Bahá’í World/Volume 19/In Memoriam

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[Page 590]

[Page 591]PART FOUR

IN MEMORIAM

[Page 592][Page 593]IN MEMORIAM

S_HU‘A‘U’LLAH ‘ALA’t 1889—1984

fihu‘a‘u’llah ‘Ala’i was born on 16 November 1889 in Tihran, iran, the second son of Muhammad Nazimu’l—Hukama (known as Siyyid Muhammad Nazimu’l-Hukama) and K_hadijih (better known by the familiar ‘Bibi Jan’). The father of Shu‘a‘u’llah ‘Ala’i who held several degrees in theology was supposed to become a divine in keeping with family tradition. Learning that his intimate friend, ‘Andalib, had embraced the Bahá’í Faith (he would go on to become a famous Bahá’í teacher and poet), he attempted to bring him back to what he considered to be the right path but in so doing became converted and subsequently confirmed after receiving a Tablet spontaneously addressed to him by Baha’u’llah and delivered by Jinab—i—Samandar, the father of the late Hand of the Cause Tarézu’llah Samandari. Siyyid Muhammad Nazimu’l-Hukama was nineteen years of age. Filled with zeal for the Bahá’í Cause and fearless in proclaiming it he was, soon after his conversion, condemned to death as a heretic at his birthplace, Lahijan (Gilan), but he escaped to Tihran, and in time became a physician attached to the court of the ghah. §L1u‘a‘u’llah ‘Ala’i’s mother was related to the learned Mirza Ahmad Azghandi of __K__hurésan, one of the early believers referred to in The Dawn-Breakers (pp. 125—127, 184).

In his eighty-fourth year, in an interview conducted by Faridih Subhani and Nasrin Radavi, flu‘é‘u’flah ‘Ala’i (his first name means ‘ray of the sun of divinity’) related:

‘I was seven years old when ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, in reply to a letter written by my father, revealed a Tablet in His own handwriting, a copy of which was given to me by my father. I was told to memorize the Tablet. 1 did memorize it and now at the age of eighty-four I still remember it. It has been my guide and refuge in life.’ He then chanted, with great feeling, the Tablet whose words set out the blueprint of his Bahá’í life and service:

Oflame Of the love of God! The ray must shed light and the sun must rise; the full moon must shine and the star must gleam. Since thou art a

ray, beseech thou the Lord to enable thee to give illumination and enlightenment, to brighten the horizons and to consume the world with the fire of the love of God. I hope that thou mayest attain such a station, nay surpass it. Upon thee be His glory.

Shu‘a‘u’llah ‘Ala’i’s early studies were undertaken at home with a private teacher and at the age of ten he was sent to the newly-opened Tarbiyat school in Tihran. Later he attended medical college but he soon left it to pursue his study of accountancy. At the age of nineteen he was appointed financial officer of the Police Department. From 1914 to 1919 he served as treasurer of the Ministry of Justice and, for twenty—five years, as comptroller and chief financial officer of the army, rising to the rank of General. He assisted in the reorganization and modernization of the Ministry of Post and Telegraph, and aided in streamlining a number of Government agencies. He was on the boards of directors of Bank Melli iran (the National and later the Central Bank) from its inception in 1927, and that of Bank Sepah for three decades. His trustworthiness and integrity were proverbial and the Government of his country often charged him with delicate commissions. For example, when an inventory of the Crown jewels (valued at $7 billion) was made, he was asked to supervise the exacting task.

At the age of twenty-three he married his cousin, Furt'ighiyyih ‘Ala’i, a remarkable woman of great sagacity, patience and practicality. Five children were born of their union: Hishmat, Mihrangiz, Bihjat, F arahangiz and Amir.

Shu‘a‘u’llah ‘Ala’i was merely eighteen years old when he was appointed as a member of a committee called ‘Mahfil-i-Muratib’, the responsibility of which was to conduct Bahá’í meetings in Tihran and to assume some of the functions of a Local Spiritual Assembly. In 1913 he was elected to serve on the Local Spiritual Assembly of Tihran and his membership continued until 1943 without interruption save for short periods when he was away from the city. He pioneered with his family to Tajrifl, a Village in the suburbs of Tihran, in 1944, and was elected to serve on the Local Spiritual Assembly there.

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flzu ‘é ‘u ’lláh ‘Ald ’1'

He Visited the Holy Land twice, once in 1923 en route to Europe on a Government mission, when, in the absence of the Guardian, he was received with great kindness by the Greatest Holy Leaf, and on a second occasion in 1952 when he and his wife made their pilgrimage.

In 1934 when the National Spiritual Assembly of Iran came into being he was elected to serve on it and continued to do so until the time he was called by the Guardian, who had already entrusted him with numerous delicate assignments within Iran and which he discharged with complete integrity, to assume world-wide responsibilities. He was one of the second contingent of Hands of the Cause appointed by Shoghi Effendi on 29 February 1952. Almost immediately he began his international travels, commencing with attendance at the four International Conferences held in 1953 in Kampala, Wilmette, New Delhi and Stockholm, with Visits to centres in the United States, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Holland, India, Pakistan, North Africa and the Middle East. In 1956 he toured centres in India, Ceylon, Indonesia and Malaya and participated in the first Southeast Asia Teaching Conference in

THE BAHA

5

i WORLD

August of that year. In subsequent years, in addition to his wide travels on behalf of the Cause and his invaluable services in Iran in connection with the management of the extensive properties of the Faith there, including the Holy Places, and often calling for important negotiations with the Government, he represented the beloved Guardian at the National Convention of Pakistan (1957), and the World Centre at the National Conventions of Colombia and Jamaica (1961) and of Ceylon (1962).

The protection of the Cause in the country of its birth was a principal concern of General ‘Ala’i, particularly during the turbulent decade of the seventies, but his international travels continued without abatement, taking him, in 1975, to the United Kingdom and Europe where he met the Bahá’í friends and addressed public meetings. In various centres in 'Germany he was introduced to a number of distinguished orientalists who accepted Bahá’í literature for university and State libraries. He was able to leave Iran for Visits to the Holy Land and for consultation with the International Teaching Centre in 1977 and again in 1978, and was present at the International Convention at Riḍván 1978. He took up residence in France in late 1978 and attended the National Convention of the Bahá’ís of Austria in 1979.

In January 1981, General ‘Ala’i settled in Scottsdale, Arizona, USA, where, on 16 November 1984, the ninety-sixth anniversary of his birth, he passed away peacefully surrounded by close members of his family and devoted friends. He had, for over seventy years, served the Cause of Baha’u’llah and his native country, Iran, honourably, faithfully, courageously and with unquestioned fidelity. The many priceless services he rendered through a long and full life, and his unique character, were encapsulated in the cable sent by the Universal House of Justice to all National Spiritual Assemblies on 18 November 1984:

GRIEVED ANNOUNCE PASSING HANDCAUSE SHUAULLAH ALAI 16 NOVEMBER THUS ENDING MORE THAN SEVENTY YEARS UNINTERRUPTED DEDICATED SERVICES THRESHOLD BAHAULLAH. HE WAS TOWER STRENGTH CRADLE FAITH WHERE HE SERVED EMINENTLY DEVOTEDLY IN ITS EMERGING ADMINISTRATIVE INSTITUTIONS SINCE THEIR INCEPTION. HIS MEMBERSHIP MANY

[Page 595]IN MEMORIAM

DECADES NATIONAL ASSEMBLY FREQUENTLY AS CHAIRMAN BEARS WITNESS TRUST BAHAIS IRAN PLACED HIS NOBLE PERSON. HIS EXEMPLARY COURAGE REPRESENTING INTERESTS FAITH HIGH PLACES HIS INTEGRITY PERFORMING OFFICIAL DUTIES ENHANCED PRESTIGE BELOVED FAITH HE so DILIGENTLY SINCERELY CHAMPIONED ENTIRE LIFE. HIS MANIFOLD ACHIEVEMENTS CROWNED HONOUR APPOINTMENT HAND CAUSE 29 FEBRUARY 1952. THIS ENABLED HIM EXTEND SERVICES FAITH INTERNATIONAL ARENA. SUPPLICATING SACRED THRESHOLD PROGRESS RADIANT SOUL ABHA KINGDOM. ADVISE HOLD MEMORIAL GATHERINGS BAHAI WORLD INCLUDING ALL MASHRIQULADHKARS. (Based on an article by DR. HI_S___HiVIAT ‘ALA’i)

REGINALD ‘REX’ COLLISON 18844983 Knight of Baha’u’llah

Reginald Collison, known as ‘Rex’, was born in central Ohio, U.S.A., in 1884. He was a kind, humble man with an acute and avid interest in nature. Having been born and reared on a farm, he spent the first eighteen years of his life roaming the fields and woods which fostered in him a great love of the countryside and of rural living.

