Bahá’í World/Volume 18/Ludmila Van Sombeek
LUDMILA VAN SOMBEEK
1893—1979
Certain moments are emblematic of a lifetime. One evening in Durham, North Carolina, in the 1960s, a period of civil rights conflict in the southern United States, Ludmila Van Sombeek circulated among a large, happy, multi-racial gathering in her home, speaking of the beauty of unity in diversity, the significance of this century, and the mission of Bahá’u’lláh. She paused momentarily to place a pillow at the back of an African student who had spent a weekend in her home recuperating from months in hospital. Without pausing in sharing the Bahá’í Message, she brought comfort to one in need. This gesture exemplified her life of ceaseless teaching of the Faith in words and, inseparably, in thoughtful and deeply caring service to those of all races, nationalities and strata of society.
Born Ludmila Ott on 30 July 1893 in Vienna, Austria, she experienced early the feelings of a minority. She attended a Lutheran school in predominantly Catholic Vienna. In 1916 she sailed to the United States, her parents fearing that she would not have the opportunity for education in war-torn Europe. In New York she studied nursing at the Jewish Training School, Brooklyn Hospital. Enduring language difficulties, heavy work and diphtheria sensitized her to the needs of those experiencing isolation, prejudice and despair. Her adoption of a sickly baby and of a foundling, after her marriage to Adolph George Bechtold, were an expression of this understanding. In this period she attended firesides at the home of Antoinette ‘Aunty’ Foote in Brooklyn and, in 1922, became a devout Bahá’í.
After the death of her husband, Ludmila studied optics and business management and served as president of Bechtold Optical Company for ten years before retiring to devote her energies to sharing the Message and to engaging in human relations activities. The organizations with which she became most actively involved were ones focusing on America’s ‘most challenging issue’. For her, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in New York, and the Urban League in Harlem, became centers for action and for relating the spiritual message to
Ludmila Van Sombeek
the cause of justice and harmony. She became a friend of Mary White Ovington, one of the founders of the N.A.A.C.P.; of Walter White, its long—time executive secretary; of George Schuyler, the Pittsburgh Courier columnist, and of many other humanitarians. Ludmila’s participation in the work of various civic and religious organizations provided many opportunities to speak of the Faith and to promote unity. She was invited to speak to college audiences in Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Alabama, and often addressed organizations working for inter-religious understanding. On one trip in the north, Ludmila met Matthew Bullock, a black lawyer, chairman of the Massachusetts Parole Board and Advisory Board of Pardons, and president of the Community Church of Boston. Ludmila’s answers to his questions and her friendship over many years led him to accept the Faith in 1940. Her home was always open; often thirty guests would dine and enjoy music and experience the joy of diversity.
With her marriage to Georg Van Sombeek
another chapter in Ludmila’s life began.
They moved as pioneers to Durham, North
Carolina. In the south, as in the north,
Ludmila concentrated on the improvement
of race relations through guest recitals at
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her grand piano, dinner parties and literary
evenings. In addition she addressed many
church groups, university audiences and civic
organizations. She became active in the
International League for Peace and Freedom,
the National Council for Negro Women, the
Y.W.C.A., the Business and Professional
Women‘s Club, the Durham Committee on
Negro Affairs, and resumed her long-time activity
with the N.A.A.C.P. Traveling throughout
the south, she was in Montgomery,
Alabama, when the boycott of 1955—1956 was
at its height. She befriended the Martin
Luther King family. She frequently worked
eighteen hours a day visiting the sick, offering
gifts to the needy, comfort to the desolate,
sweets to neighborhood children. The formation
of the first Local Spiritual Assembly of
Durham in 1962 was an achievement for
which she had labored diligently.
A profound spiritual commitment followed her pilgrimage in 1953 when she met the Guardian. Shoghi Effendi’s request that she visit countries behind the Iron Curtain was answered by her 1958, 1963, 1965 and 1967 trips to Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Bulgaria and, until she became incapacitated, by her correspondence with many friends living there. In these countries she visited friends who had heard of the Faith through Martha Root and spoke with people from all walks of life. She was fluent in German and Czech and had studied Esperanto. She spoke at Austrian and French Bahá’í schools and firesides in Europe; attended the International Conference in Kampala, Uganda, in 1953 and did some teaching in Africa; toured Russia in 1958; made a pilgrimage to Írán in 1967 and addressed an audience of 400 Bahá’í college students; traveled to Panama, the Virgin Islands and, in the continental United States, from Maine to California—each journey providing opportunities to speak, show slides, inspire action.
Ludmila was active in Bahá’í institutions through the years. She was a member of the Local Spiritual Assembly of New York City in the 19305 and of Durham, North Carolina, from 1962 until 1969 when she moved west. She served on the Africa Teaching Committee, the Interracial Service Committee and was active in teaching children and youth at Bahá’í summer schools.
What was the power of this remarkable woman? A fervent commitment to the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh, an unwavering belief in the efficacy of prayer, a creative approach to living that mobilized all her experiences and talents in teaching the Faith, and a remarkable balance between sharing the Word and serving humankind. In its cable at the time of her death on 7 September 1979 in Phoenix, Arizona, the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States deplored the loss of this INDOMITABLE TEACHER and expressed admiration of her FEARLESS PROMOTION [OF THE] ONENESS OF MANKIND DURING [THE] DARK PERIOD OF RACIAL PROBLEMS [WITHIN] OUR COUNTRY, stating that the SPLENDOR [OF] HER RADIANT EXAMPLE AS [AN] UPHOLDER [OF THE] RlGHTS [OF THE] DOWNTRODDEN SHALL NEVER FADE.
Informed of her passing, the Universal House of Justice cabled:
GRIEVED LEARN PASSING ABHA KINGDOM LUDMILA VAN SOMBEEK OUTSTANDING MAIDSERVANT FAITH BAHAULLAH. ASSURE FRIENDS FAMILY OUR LOVING SYMPATHY AND PRAYERS SACRED SHRINES PROGRESS HER SOUL.
(Based on a memoir by JEAN NORRIS SCALES)