Bahá’í World/Volume 18/Helen Hazel Wilks
HELEN HAZEL WILKS
1903—1980
Helen Wilks was born on 31 March 1903 in Anderson, Indiana, U.S.A. Her father died in 1919, whereupon she went to live with an aunt and uncle in Bellingham, Washington, where she completed her education and became a teacher. Her first position was in a one-room schoolhouse in Glacier, Washington, near Mt. Baker. Many of her students were older than she was. She would walk to school
through the snow with her legs bound in burlap bags. Before the students arrived it was her duty to start the fire in the wood-burning stove, chop enough wood for the following day, then sweep the floor.
During the depression, in the early 1930s, Helen worked as a clerk in a store. A coworker, Anna Reed, walked across the aisle and whispered in her ear, ‘Did you know Christ has returned?’ Instead of dismissing this as the remark of a fanatic or crank, Helen thought: ‘If He has, where is He?’ Helen’s daughter. Phylis Kiehn, takes up the story: ‘And so the seed was planted. Mother listened, studied, and decided that this strange new religion was not for her. She packed the Ford with her belongings and set off for Phoenix, Arizona, but, as I recall, we weren’t there very long before she exclaimed that she must know more about this religion. She left us in Phoenix and hitch-hiked all the way back to Seattle, a distance of about 1,600 miles, in order to locate and further question Anna Reed. In 1934 mother became a confirmed Bahá’í and started a children’s class at the Bahá’í Centre in the old Arcade Building in Seattle. The class was her first—I was “the children". After she remarried in 1936 the class comprised myself and my stepbrother.’
William S. Wilks became a dedicated Bahá’í not long after his marriage to Helen. Over the years the couple moved seven times in the Seattle area in order to help establish new Local Spiritual Assemblies. At the London Congress in 1963 they made their plans for their greatest move—as pioneers to Africa. Would that space permitted the recounting of all their experiences in this new venture! On their first teaching trip, much to their astonishment, they found themselves snow—bound for three days in southern Africa. William—or ‘Bill’ as he was known—died on 14 December 1965, two days before his sixty-fifth birthday, and is buried in Mbabane, Swaziland. Helen survived him by fifteen years which were devoted to ceaseless teaching trips in some nine or more countries in the southern Africa area. Her passing on 3 January 1980, following a massive heart attack, ended a life of great service on this earth. Counsellor Shidan Fat‘he-Aazam, alluding to the wish of a true soldier to die with his boots on, wrote of her:
‘Well, our dear Helen, whom we all know was a real and true soldier in the Army of Bahá’u’lláh, always had her boots on for fear she might have to face her Lord without them. Those of us who knew her and worked with her could bear witness to her love, her devotion and her self-sacrifice for our beloved Faith. She gave herself totally, body and soul, to Bahá’u’lláh. Every step she took, every breath she drew, was to promote the Faith of God. At the age of seventy-six her spirit and her energy were youthful—so full of happiness, life and vitality. Her contribution to our beloved Faith, both in her native land and in the continent of her adoption, Africa, was tremendous, She was an indefatigable teacher of the Faith—always on the go, constantly seeking contacts and giving the Message . . .’
During the last fourteen years of her life Helen served the Faith as a member of the Auxiliary Board for Propagation, first in Swaziland and then in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), and was sent by the Continental Board of Counsellors for Africa on special projects in South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, Seychelles and Mauritius. In all these places she will be remembered with deep love, admiration, awe and gratitude. In January 1980 Gary Worth, a fellow pioneer to Zimbabwe, paid tribute: ‘Her spirit and enthusiasm, her energy, her sense of fun and laughter, and her desire to teach the multitudes about Bahá’u’lláh were unmatched by any other person I have met in my lifetime . . . despite age, failing health and poor eyesight, Helen had not decreased her activities on behalf of the Faith in the slightest bit. She begged for and scraped up valuable petrol coupons so that she could continue her teaching work in this war-torn country. She spent most of her small pension on petrol for her car. In this way she continued to bring the Bahá’í teachings to the people of this region through her never-failing spirit and love of life . . . On the very day of her heart attack, Helen made an exhausting teaching trip to at least eleven areas and on her last evening attended a meeting of a local Bahá’í Women’s Club. On her death-bed she sent a message to her teaching companion, Mr. Carlos Kaupo, an assistant Auxiliary Board member, encouraging him to continue teaching. He has
Helen Hazel Wilks
been Helen’s eyes and driver and teaching companion these past several months and deserves great praise for his efforts in assisting her. I am not qualified to speak of Helen Wilks’s valiant services to the Faith, because she had reached a level of spirit and understanding which I do not comprehend. But with her passing, I am rededicating my life . . .’
Helen’s devoted services earned her the following cable sent by the International Teaching Centre to the Continental Board of Counsellors in Africa on 7 January 1980:
GRIEVED NEWS PASSING MUCH LOVED DEVOTED SERVANT FAITH HELEN WILKS. HER LONG YEARS OUTSTANDING WORK TEACHING FIELD BAHAI EDUCATION CHILDREN IN HER NATIVE LAND AND HER HIGHLY EFFECTIVE SERVICES AS PIONEER AND BOARD MEMBER AFRICA UNFORGETTABLE. SUPREME BODY AND TEACHING CENTRE ASSURE ARDENT PRAYERS SHRINES PROGRESS HER RADIANT SOUL.
In a letter written on its behalf on 24 January
1980 the Universal House of Justice
stated, ‘It is the hope of the Universal House
of Justice that the selfless and sacrificial efforts
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of friends like Helen Wilks may serve to
inspire other friends in their aspirations for
services to the Threshold of the Blessed
Beauty, and to guide them in what they can
achieve by devoting their resources to the
advancement of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh.’
Helen’s wish to ‘die with her boots on’ was granted. After her passing, comfort was taken in the knowledge that she took her flight to the Abhá Kingdom the way she always wished, dying in service to God.
(Based on a memoir prepared by ELAINE EILERS for the Continental Board of Counsellors in Africa)