In describing his parents and early life, Rex said, ‘My parents were true Christians and it is to their love, broad-mindedness and Christian Virtues that I owe almost everything. My love for them is beyond words. We were poor and I am glad we were for it welded our hearts into a loving family unit.’

About 1903, the parents of Rex Collison gave up everything they held dear and moved to Columbus, Ohio, so that their three children could attend Ohio State University, and were gratified when Rex and his sister and brother achieved distinguished academic records.

After devoting three years to research in animal nutrition in Ohio, Rex Collison accepted a position in plant research on the staff of Cornell University. He held this post for thirtythree years, retiring in 1945 as Chief of Research and Professor Emeritus. During his time at Cornell, Professor Collison’s agronomic and pomological research was concerned with many projects and his studies in relation to plantings

595

in New York of tree fruits and small fruits such as strawberries and blueberries influenced significantly decisions in that State on soil management and fertilization.

Rex married Mary Gale1 in 1920 and, as he often put it, they became ‘partners in every sense of the word’. They heard of the Bahá’í Faith, studied it together and eagerly declared their acceptance in 1923. Their mutual supreme mission then became to joyously offer the Faith of Baha’u’llah to a disillusioned and skeptical society.

After retiring from Cornell in 1945, Rex and Mary and their two daughters, Beverly and Audrey, moved to Geyserville, California, where they already had purchased a home from J ohn Bosch in 1933. Beverly and Audrey, old enough to pursue their own life patterns, settled in Geyserville, while Rex and Mary, in quest of new insights into the significance and purpose of life, set off, in 1952, for Kampala, Uganda, to do pioneering work for the Bahá’í Faith. In Uganda they served on the committee charged with the responsibility of supervising construction of the Mother Temple of Africa.

But a finer laurel was yet to be won. When the Ten Year Crusade was launched in 1953, the Collisons were the first American believers to arise. Accompanied by Mr. Dunduzu Chisiza, a young Nyasaland African who served as their interpreter and shared their home for over a year, they settled in Ruanda-Urundi. (Today, Nyasaland is known as Malawi, Ruanda as Rwanda, and Urundi as Burundi.) For their service in opening Ruanda—Urundi to the Faith the trio were named by Shoghi Effendi Knights of Baha’u’llah.

Returning to Kampala in 1955, the Collisons were later appointed custodians of the Mother Temple of Africa and they served the Faith in this capacity with great devotion until 1966 when they found it necessary to return home to Geyservflle.

God’s purpose for man as expressed in the teachings of Baha’u’llah is a simple one, ‘to know and to worship God’. The achievement of this purpose is what Rex and Mary devoted their lives to———what they longed for, toiled for, prayed for, suffered for. Their life together exemplified the ideal of marriage as taught by Baha’u’llah. One could not imagine a happier

1See ‘In Memoriam’, The Bahd’z' World, V01. XV, p. 486.

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Reginald 'Rex’ Collison

union; they were indeed as the two wings of a bird, flying in harmony with the will of God.

With the passing of Mary Collison in 1970, Rex found his life taking on new meaning and direction. Now it was time to deepen and nurture the dormant relationship with his two daughters (now Beverly Neussl and Audrey MacLeod) and their families. With kindness, patience and deep love he wove a new and wonderful golden thread of meaning into the fabric of his family life, the results of which will surely unfold with the fullness of time.

Rex, a humble and independent soul, did not want to be a burden to anyone as old age slowly but inevitably took its toll. Even in his ninetyninth year and until he died on 25 June 1983 he attended to his own cooking, house-cleaning and many chores.

There is much that might be said about this most remarkable man, but perhaps his most outstanding trait was his overwhelming love of life. He embraced life wholeheartedly and gloried in it unoeasingly. This enthusiasm was infectious as attested by several people in nearby Cloverdale (one of them being one hundred years old) who looked forward eagerly to Rex’s weekly classes on the Bahá’í Faith. His devotion to teaching was matched by his service

THE Bahá’í WORLD

as a Spiritual Assembly member and his love for conducting weekly fireside meetings. With his energetic approach and his enthusiastic support of every aspect of Bahá’í life, he was an inspiration to the entire Bahá’í community. His radiance of character was truly admired by family, friends and casual acquaintances alike. He was a gemstone finely cut and supremely polished.

Informed of his passing, the Universal House of Justice on 27 June 1983 cabled:

DEEPLY GRIEVED PASSING KNIGHT BAHAULLAH REX COLLISON. HIS LONG RECORD DEVOTED SERVICES IN TEACHING PIONEERING FIELDS AT HOME AND AFRICA HAS IMMORTALIZED HIS NAME. DOUBTLESS HIS RICH REWARD ABHA KINGDOM SOURCE JOY PRIDE HIS LIFE COMPANION MARY. PRAYING SHRINES CONTINUING UNFOLDMENT HIS NOBLE SOUL WORLDS GOD.

RONALD W. CALL

‘INAYATU’LLAH IngAQi Martyred 16 June 1983

‘IZZAT JANAMi ISfiRAQl Martyred 18 June 1983

RU’YA IflRAQl Martyred 18 June 1983

In his testimony during the hearing on the persecution of the Bahá’ís in iran, held on 2 May 1984 before the Subcommittee on Human Rights and International Organizations of the House Foreign Affairs Committee of the United States House of Representatives, Mr. Sa‘id Ishraqi stated, in part: ‘I am an Iranian Bahá’í who has resided in the United States for the last six years I appear before this Subcommittee to tell the story of the persecution of my family, three members of which have been martyred for their beliefs. My story is not unique. But it may throw some light on what is happening to the Bahá’ís in iran.’

He related that at 5:00 am. on 17 June 1983 he had received a long distance telephone call from his brother in Australia informing him that their father had been martyred the day before, in Shíráz, iran; and on 19 June, the day after Sa‘id I&raqi held a memorial service to commemorate his father’s passing, the tele

[Page 597]IN MEMORIAM 597

phone rang again—this time his brother, Vahid, informed him that both their mother, and their young sister, Ru’ya, had been martyred in fliréz, on 18 June.

‘On 29 November 1982,’ Sa‘id Iflraqi continued, ‘my father ‘Inayatu’llah Ishraqi, my mother, ‘Izzat [Janami] Ighraqi, and my sister, Ru’ya, were arrested. They were taken to prison by the authority of the Government in Shíráz. They were arrested at 8:00 pm. Government officials came to the house and asked them to go with the officials for questioning. That night, besides my parents and my sister, forty-fiye other Bahá’ís were arrested in Shíráz.’ No information was available as to why Bahá’ís were being rounded up, Sa‘id Ifiraqi stated, and later it was learned that they were being put on trial. For refusing to recant his belief, ‘Inéyatu’llah Ishraqi was hanged, together with five other Bahá’í men. Originally from Najafabad, Iṣfahán, ‘Inayatu’llah Ishraqi was said to be sixty-one years of age at the time of his martyrdom; he had retired from employment in the iran Oil Company but was deprived of his pension because of his being a Bahá’í. He was an assistant to a member of the Auxiliary Board, and served on the Local Spiritual Assembly of Shiraz. He and his wife acted as marriage counsellors and were

popular with the youth of their community.

When the names were called of the six Bahá’ís who were to be executed, an eyewitness reported, Mr. ‘Inayatu’llah Igiraqi vied with another of the men, Dr. Bahrain Afnan, to be the first to give his life. On the day of his death, his daughter, Rosita (Ruzita), celebrated her engagement with his blessing and, as he had promised, he was with the young couple in spirit at their engagement ceremony.

