope—The Bahá’í Faith on Mount Carmel.”
Its main purpose was to make the Faith known to distinguished citizens. The program included prayers, talks, music, and slides of the Holy Land.
Brazil[edit]
Two hundred-thirty youth from 38 communities in Brazil attended a National Youth Conference last July 15-17 in Salvador.
Special guests at the conference were Shahpoor Monadjem and Raúl Pavón, members of the Continental Board of Counsellors in the Americas.
The youth and their guests paid tribute to Leonora Armstrong, the “spiritual mother of South America,” by visiting her resting place.
A music festival presented 14 new songs inspired by the Faith. The conference was followed by a two-week institute for 30 teachers and pioneers from many parts of Brazil.
Mexico[edit]
Five of Mexico’s 60 tribal groups were represented last June 16-19 at that country’s first-ever Indigenous Council held at the Martha Root Institute in Muna, Yucatán. Participants are shown here during a visit to Uxmal (background), a famed site of the ancient Mayan culture. The indigenous peoples represented were Cathimi, Kami, Mayan, Otomi and Zapateca.
Malaysia[edit]
Bahá’ís in Kuching, Borneo, Malaysia organized a “red crescent” blood donation drive for Bahá’ís all over Malaysia during Ramadán, the Muslim month of fasting.
A photograph of a group of Bahá’ís with a banner that reads “Blood donors save lives” was published in the July 11 issue of The Borneo Post.
The Bahá’ís were reported as saying they hoped to compensate in some measure for the loss of blood to blood banks during the Ramadán period.
The blood drive served a second purpose. It commemorated, through a humanitarian service, the anniversary July 9 of the martyrdom of the Báb.
Argentina[edit]
A new Local Spiritual Assembly that was recently formed in Villa Angela, Argentina, is composed entirely of Bahá’ís from the Mocovi tribe whose members first embraced the Faith during the Seven Year Plan.
South Africa[edit]
Shown are many of the more than 100 international and homefront pioneers, Auxiliary Board members, and members of the pioneering committees who participated August 20-21 in the third annual Pioneer Institute in Johannesburg, South Africa.
United Kingdom[edit]
On June 26, The Observer of London published a six-column report about the murder June 18 of 10 Bahá’í women in Iran under the headline: “Bahá’í Women Die for Their Faith.”
The moving account, accompanied by photographs of two of the young martyrs, details other recent events in Iran and presents a highly sympathetic picture of the beleaguered community and the quality of their faith which enables them to withstand cruel tortures.
“Ealing Unity Day,” sponsored last June 2 by the Spiritual Assembly of Ealing, a borough of London, had good attendance including the deputy mayor and chief inspector of police.
The name for the occasion, which was the fifth of its kind, was inspired by the borough motto, “Progress with Unity.”
Replying to a Bahá’í speaker, the deputy mayor expressed her admiration for Bahá’í principles, especially that of the equality of men and women.
The other guest speaker, the chief inspector of Ealing police (Southall station), noted the similarities between his work and the aims of the Bahá’í community in the elimination of all forms of prejudice and in working toward building a better society.
Ghana[edit]
The Timonde Tutorial School, established two years ago by the Spiritual Assembly of Timonde, Ghana, has been absorbed into the public school system of the area’s educational district.
“We have therefore the first Bahá’í primary school in the country at Timonde in the Upper East,” reports the National Spiritual Assembly of Ghana.
Mariana Islands[edit]
A national teaching conference September 3-4 in the Mariana Islands included presentations by Ben Ayala and Richard Benson, both members of the Continental Board of Counsellors in Australasia, and Auxiliary Board member Marian Johnson.
The conference, sponsored by the National Teaching Committee of the Mariana Islands, featured presentations on using the mass media and on youth involvement in mass teaching campaigns.
Spain[edit]
More than 200 Bahá’ís from 45 communities in Spain attended a “spiritualization conference” April 6 in Liria. The event was sponsored by the National Teaching Committee.
A regional spiritualization conference in the Canary Islands was attended by 60 Bahá’ís from nine communities.
MARTHA ROOT
Lioness at the Threshold
byM. R. GARIS
a highly readable biography of North America’s
greatest teacher and the foremost Hand of the Cause of God
raised up by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s will in the
- In South America her mule slipped dangerously close to the edge of a precipice as she crossed the Andes in the dead of winter
- In Shanghai she raced toward the harbor in a ricksha while fleeing from an aerial bomb attack on the city
- In Manila she was nearly crushed by a stampeding crowd struggling to survive one of The Philippine’s worst earthquakes
- She spent weeks on the ocean in cramped staterooms, many hours on wooden seats in third-class railroad cars, myriad nights in uncomfortable hotel rooms
Martha Root’s motivation: a whole-hearted, almost literal response to Abdu’l-Bahá’s Tablets of the Divine Plan.
Her goal: to devote her life and her considerable talents to bringing the message of Bahá’u’lláh to seekers around the world.
In 1909 Martha Root, a respected Pittsburgh journalist, became a Bahá’í and set her sights on the world. She traversed the globe five times ■ spoke to hundreds of audiences ■ reached millions through her newspaper articles and radio broadcasts ■ visited world leaders, scholars, kings, and maharajas ■ befriended a queen ■ tirelessly supported Esperanto and world peace conferences ■ arranged for translations of Bahá’í writings into many languages.
And she won the admiration of countless Bahá’ís and non-Bahá’ís alike. In 1939, when Martha
Root died, Shoghi Effendi wrote that her death was the heaviest blow to the teaching work since
‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s passing. Today she still sets the pace for all who arise to teach.
————————————————————————
M. R. Garis, the current writer of the Uncle Wiggily stories, is a long-time resident of Amherst, Massachussets
| M. R. Garis, the current writer of the Uncle Wiggily stories, is a long-time resident of Amherst, Massachussets |
xv + 496 pages, notes, index to places, general index, 70+ photographs
| Hardcover | Catalog No. 332-105 | $2000* |
| Softcover | Catalog No. 332-106 | $1100* |
- Available from
- Available from
415 LINDEN AVENUE, WILMETTE, IL 60091
*Valid only in the United States. All others write for
prices and ordering and shipping instructions.
