Bahá’í World/Volume 18/Henry Brechtefeld
HENRY BRECHTEFELD
1929—1982
Henry Brechtefeld passed on to the Abhá Kingdom on 13 September 1982 in his fifty-third
Henry Brechtefeld
year. He was born on the island of Marakei in the Kiribati (formerly Gilbert) Islands. He came from a strict Catholic family and received his education at a church school. He left the Gilbert Islands as a youth and went to New Hebrides (now Vanuatu) to live with an uncle. Later he settled in the Solomon Islands where he first worked with the government, then for Mr. and Mrs. Alvin J . Blum, and then went into business on his own. He opened a second-hand clothing store. This was a great boon to the island people who could not afford new clothes. Later this industry was taken up by the Solomon Islanders and the Chinese and has spread throughout the Solomons.
The Blums were the first to tell Henry of the
Bahá’í Faith and later he came into contact
with the musician, Russ Garcia, and his wife,
Gina, who were in the Solomons for a short
time. He became very attracted through their
songs and the meetings he had with them.
They gave him books to read and he became
deeply touched by the Bahá’í teachings. A
truly amazing change came into his life and he
became completely dedicated to the Cause of
Bahá’u’lláh. It was this change in Henry that
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created a deep impression. Formerly he drank
heavily and was an inveterate gambler. He
immediately gave up drinking and when
he became aware of the admonition about
gambling he told his friends not to come to
his house for this purpose. His family and
friends, many of whom were of Gilbertese
background, were at first antagonistic because
he was teaching a new Faith. However, Henry
displayed patience and persistence. He started
classes and firesides in a room he built at
the back of his store which was located in the
village of White River, about three miles from
the township of Honiara. Gradually he won
to the Faith most of his family. His saintly old
mother, who could not speak English, would
sit quietly day after day, listening and observing
and lost in thought, when suddenly the
veil was rent and she became a radiant Bahá’í.
Henry was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly and served until he was named an Auxiliary Board member. He travelled to different islands of the Solomons—Savo, St. Christobal, Western Solomons, Tulagi and Guadacanal. He brought into the Faith a very outstanding personality of great capacity, one well versed in the Bible and a sound teacher of the Cause today, who, too, has travelled extensively teaching the Faith; he is now chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly and with several other members of the National Assembly attended the International Convention in Haifa.
Henry developed diabetes in the last year of his life and experienced great tests—marital, financial and health. However, his very strong faith in meeting these problems was an example to all of us. He had a longing to go back to his native Kiribati and to the Marshalls where he had spent some time in his early days. His condition was aggravated by a coral cut he received and he returned to the Solomons very ill. He might have been spared if he had consented to have his leg and arm amputated. This he refused to do, as he was already longing for that other world which had now become very near to him.
The last days of his life were very poignant and sweet. The many youth he taught in White River came as in vigil and sang the songs he loved in the Gilbertese language and songs of the Faith. With great love he counselled them to dedicate their lives to the
teaching of the Faith and exhorted them to become examples worthy of this great Cause. This they have done and are doing. They have become a very united group, teaching and singing their way to the hearts of the people.
It is said that there are as many ways to God as there are breaths. How can one gauge the hunger of a soul for its Creator, when one who was a drunkard and gambler can change in the twinkling of an eye through the Words of the Blessed Beauty and render ‘instant, exact and complete obedience’ to His Cause?
Many people of all denominations came to the funeral of Henry Brechtefeld and were visibly touched by the funeral service and the spirit of the Faith. His remains are buried in the Bahá’í cemetery close to the Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds of the Solomon Islands.