Mrs. ‘Izzat Janami Iflraqi was said to be in her fifty-seventh year when she was hanged on 18 June 1983, only two days after her husband was executed. She and her daughter, Ru’ya, had been imprisoned on an earlier occasion and then released, but they had refused to leave Shíráz where their home was a centre of Bahá’í activity. Many gathered there for succour, or sought guidance and assistance. Ru’ya taught Bahá’í children’s classes, and one of the charges brought against her during her trial was that she was a teacher of ‘an accursed heresy’. On one occasion when Mrs. Ishraqi was being led to an interrogation blindfolded she experienced difficulty walking and was ridiculed by her questioner who taunted, ‘Are you so blind that you cannot walk?’ ‘Ah,’ she replied, ‘I am merely outwardly blind, but you are inwardly blind.’ She received with equanimity the news of her

‘Izzat Jdnamz’, ‘Inéyatu’lláh, and Ru ’yd Iflrdqz’

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husband’s martyrdom, having guessed his fate. She and her daughter died with eight other Bahá’í women, all of whom refused to recant their faith despite intimidation and torture.

Miss Ru’ya Iflraqi was reported to be twenty-three years ’of age when she died, and was in her second year of studies at a veterinary college. Attractive, intelligent, possessed of a pleasing personality and an engaging nature, she was much esteemed by the youth of Shíráz with whom she enjoyed considerable popularity. She was devoted to her father and had a close rapport with him. In addition to whatever physical tortures Ru’ya had inflicted upon her, during her interrogations she was forced to endure the torment of having the judge say, in effect, ‘All you and your Dad have to do is deny your faith and simply become Muslims. J ust tell them you are not Bahá’ís. If you do, I’ll let you and your Mom and Dad go free. I’ll even let your Dad have his retirement money. And I’ll permit you to resume your studies.’ But the judge’s inducements were to no avail. Ru’ya remained steadfast and was hanged with her mother.

When her sister, Ruzita, came to the prison to inquire whether her mother and sister were among those Bahá’í prisoners Who were rumoured to have been executed, the attendant of the morgue remarked, ‘Didn’t you have enough? Your Dad was here yesterday.’ But yielding to her pleading, he admitted her. Ruzita found the bodies of the ten martyred women and immediately identified her sister. Only later was she able to recognize her mother who seemed to have aged far beyond her years. When Ruzita attempted to claim the bodies of her mother and sister for burial it was ascertained that the bodies of all the martyrs had been buried unwashed, unshrouded, unceremoniously and secretly by the authorities, in a common unmarked grave.

Additional information about the Iflraqi family, and other martyrs, will be found elsewhere in this volume in the section entitled ‘The Persecution of the Bahá’í Community of Iran’.

ROGER WHITE

JAMS_HID SIYAVUSflI Martyred 16 June 1983

IAHIRIH ARJUMANDI siYAVUs_H_t Martyred 18 June 1983

Among the six Bahá’í men who were hanged in Shíráz on 16 June 1983 for refusing to recant their belief in the Bahá’í Faith was Mr. J amflid Siyavufli who was said to be thirty—nine years of age at the time of his martyrdom. Born in ‘Adasiyyah, Jordan, he was raised in Yazd, Iran, where he obtained his primary and secondary education. After completing his national military service, he lived for a brief time in Nurabad Village. Later he secured employment in Tihran and was able to pioneer to the homefront goal of Varamin where he served on the Local Spiritual Assembly.

J amshid Siyavumi married Táhirih Arjumandi, circa 1971. The couple settled in Karaj. As they did not have private transport, Táhirih commuted daily to the University of Tihran, and completed her studies in nursing. Later, in response to the call of the Five Year Plan (19741979), they pioneered to Yasuj, a tribal area in Fars Province, but were living in mm when they were arrested in November 1982. Mr. Siyavufii was a merchant and operated a clothing store; he was elected to serve on the Local Spiritual Assembly of giraz. Mrs. Siyavushi had memorized the entire Kitáb-i—Aqdas; she was an assistant to a member of the Auxiliary Board, Mr. Yadu’llah Vadat, who was martyred on 30 April 1981. She served, as well, on the committee that lent assistance to Bahá’ís who were homeless as a result of persecution. Theirs were busy lives. Mr. and Mrs. Siyavufli were childless and extremely devoted to one another.

Reminiscing in prison after her arrest, Mrs. Siyavufli said, ‘I married J amshid twelve years ago and we had an extremely happy, loving life When the troubles for the Bahá’ís started, we were attacked and our house and shop [in Yasuj] were pillaged. I was also fired from my hospital job and we were left with no alternative but to go to Shiraz. We owned nothing and had considerable financial difficulties, yet we were content with our simple living. I had applied for jobs at many hospitals but they all refused, saying that although they needed my [services as a nurse, they could not recruit me because of my being a Bahá’í. Finally, though, I was employed in a private hospital and Jamshid

[Page 599]IN MEMORIAM 599

Jamflz’d Sz'ydvufil'

managed to open a shop. It was only three months after the shop began making profits that they arrested and imprisoned us.’

When Mrs. Siyavufli glimpsed her husband in prison she expressed shock at his appearance. ‘He was trembling continuously because of the torture he had been subjected to,’ she stated. ‘The guards wanted a statistical update of all the Bahá’ís in Shíráz and also receipts of contributions and the funds collected. J amflid who kept the books and receipts did not hand them over and that was why he had been tortured. Locking me in one room within earshot, they continued their attempts to force him to give them what they wanted, and knowing I was listening, threatened to kill him on the spot.’ He was placed in solitary confinement for a considerable period of time, lashed on the soles of his feet with electric cables, deprived of sleep for long intervals, had his toe-nails pulled out, and his back was covered with festering wounds caused by repeated lashings. He was barely able to speak and had to be supported by two guards Who held him under his arms. So desperate did he become, and so anguished about the uncertainty of the fate of his wife, that he attempted unsuccessfully to takeahis own life.

On one occasion, which proved to be their

Tdhirih Arjumandz’ Sz’ydvugbj

final meeting, Mr. and Mrs. Siyavushi were brought face to face by the prison authorities. Each was told beforehand the falsehood that the other had recanted and become a Muslim. In their last hurried moments together the couple assured one another that they remained steadfast.

Mrs. Siyavugi, too, received lashings and for a time was placed in solitary confinement where the cells have no bathrooms or toilets—facilities which the prisoners may use only three times in twenty-four hours, at the discretion of the prison guards.

As a trained nurse, Mrs. Siyavushi occupied herself in prison in caring for those prisoners who were in need of medical attention. Her extreme patience and consideration were evident in all her acts. A former prisoner has written, ‘In the prison cells there was little space for movement as large groups of prisoners were herded to gether and they were required to sleep at night on their sides in order that all could be accommodated. On many nights the Bahá’í prisoners would notice that Táhirih was not beside them. She had moved and would be sleeping at their feet so that they could have more space and would be more comfortable. She was always caring for others, trying to make them

[Page 600]600 THE Bahá’í WORLD

as comfortable as she could .. . she was often seen crying for her husband, repeating his name over and over again and praying to Baha’u’llah to accept her own life as a sacrifice for Jamshid’s.’

One of the Bahá’í prisoners who was released has recorded her recollection of saying goodbye to her fellow prisoners. ‘Táhirih, that lover of the Abhá beauty, was there, too. I can still hear her voice ringing in my ears: “Go tell the Local Spiritual Assembly of Shiréz, tell the National Spiritual Assembly and, if possible, tell the Universal House of Justice of what we endure. And tell the Bahá’ís to live in contentment and not in luxury, to be detached from this material world and to spend their time in serving the Cause. The things of the world do not last. We have learnt that here in prison.” ’

After her husband was hanged on 16 June and when it became apparent that she would meet the same fate, Táhirih Siyavufli encouraged her family not to mourn, and she was without a trace of anxiety or unhappiness. ‘See how beautiful I am! Just look at me!’ she exclaimed when she saw her father for the last timeand she was laughing. On the evening of 18 June 1983, two days after the execution of her beloved husband, in the thirty-second year of her life, she was hanged with nine other Bahá’í women.

