Bahá’í World/Volume 18/Olivia Kelsey
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OLIVIA KELSEY
1889—1981 Knight of Bahá’u’lláh
The soul that hath remained faithful to the Cause of God, and stood unwaveringly firm in His Path shall, after his ascension, be possessed of such power that all the worlds which the Almighty hath created, can benefit through him.
Bahá’u’lláh
Olivia Kelsey was born on her family farm in Delaware County, Ohio, U.S.A., 0n 9 February 1889. Her mother died when Olivia was eleven years old, and two years later she left home to live with a maternal uncle and his wife in Cleveland.
Religion was, in Olivia’s mind, a clouded question because of the religious conflict in her home. Her father was Catholic and her mother Protestant. She said that she reflected on religion and on the great men who had appeared throughout history, wondering why they did not appear again. The answer to her questions came when she met Francis Arthur Kelsey and learned of the coming of Bahá’u’lláh. She married Arthur in 1929 and in 1932 became a member of the Bahá’í Faith. Their home in New York became a center of
THE BAH ”1’ WORLD
Bahá’í activity and hospitality. Olivia began to write poems and articles on diverse subjects, many of which were published in World Order magazine. A religious-historical drama depicting the early history of the Bahá’í Faith, ‘Two shall Appear’, was published, as well as a pageant entitled ‘Had They Believed’, a scenario, ‘A Universal Language’, and a satire, ‘Gulliver’s Return’.
During her years in New York city Olivia compiled her book Bahd'z’ Answers which was published in 1947. It is a collection of ninetyfive questions about the Bahá’í Faith with answers compiled from the Writings of the Bab, Bahá’u’lláh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and. Shoghi Effendi, and is an invaluable aid to teachers and students of the Cause.
Olivia became deeply interested in the welfare of animals and did intensive research on the subject. Her source of inspiration was a statement by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Educate the children in their infancy to be very kind to animals . . . , from a Tablet the Master sent to Roy Wilhelm; she quoted it in many of her talks over radio and television on programs sponsored by local and national humane organizations. When in Monaco, pioneering under the Ten Year Crusade, she sent a copy of this Tablet to Prince Rainier and Princess Grace who were great animal lovers. A friend once remarked that ‘Olivia brought the Bahá’í Faith to the animal kingdom’.
After Arthur’s death in 1937, Olivia began her long career as a Bahá’í pioneer. Under the first Seven Year Plan (1937—1944) she pioneered to Louisville, Kentucky. She worked in many communities and helped many others with newspaper, radio and television publicity. Public information and public relations were subjects which engrossed her attention during the entire fifty years of her Bahá’í life. These fields were at that time unexplored territory to the Bahá’í community in general, as very few believers had as yet taken an interest in such forms of proclamation activity. From the very beginning she made efforts to reach out to small town newspapers, even visiting such communities to make personal contacts.
In 1944 she moved to Kansas where she served on the Regional Teaching Committee until the call for pioneers under thetTen Year Crusade in 1953. She then retired from her profession. In 1954 she left for Monaco, a move
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IN MEMORIAM
Olivia Kelsey
which earned her the title Knight of Bahá’u’lláh, bestowed by the beloved Guardian. She visited the Holy Land on pilgrimage in the winter of 1954. The stories of her pilgrimage and of meeting the beloved Guardian have thrilled and inspired many. While on pilgrimage the Guardian encouraged Olivia to teach in France after the first Local Spiritual Assembly in Monaco had been firmly established. Accordingly, in 1959, in response to a call from the Hands of the Cause, she went to Toulouse and later to Montpellier to assist the Bahá’ís in tho’se cities, following the crisis resulting from activities of Covenant breakers. During the ten years she spent in Monaco and France she attended many European Summer Schools, the Frankfurt Conference in 1958, and the World Jubilee in London in 1963. Because of poor health, she returned to the United States in 1964, in her seventy-fifth year, and settled in Columbus, Ohio, and became an active member of that community, devoting herself particularly to publicity work and extension teaching. When the Five Year Plan was launched in 1974, she was able to fulfill her wish to make teaching trips to South
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Carolina and West Virginia. She was then eighty-five years old.
When, in old age, Olivia was no longer able to live alone, she lived first with friends near Columbus and then with friends in Zenia and Yellow Springs. Her final months were spent at the Friends’ Care Center in Yellow Springs. Neither ill health nor limited means diminished her will to teach or dimmed her devotion to the Cause she loved. Until the day she passed to the Abhá Kingdom—13 October 1981—she was actively teaching her nurses and all who came in contact with her.
Olivia Kelsey stands firmly in the tradition of world-minded women of strong character who emerged in the early years of the Bahá’í Faith in America. All who knew her well were enriched and deeply touched by her example. Her spirit, her talents and her capacities will be sorely missed.
The following cablegrams were received at her passing:
LONG DEDICATED DISTINGUISHED SERVICE KNIGHT BAHAULLAH OLIVIA KELSEY ADDS LUSTRE ANNALS AMERICAN BAHAI COMMUNITY. ASSURE PRAYERS BOUNTIFUL REWARD PROGRESS HER SOUL ABHA KINGDOM.
Universal House of Justice 15 October 1981
PROFOUNDLY GRIEVED PASSING DEARLY LOVED HANDMAID BAHAULLAH OLIVIA KELSEY. HER EFFECTIVE TEACHING ACTIVITIES STAUNCH LOYALTY PIONEER SERVICES FEATURES HER EXEMPLARY LIFE. PRAYING ABUNDANT BLESSINGS LIFE BEYOND.
The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States 14 October 1981
FLORENCE ULLRICH KELLEY and LOIS BIERLEY WALKER