Additional information about Mr. and Mrs. Siyavugi will be found elsewhere in this volume in the section entitled ‘The Persecution of the Bahá’í Community of Tran’.

ROGER WHITE

fiflAHlN (fllRiN) DALVAND MUNA MAHMUDNIZflAD ZARRlN MUQtMi—ABYANIH MAHs_IiiD NiRUMAND sthN sABIRi AK_HTAR lflABIT

NUSRAT _G_H_UFRANT YALDA’l Martyred 18 June 1983

On 20 June 1983 the Universal House of Justice announced to the Bahá’í world that on 16 June in Shíráz six Bahá’í men between the ages of twenty-eight and sixty-siX—four of them

members of Local Spiritual Assemblies in Shíráz or surrounding areasmhad been executed after a long period of imprisonment and torture. Two days after the men were martyred, ten women Bahá’ís, similarly imprisoned and tortured, met the same fate. All sixteen deaths were part of a campaign of terror against the Bahai’s instigated under the Islamic revolution. The intention was to undermine the morale of the Bahá’í community by exterminating its prominent members and administrative officers, to intimidate and dishearten the general Bahá’í community, and to extirpate the Bahá’í Faith from the land of its birth.

The seven women named above were among the ten whose lives were terminated in mm on 18 June 1983 because they refused to forfeit their allegiance to the Cause of Baha’u’llah and denounce His Faith as heresy. Three other Bahá’í women, Mrs. ‘Izzat J anami Iflraqi, aged fifty-seven; her daughter, Ru’ya, aged twentythree; and Mrs. Táhirih Arjumandi Siyavufli, aged thirty-two, died with them; their stories are told elsewhere in these pages. The deaths of all these women were accomplished through hanging, though not in the relatively swiftone might almost say humane—fashion of the modern scaffold in which the body drops suddenly from a considerable height; rather, by a method which resulted in slow strangulation and the maximum of suffering.

It has been stated that the women were hanged one by one, starting with the older ones, the younger ones being forced to watch, it being thought by their oppressors that this might frighten them and weaken their resolve. Eyewitnesses report that the women, young and old alike, sang the praises of Baha’u’llah as they were led to the scene of their final agony, and that even some of the guards who escorted them pleaded with them to recant and save themselves. ‘THE EXECUTION OF THESE GUILTLESS WOMEN IN THE NAME OF RELIGION MUST SHOCK CONSCIENCE HUMANITY,’ the Universal House of Justice stated in its telex to selected National Spiritual Assemblies. ‘THEY WERE ARRESTED FOR ACTIVITIES IN Bahá’í COMMUNITY INCLUDING EDUCATION OF YOUTH.’ The press of the free world recorded its shock, outrage and disbelief. ‘Now they are hanging women!’—-headline of a story in a rnaj or North American newspapertypified the reaction of the media.

Miss Shahin Dalvand, known to her friends

[Page 601]IN MEMORIAM

Sháhz’n ( ‘fllz'rz’n? Ddlvand

as ‘Shirin’, was born to a Bahá’í family in ghiraz in December 1956. She had three sisters and one brother. Apart from a short period during her childhood which was spent in Maghad, she spent all her life in her birthplace. Her diligence won her a reputation as an outstanding student. She passed her high school examinations with honours and her senior thesis at the University of ihiraz where she earned her bachelor of science degree was highly praised by her professors. During her final year of school, Shiri_n’s parents lived in England where she might have joined them, but she chose to remain in mm with her grandparents. Until her arrest and imprisonment on 29 November 1982 she served on a number of Bahá’í committees, including those relating to youth activities and child education. She also devoted her time to visiting and consoling the families of Bahá’í prisoners and martyrs, and tried to help relieve the difficulties suffered by Bahá’í refugees from the Villages.

In prison she remained calm and unruflied. A fellow prisoner wrote of her, ‘She was a manifestation of faith and devotion and a symbol of courage and steadfastness.’ And describing the moment when the interrogator asked flirin whether she would uphold her belief even to the moment of execution, the same prisoner

601

wrote, ‘flirin courageously answered, “I hope the Divine favour will assist me to be firm in my belief to the last moment of my life.” Agitated, the judge remarked that killing does not depend on Divine favour. “You can be executed if you wish!” he said. fihirin replied, “Your honour, we Bahá’ís believe that not a leaf falls from a tree except by the will of God. Your will or my will has no effect. In each instance the will of God is the sole factor.” ’ Many of her fellow prisoners felt that her answers during her lengthy interrogations were inspired.

On 21 July 1983 the Lord Mayor of Newcastle—upon-Tyne addressed a letter to flirin’s parents stating, ‘At the recent meeting of the City Council there were expressions of horror and despair following the news of the death of your dear daughter in Iran, because of her adherence to religious beliefs,’ and expressing condolences ‘on behalf of the City Council and citizens generally’.

The youngest of these martyrs was Muna Mahmudniflad, aged seventeen. The daughter of Farflundih and Yadu’llah Mahmudniz_had, she was born on 10 September 1965 in Yemen where her parents served as pioneers during the Ten Year Crusade. In 1969, when the Government of Yemen expelled all foreigners, Muna’s parents returned to iran, settling first in Iṣfahán, then in Kirmanshah, and finally in Tabríz. When Muna was nine, the family moved to Shíráz. Muna had a warm and loving nature, possessed a fine singing voice, and distinguished herself as a student. She took a conscientious interest in both her intellectual and spiritual growth and, as a result, was very mature for her age. She considered 10 September 1980, the day she reached the age of fifteen and was officially registered as a Bahá’í youth, as her true birthday. She was delighted to be recognized as a member of the Bahá’í community and spared no effort to serve the Faith. She acted as a liaison for the youth committee in the Nineteen Day Feast, and conducted Bahá’í children’s classes for the child education committee. She tried in various ways to make her efforts more effective. For example, by going to school on foot instead of riding the bus, she saved enough from her pocket money to buy coloured crayons, notebooks and pencils, which she gave as a prize to her students in the children’s class; and she compiled a small booklet of prayers which she gave to the children to memorize.

[Page 602]602

M und M ahmddnizjdd

An essay written by Muna for school on the assigned topic of conscience and liberty as fruits of Islam, in which she explored with clarity and force the restriction placed upon her as a Bahá’í in discussing the principles of the Bahá’í Faith with Muslim students, and argued that the source of spiritual freedom is God and His endowment cannot be withheld or conditioned by man, brought down the wrath of the school principal, a fanatical individual, who forthwith forbade her to mention the Faith in school ever again, an unjust injunction with which she nevertheless obediently complied.

At 9:30 pm. on 23 October 1982, when Muna was preparing for an English test, five revolutionary guards stormed into her home, searched it, attempted to terrorize and intimidate Muna and her parents, and at 11:30 arrested them. Although her mother was subsequently released after many months of imprisonment, Muna’s father was executed on 12 March 1983.

One of the guards who was present when Muna was hanged related that she asked to be the last to die, and that she prayed for the souls of those who executed her friends. She is said to have lightly kissed the hangman’s hand, then kissed the rope and placed it around her own throat.

THE Bahá’í WORLD

Zarrin Muqimi-Abyanih, the daughter of Umm-i—Hani and Husayn Muqimi—Abyénih, was born on 23 August 1954 in Abyénih, and raised in Tihran. She was an honour student in high school and at age twenty-one graduated from the University of Tihran where she obtained her degree in English literature. Denied an opportunity to teach school because she was known as a Bahá’í, she found employment as an administrative assistant, interpreter and accountant, but was discharged, after the revolution, with other Bahá’í employees. She memorized the entire text of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, made a thorough study of the Qur’án, was tireless in her service to the Faith and a brilliant exponent of its teachings. Even as a child she had displayed an extraordinary gift for reciting poetry and her eloquence and deportment were such that one of her interrogators, when she was in prison, commented during her trial that she should have obtained a degree in public speaking. She had a warm bond of friendship with her father, with whom she would spend hours discussing the Bahá’í Writings, and she wrote accomplished poetry, often on Bahá’í themes. Among her papers was found a tender and poetic tribute to her friend, Navid-A‘zam J avid, who died tragically young at her pioneering post in Africa. She eulogized in verse her former teacher, Mr. Haflim Farnush, who was martyred on 23 June 1981.

On 24 October 1982, Zarrin’s parents were arrested, and her own arrest followed two days later. After a period of imprisonment her parents were freed.

Zarrin’s impassioned and well—reasoned defence of the Faith during her interrogations, and her deep knowledge of the Qur’án, so impressed one of her judges that he invited other judges to sit in during one of the sessions. Although she was blindfolded, Zarrin was aware that others were present when the judge who had examined her exclaimed, ‘Now, what answer do you have to give to this lady? Has anyone a question he would like to ask? I am tired. What will you say to this girl? She admits that she is a Bahá’í and claims that in fulfilment of the verses of the Qur’án the Promised One has come. Which one of you has a question to ask or an answer to give her?’ Silently, they all arose and filed out. The judge confided to Zarrin that the others had not believed his oral reports about her courage and brilliance, so he invited them to

[Page 603]IN MEMORIAM

Zarrz'n M uqz’mz’—Abydnih

see for themselves. ‘I feel I must tell you the truth,’ he said, ‘so that in the next world I won’t be guilty in the presence of God’s justice.’

When Zarrin was summoned for the verdict, as was customary, the judge asked her to recant or die. ‘I have found the path of truth,’ she said, ‘and I will not give it up at any price. Therefore, I kiss the judge’s decree.’

Her will was written on a piece of white cloth and delivered to her family by a released prisoner who had sewn it into the collar of her dress. Although in prison her letters were censored and she was restricted to writing only a few lines, Zarrin wrote a note to her sister in which she said farewell, the tone suggesting that she had foreknowledge of her fate.

Mahshid Nirl’lmand, who was arrested in mm on 8 December 1982, had been born in that city in 1955. Although she graduated in physics from the University of Shíráz in 1979 she was not given a degree because of her being a Bahá’í. She was active in the Bahá’í community, serving as an assistant to a member of the Auxiliary Board, and on a number of service committees. She was also a youth advisor.

There were two waves of arrests of Bahá’ís in the autumn and winter months of 1982, and Mahflid was caught and imprisoned in the

603

Mahgly'd Nz’rdmand

second wave. She was at home with her two sisters at 7:00 pm. on the night she was arrested. Seven revolutionary guards entered the home, checked the girls’ identity cards and then left. There was some confusion about Mahflid’s identity. The guards returned, however, with a list on which her name appeared correctly, and the terror began. Mahshid was ordered to stand in a corner silently while the men searched and overturned her room, confiscating all Bahá’í materials and even leafing through non-Bahá’í books in which it was thought she might have concealed Bahá’í documents. Mahfiid’s copy of the Qur’án was also seized because, the guards explained, it was not fitting that the holy book

of Islam should be in the home of an ‘infidel’.

Mahshid was courageous throughout the entire ordeal, her sisters reported. At 1:30 am. Mahflid was taken away by the guards who, in a curious gesture of sympathy, invited her father to follow in his car in order that the family would know Mahflid’s whereabouts. Although she was by nature pensive and retiring, and had a calm and soothing disposition, Mahshid was capable of defending the Faith With great force, conviction and dignity. Even under cross examination, she was demure and unperturbed, breaking her silence only to give

[Page 604]604

brief replies which illustrated effectively her profound knowledge of the Bahá’í teachings.

Throughout her long imprisonment, Mahflid remained strong and steadfast. She was solicitous of others, often shared her food with her fellow prisoners, and encouraged them to be staunch. When the bodies of the ten martyred women were Viewed by one of the Bahá’ís after the hanging, it was reported that Mahshid appeared to be in a deep and peaceful sleep, and that she cradled on her shoulder the head of the youngest girl, Muna Mahmfidniflad.

Simin sabiri, her mother has written, was only twenty-four years and four months old at the time of her execution. Simin was born in the Village of Dahbid in Fars Province, iran, on 2 March 1958, the youngest of five children. Her mother, Tavfis Pampl'isiyan, had come from a Jewish family who had recognized and embraced the Faith, and who were severely persecuted during their lives. Simin’s father, a former Muslim, had independently investigated and accepted the Bahá’í teachings. He was a widower at the time of his marriage to Tavfis Pampfisiyan and two of the six children from his earlier union were still young girls and needed a mother’s care. Mrs. Sébiri has recorded that Simin, as a child, was extraordinarily well-mannered, tidy and fastidious. She was intelligent, quick-witted and artistic, and had an intense interest in art and handicrafts.

Simin was a good pupil and achieved high grades at school, and she was an avid student of the Bahá’í writings. After completing high school she studied commercial subjects including secretarial skills and typing, and found employment in an agricultural firm. ‘One day’, her mother wrote, ‘she ran towards me With a happy smile and announced her appointment as an assistant to the Auxiliary Board member.’ She is thought to be the youngest assistant to have been appointed in iran. As well, she served on the Bahá’í education committee.

On 16 November 1978 angry mobs attacked, looted and set afire the homes of a number of Bahá’í families in §hiraz. The Sébiri home was attacked, its windows broken, and stones were thrown. Despite being injured by broken glass, Simin remained cheerful. Although she and her family took refuge with relatives and thus escaped further bodily harm, not lon g after their home was confiscated, as were the homes of

THE Bahá’í WORLD

Sz’mz’n Sdbirz’

many other Bahá’í families. On 26 October 1982 Simin was imprisoned and subjected to the four indoctrination sessions to which all prisoners were exposed. These were designed to explore and hold up to ridicule and sinister accusation their Bahá’í activities, correct their ‘misguided’ thinking, invite them to "recant and to embrace Islam. If the prisoners would but co-operate, their lives were to be spared, they were to be freed and feted by the media, and celebrated as duped Victims of a Vile heresy, of evil and murky intent, from whose eyes the veils had fallen enabling them to return to the clear light of Islam.

Simin was soon recognized as one of the most fearless and outspoken of the Bahá’í prisoners. She saw in the interrogations arising from the imprisonment of Bahá’ís throughout lran a God—given opportunity to acquaint judges and others at high levels of authority with the true nature of the Bahá’í Faith, the goals of its administrative order, its severance from political concerns. For her, each session in which a Bahá’í was interrogated was a proclamation of the Faith of Baha’u’llah, a teaching opportunity; each session held the potentiality of having the truth of the Bahá’í Faith bear in on the minds and hearts of the interrogators. Fluently, lucidly, passionately she fielded the

[Page 605]IN MEMORIAM

Ak_htar T_hdbit

questions put to her in her examinations by the judge. ‘It is important that the truth is being made known to judges all across the country in order that they might understand that the Bahá’í Faith is a religion, not a political movement,’ a fellow prisoner reports her to have said. But she was under no illusions. After her fourth interrogation, having foreseen the outcome, she gently tried to prepare her parents for final separation. On one occasion she said to her mother, ‘Don’t expect that I shall be released.’ And whenever her family Visited she urged them to realize that she was content with the will of God and prayed that they would reconcile themselves to her loss.

Simin’s mother, admitted for a few moments to the room where the bodies of the martyrs lay, has written that as she bent to kiss her daughter’s face, her heart scalded with grief, she exclaimed, ‘My dearest Simin, I have given you in the path of God!’

Born in 1958 in Sarvistan, about fifty miles from Shiraz, to a family of modest means, Miss Afltar T_habit was a model pupil, as her teachers have attested—cheerful, willing and always ready to assist her classmates in the study of their lessons. Humility, kindness of heart, respect for her elders and an eagerness to serve others were among Afltar T_habit’s dis 605

tinguishing characteristics. She was always attractively and tastefully attired in simple and becoming clothes that she made herself. While still attending school she had to find employment in order to assist her family.

Ever devout in nature, and faithful in discharging her duties, AQtar served as a teacher of children’s classes and was an assistant to a member of the Auxiliary Board. She transcribed the Kitdb-i—fqdn in her own handwriting, the better to fix its precepts in her mind and heart.

Hostile elements in Sarvistan often attacked and molested the Bahá’ís, murdered them, and plundered their properties. On 8 November 1978, when she was still a teenager, Afltar T__habit and her family were driven from their home, as were a large number of other Bahá’ís from theirs, when fanatical townspeople launched an assault against the Bahá’í community. Undismayed, Afltar continued her studies in Shiraz, graduated as a pediatric nurse and found a job caring for children in a hospital in that city. So valued were her services that after her arrest on 23 October 1982 the hospital manager telephoned and pleaded with the authorities to release her. But as her captors made her release conditional upon her recanting her belief in Baha’u’llah, she remained in prison where she put her nursing skills at the disposal of all, including non-Bahá’ís convicted of prostitution and drug addiction. She busied herself washing the clothing of her fellow Bahá’í prisoners—their garments being considered untouchable and defiled by the prison authorities because they belonged to ‘infidels’—and hung it to dry on a line improvised from plastic bags. Prisoners in other wards sometimes called on her for help, claiming that the peacefulness of her countenance alone was an aid to them. Her nursing skills enabled her to be of particular assistance to one of the Bahá’í prisoners who sustained heart failure on two occasions when . she was subjected to beatings; and she comforted and nursed as well as she could Mrs. Tuba Zé’irpur (martyred 12 March 1983) who had grown weak and helpless as a result of being severely tortured.

When exhorted by the judge to recant her belief in the Bahá’í Faith and embrace Islam and thus save her life, Ak_htar T_habit is said to have replied that she was a Bahá’í and had never concealed her afiiliation with the Cause

[Page 606]606 THE Bahá’í WORLD

Nusrat G_hufrdnz’ Yaldd ’1'

of Bahá’u’lláh, and that on the basis of His teachings she already accepted and revered all the Manifestations of God and Their holy books, including Muhammad and the Qur’án.

At one stage the investigator insisted that Afifiar write a detailed account of her life from childhood to the time of her arrest. When she had complied, not failing to mention the oppression and persecution she had witnessed as a child, he grew angry. She reported to a fellow prisoner that he said, ‘Having already been subjected to considerable tyranny and oppression, why don’t you repent? Why don’t you just say those few simple words, “I am not a Bahá’í”?’

In reply, she said, ‘How can I deny the divine truth of the Bahá’í Faith?’

‘Even at the expense of your life, do you intend to remain firm in your belief?’ she was asked. ‘I hope so, by the grace of God,’ was her reply.

Mrs. Nusrat Qhufrani Yalda’i’s kindness and hospitality were legendary and her home was considered one of the centres of Bahá’í community life in fihiraz where she served on the Local Spiritual Assembly. She was born into an old and distinguished Bahá’í family in Nayriz, a

town approximately a hundred miles southeast of §_hiraz where many significant episodes in the early history of the Faith were enacted. Mrs. Yalda’i, on her mother’s side, was descended from the cultured and wealthy Haji Muhammad-Taqi, an ardent follower of the Bab who sacrificed his worldly possessions to aid Vahid and was subsequently imprisoned and tortured. He was honoured through Baha’u’llah bestowing on him the title ‘Ayyub’ (Job) and addressing to him the Sdriy—i—Sabr (Surih of Patience) also known as Lawh-iAyydb (Tablet of J ob). Mrs. Yalda’i was a worthy great-granddaughter of so eminent a personage.

Raised in an atmosphere of pious simplicity, Mrs. Yalda’i, even as a small child, memorized many prayers and when bidden to recite them she would reverently fold her arms, close her eyes and Chant with a spirit of deep devotion.

In her early adulthood she was married to Ahmad Yalda’i, also a native of Nayriz, and the couple made their home in Shíráz. Mrs. Yalda’i, in addition to raising her children, was active in Bahá’í affairs; in all kinds of weather she would travel to outlying Villages to bring to the Bahá’ís of those areas news of the progress of the Faith throughout the world. She was deeply loved and respected by the Bahá’ís and had a great capacity for displaying affection and concern for everyone she met. Because the Bahá’ís visited her in large numbers, intransigent and hostile neighbours reviled her in the streets, heaped abuse upon her, and from time to time would ask the police to break up meetings in her home on the pretext that the Bahá’ís were disturbing the peace. On at least one occasion when the police asked her to desist from holding Bahá’í gatherings in her home, she refused on the grounds that it was her religious obligation to be hospitable, and to open her doors to friends and strangers alike.

Mrs. Yalda’i, whose twenty-eight-year-old son, Bahram, was hanged on 16 June 1983 for refusing to repudiate the Bahá’í Faith and who, it was reported, went dancing to his death, was one of the many Bahá’í women prisoners who were tortured, and she was at least twice given severe beatings of as many as 2001ashes. Those who saw her after those beatings testified that strips of her blood-soaked clothing were embedded in the weals that covered her body. Her wounds, an eyewitness recounted, were still

[Page 607]IN MEMORIAM

Visible after she was hanged. Mrs. Nusrat @ufrani Yalda’i was fifty-four years of age at the time of her death.

ROGER WHITE

WILLIAM MMUTLE MASEHLA 1921—1983

William Mmutle Masehla was born in Sophiatown, a township of J ohannesburg, South Africa, on 21 F ebruary 1921. He was a member of St. Peter’s Anglican Church from childhood. Due to lack of funds he received only a primary and secondary education and was unable to attend high school. He started working as a welder at the early age of fifteen. At the time of his passing he had been working for many years as head of the photocopy and filing department of a brokerage firm, and was highly valued by his employer.

In 1952 William met Daphne Senne whom he married on 15 October of that year. She had been born into the Senne family of Kgale in the Village of Phokeng, near Rustenburg. The couple were blessed with six lovely children: Matilda, Faith, Billy, Bahíyyih, Elise and Gregory.

William was introduced to the Bahá’í Faith in the fall of 1954 by his sister—in-law, the late Mrs. Dorothy Senne.1 He then met the early pioneers and attended several talks on the new Revelation. Inspired by what he heard, William accepted the Faith and, to a great extent, was deepened in his understanding of it by William and Marguerite Sears. In 1955, Daphne also embraced the Faith.

From the moment he became a Bahá’í, William expressed his love for Baha’u’llah through courageous and indefatigable service. Through his tireless efforts beginning in 1955, the Cause was established in the mountains of Lesotho, the Cape escarpment and Karoo region, the desert of Kalahari and Namibia, the rural areas of the Transvaal, the plateau of the Orange Free State, the protectorates of Botswana and Swaziland, and other black states in southern Africa. He was a member of the first Local Spiritual Assembly of Alexandra in 1956, moved to Dube (Soweto) in 1957 and

1See ‘In Memoriam’, The Bahd’z' World, vol. XVII, p.435.

607

became a member of the Dube/Mofolo Spiritual Assembly in 1958.

In 1956, the first National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of South and West Africa was formed. William was one of the nine elected and except for one year served on it in various capacities, including recording secretary and corresponding secretary, until 1968 when he was appointed to the Auxiliary Board.

A shining event in William’s life was the dedication of the Kampala Temple which he was

-privileged to attend in January 1961. He

remarked of it, ‘What a joy it is to be amidst so many Bahá’í friends.’ In 1963 he was present in Haifa for the election of the first Universal House of Justice and, as part of the delegation from Southern Africa, proceeded to attend the World Congress in London. He was keenly aware of the greatness of the Cause manifested in that gathering in Albert Hall. He used to say, ‘You could not resist the mighty power of God packed in that hall where the first international House of Justice was sitting.’ It was William who chaired the final session of that Congress on 2 May, and in that poignant moment when Amatu’l—Baha Rúḥíyyih Khánum broke down during her telling of the story of the life of Shoghi Effendi, it was he who started the singing of Alláh—u-Abhd. William Masehla’s twenty—nine years of dedicated service were crowned by his appointment in 1976 as a member of the Continental Board of Counsellors. Despite ill health arising from a rare bone disease, acute multiple myelome, he discharged his duties with true distinction. His strong will and radiant spirit carried him to Haifa to attend the International Convention in April 1983. He passed away quietly on 17 July 1983. An account of his funeral, which appeared in the September 1983 issue of Bahá’í International News Service, reads, in part: ‘Six hundred people came from all over southern Africa to attend the funeral of Counsellor William Masehla on 24 J uly at his family home in Soweto . . . Tributes from National Spiritual Assemblies and individuals were oflered, interspersed with songs and prayers Flowers, beautiful and profuse, covered the grave of one whose happy radiant smile will linger always in memory . . . All of southern Africa mourned him, mourners coming from Botswana, Bophuthatswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Venda, Ciskei, Transkei, Namibia and many cities of South

[Page 608]608

Africa. The International Teaching Centre in a special tribute spoke of the sweetness of his personality, his total dedication and his devoted services despite suffering and ill health.’

Those who knew Counsellor William Masehla know how richly he was endowed with the qualities of love and humility. He was a keen observer of his fellow—men and his observation was tempered With deep compassion. He reflected on all that he heard and read, and carried into every experience of life his torch of sincerity, not only as a guide to his own path but as a light and stimulus to those about him. The theme of his words was always the same: the radiance and capacity implanted in each human soul; the value of each one’s contribution; the need to carry on the work of the Faith ever hopeful and assured. ‘With or without you’, he repeatedly said, ‘the Cause will grow and expand. It is the plan of Almighty God, not yours.’

On 17 July 1983 the Universal House of Justice sent the following cable to the National Spiritual Assembly of South and West Africa with instructions that it be shared with all National Assemblies in Africa:

7,!

THE BAHA I WORLD

DEEPLY MOURN LOSS OUTSTANDING PROMOTER FAITH WILLIAM MASEHLA. HIS LONG RECORD DEVOTED SERVICES SHEDS IMPERISHABLE LUSTRE ANNALS FAITH SOUTHERN AFRICA. PRAYING SHRINES PROGRESS HIS NOBLE SOUL ABHA KINGDOM. CONVEY RELATIVES PROFOUND SYMPATHY.

M. D. RAMOROESI

INEZ MARSHALL COOK GREEVEN 1889—1983

Inez Marshall was born in Alexandria, Virginia, on 26 September 1889 into a family directly descended from J ohn Marshall, one of the signatories of the Declaration of Independence. She was the youngest of four daughters and grew up in a loving family which lavished care and attention upon the children. Her grandmother read extensively to her from the Bible.

After her first marriage to a Mr. Cook she went to live in New York City where, not long after, she was widowed as a result of an epidemic of influenza. Consequently, it was as Inez Cook that she became a Bahá’í in 1919, travelled twice to Visit ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the Holy Land, and began a long life of dedicated service to the Bahá’í Faith. Upon the death of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá she centered her devotion on Shoghi Effendi with whom she conducted correspondence extending from December 1924 to October 1957, within a month of his passing.

In 1926 she married Max Greeven1 who embraced the Faith the following year. In 1930 Mr} Greeven settled in Bremen, Germany, as a partner in the European branch of a large American cotton firm. The couple later resided in The Hague and Amsterdam until 1940. Throughout this period they constantly proclaimed the Faith and were instrumental in having translations made into Dutch of a considerable quantity of vitally needed Bahá’í literature. They constantly sought the approval of Shoghi Effendi in all they undertook and received from him continual support and encouragement. ‘I am deeply touched by the sentiments you have expressed and by the good wishes you have conveyed to me,’ he wrote in his own hand on 7 April 1937. ‘1 prize them, and feel deeply grateful for the spirit of pro 1See ‘In Memoriam’, The Bahá’í World, vol. XIII, p. 909.

[Page 609]IN MEMORIAM

found and genuine devotion that so strikingly animates you both in the service of the beloved Faith. May the Almighty, Whose Cause you serve with such distinction and to the institutions of whose Faith you are so deeply attached, bless you richly in your high endeavours and exemplary services.’

Inez’s own words give an account of her Bahá’í life:

‘I first heard of the Bahá’í Faith in 1918. My sister, India Haggarty, and I were vacationing at the Griswald Hotel, in New London, Connecticut. On the verandah Mrs. Grace Krug was speaking to a group of women. Her personality impressed me for she carried within her a divine fire which I sensed but did not comprehend at the time. However, she stirred my heart so that toward the end of September I met her in New York, and my sister and I began our deepening and understanding of the significance of the Cause. In early December we became Bahá’ís.

‘At the request of Mrs. Krug I wrote a letter to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and He responded with a Tablet. In it He particularly stressed, “Know thou the value of the soul Who guided thee.”

‘The following year in April, 1919 Dr. and Mrs. Krug organized a pilgrimage to Visit ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. We arrived in Haifa on Apri121, 1919 for a nine-day Visit. After our allotted stay I was allowed to remain in Haifa with Dr. and Mrs. Krug while the rest of the party went on to Visit other parts of Palestine. It was during this period when there were only a few of us that I had the opportunity to draw closer to the Master. He gave me the name of “Hoviyeh” [Huviyyih] My spiritual experiences were numerous and my soul was elevated to another plateau. When the Master spoke to me in English the tones of His voice were so beautiful that my heart dilated with joy. From His personality emanated an aura that set others on fire with the same fire. My visit in that wonderful world drew to a close. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá invited me to return whenever I should feel the need of spiritual refreshment.

‘The following year I did return in September with my sister, Daisy, and we remained there until October 3, 1920. The Master said to me, “Study the teachings and know all the points. I have never encouraged anyone more than you, for I want you to have an eloquent tongue and speak about the Faith.” ’

609

Inez Greeven

The Master also encouraged Inez to marry but said that she must choose carefully and select a man who would be a “friend for life’. In the spring of 1934 Inez returned to Haifa with her second husband, Max Greeven, her ‘friend for life’ Whom she adored. Shoghi Effendi had invited Max to come to Haifa for consultations. Subsequently, Max Greeven made an important contribution to the work of the Cause in Germany. The couple came away from the Holy Land ‘with hearts overflowing with love’ for the Guardian.

Max and Inez were living in Amsterdam when Holland was invaded in 1940, but they managed to escape to the United States where they eventually established residence in Carmel, California. Mr. Greeven died in 1961. Again a widow, Inez lived until her ninety-third year, centering her life in the Bahá’í Faith to the end. She died on 21 July 1983. On her grave marker are inscribed the last words ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said to her when she parted from Him in 1920: ‘Turn thy face to the Kingdom and I will be there.’

Brent Poirier wrote of her, ‘One more of the precious handful of the dwindling number of believers who had attained the Presence of their

[Page 610]610

Master, has returned to that Presence. We

believers in this part of California will miss her

dearly, as she was a priceless link to the Heroic Age of the Faith.’

(Adapted from an article by

DOROTHY GREEVEN)

LUCIENNE MIGETTE 1903—1983

ASSURE ARDENT PRAYERS PROGRESS SOUL LUCIENNE MIGETTE HER ASSOCIATION MAY MAXWELL AND STEADFAST DEVOTION WELLNIGH HALF CENTURY AS PILLAR FAITH FRANCE ENRICH ANNALS FRENCH BAHAI COMMUNITY. EXTEND LOVING SYMPATHY FRIENDS RELATIVES. ' Universal House of Justice 9 August 1983

On 16 April 1936 in Lyon, France, at a meeting organized, with the help of Lydia Zamenhof, by an Esperantist/Theosophist, Lucienne Migette heard the Bahá’í message for the first time. The lecturer, May Maxwell, immediately convinced her of the truth of the Bahá’í Revelation; she enrolled on 1 July 1936. Six months later, through her efforts, three people accepted the Faith in Lyon. In the France of that period, enrolments were rare and precious.

Miss Migette was born on 6 November 1903 in Paris. She had trained as a classical ballet dancer and subsequently graduated as a chemical engineer. An uncommon force of character lay beneath her frail physical appearance.

Mrs. Maxwell called her ‘the new Joan of Arc’, a name which she herself had had bestowed upon her by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.

Very early in her Bahá’í life, Lucienne undertook teaching trips. At first, she set out with a list of addresses given to her by Lydia Zamenhof, mostly of Esperantists who had shown some interest in the Bahá’í Cause, but she became increasingly adept at fostering interest in the Faith among her own acquaintance. She was in constant contact with the Bahá’í International Bureau in Geneva and, in 1938, she attended the Congress of Religions for Peace, organized in Switzerland by the Oxford Group, during which she read some words of Baha’u’llah on the subject of universal peace.

In 1940, as a result of the efforts of Lucienne

THE Bahá’í WORLD

Lucienne M igette

and her spiritual children, the first Local Spiritual Assembly of Lyon was estab1ished. This goal accomplished, Lucienne immediately set out again on teaching trips across France, despite the disruptions to life caused by World War 11. These journeys ceased in December 1941 by which time she had already started the work of translating Bahá’í literature into French, a task that occupied her until the end of her days. In July 1941, for the first time, a small prayer book in French was mimeographed. The following month, she was able to obtain a permit to travel to Switzerland for the purpose of ‘correcting a prayer book translated from English into French . . .’

Lucienne settled in Paris after the war and pursued her teaching work for the Faith. She was a member of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Paris, which was, until the first National Spiritual Assembly was formed in 1958, the mother-Assembly Of the French community. She served as a member of the National Spiritual Assembly, and several times was elected as chairman, until 1965 when she was appointed to the Auxiliary Board for protection. She had already made a trip to Reunion Island, and other islands of the Indian Ocean, at the request

[Page 611]IN MEMORIAM

of the Hands of the Cause, to protect the Faith against the attacks of Covenant—breakers.

When she was obliged to stop travelling, due to illness, Lucienne devoted all her time to the arduous task of translating the Holy Writings. Her first typewritten translations which had been made during the 19403 and which were so Vital to the teaching work at that time, were eventually incorporated into her book entitled Le Cycle de l’Unité. The basic works she translated are many and include such important titles as Baha’u’llah’s H idden Words, Shoghi Effendi’s God Passes By, the compilation Bahá’í World Faith and A Synopsis and Codification of the Kitdb-i—Aqdas. The French Bahá’í Publishing Trust, in its annual report of 28 January 1984, devoted a paragraph of tribute to Lucienne Migette, who died on 8 August 1983:

‘During the last year, Lucienne Migette left us to join the Abhá Kingdom. The name of Miss L. Migette will remain forever associated with that of the Publishing Trust. For several decades, she untiringly worked behind the scenes, bringing to the Trust not only her deep knowledge of the F tench language (she was the author of a glossary and a manual used by all the friends in preparing or reviewing translations), but also her scholarly grasp of comparative religions, so outstandingly portrayed in her book Le Cycle de l’Unité. If we are able today to offer to the Bahá’í world a large quantity of basic books on the Faith, this is in large measure due to the excellent quality of the translations she made.’

Through her ceaseless activity, tenacity and complete dedication to the Cause of Baha’u’llah, Lucienne Migette will be an example for all those local communities in France for whose establishment or consolidation she selflessly laboured. Her perseverance, attention to detail, accuracy, finesse in finding the right word, and command of the French language, are models for present and future translators of the Bahá’í Texts into French.

PIERRE SPIERCKEL

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SYLVIA IOAS 18954983

SADDENED PASSING DEVOTED MAIDSERVANT BAHAULLAH SYLVIA IOAS. HER LONG YEARS SERVICE DIVINE THRESHOLD CONSTANT SUPPORT CLOSE COLLABORATION HER DISTINGUISHED HUSBAND CROWNED BY HER APPOINTMENT BY BELOVED GUARDIAN AS MEMBER INTERNATIONAL BAHAI COUNCIL AND HER SUBSEQUENT ELECTION SAME HISTORIC INSTITUTION AS ITS VICE PRESIDENT. HER GRACIOUS MANNER CHEERFUL DISPOSITION HOSPITABLE SPIRIT REMAIN AS INDELIBLE IMPRESSIONS HER FRUITFUL LIFE. FERVENTLY PRAYING HOLY SHRINES HER RADIANT SOUL MAY BE RICHLY REWARDED ABHA KINGDOM. URGE NATIONAL ASSEMBLIES HOLD BEFITTING MEMORIAL SERVICES. Universal House of Justice 25 August 1983

Sylvia Kuhlman Ioas was born on 19 September 1895 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Her mother was Czech, her father’s family came from Munich. She was reared in a stable, loving family.

It was Leroy Ioas1 who brought the knowledge of Baha’u’llah into her life. He was to remain her guide, teacher and companion. She became a Bahá’í shortly before their marriage in Chicago in 1919. Within a short time her immediate family also became Bahá’ís.

Sylvia and Leroy settled in San Francisco, California, where they spent twenty-eight rich and fruitful years. Both served the Faith Vigorously but in quite different ways: Leroy, the teacher, the organizer, the speaker; Sylvia, the warm hostess, the faithful sustainer. One of her charming characteristics was to feel those she loved could do anything; this surely gave strength to both her husband and the burgeoning communities he labored to build in the Bay area. Those years in San Francisco were passed in a life by which she felt deeply fulfilled: raising her two daughters, making a home, helping her husband, content to be in the background, with a genuine and unassumed modesty. Her home was the scene of many Bahá’í gatherings, happy evenings that knit the community together. It was the meeting place for the weekend National Teaching Committee

1See ‘In Memoriam’, The Bahd’z' World, vol. XIV, p. 291‘

[Page 612]612

Sylvia Ioas

meetings that shaped the goals and successes of the first Seven Year Plan. Her cottage in Geyserville was a magnet for the deepening of Bahá’ís and Visitors.

In 1946, Leroy was promoted by his employer, the Southern Pacific Railroad; this meant a move to Chicago. It was a difficult decision, but when Shoghi Effendi indicated that it would be good for Leroy to be closer to the National Bahá’í Center, they made plans to leave San Francisco. They settled in Wilmette, close to the House of Worship. The few short years there were a kind of flowering after lean years: Leroy had a fine position, they had a lovely home, Sylvia was able to travel more extensively than she had. She loved activity as she loved people, and to the close of her days was instantly ready to go out, to do, to see. In Wilmette she particularly loved the nearness of the Temple where she could serve as a guide.

Sylvia was alone when the cablegram arrived .

from Haifa appointing her husband a Hand of the Cause. She telephoned him at his office; both were stunned by the news. He cabled Shoghi Effendi that he was overcome by a sense of unworthiness. When invited shortly thereafter to move to Haifa, Leroy wondered whether he could accept: he was several years from retire

THE Bahá’í WORLD

ment, with family charges. It was Sylvia who said, ‘Of course you will, Roy!’ He later wrote to one of his brothers: ‘Sylvia has been a tower of spiritual strength, much stronger than I, and the one who has aided me in carrying this through. How God ever gave me such a wonderful wife, I don’t know, but thank God He did.’

Sylvia perceived the grandeur of the atmosphere she was moving into. Yet the move was traumatic for her, as she rid herself of everything she had gathered over thirty years, and set out with very few possessions. It was in some way her personal world she gave away. And she did it alone, as Leroy went on almost immediately to Haifa. She later wrote a friend, ‘I had never had to do anything like that before; I didn’t know how to begin.’

Life in Haifa was not easy. It was a period of great austerity and lack of accustomed privacy. One of the Hands of the Cause paid tribute to the spirit in which Sylvia took up this challenging life: ‘Very few persons who worked in Haifa in those austere years could display so much poise, dignity and wisdom as dear Sylvia did.’ And he added: ‘Sylvia’s angelic presence in that Holy Spot made things better for everyone.’

Sylvia’s learning was intuitive rather than intellectual. In Haifa she was frequently in the presence of Shoghi Effendi; she breathed the Holy atmosphere of the Shrines; she came to the knowledge of how the triumphs of the Faith were achieved. Under these influences it was as if she became a new person, developing capacities that had lain dormant. She served tirelessly, cleaning the Shrines with other wives of the Hands of the Cause, helping to run the Pilgrim House where they lived, greeting Visitors, spending long hours with Bahá’í pilgrims on Visits to Bahjí and Mazra‘ih. One of them remembered, and suggests that she touched many lives in this quiet way.

In May 1955 she was honored by Shoghi Effendi, the first personal honor to come to her. The Guardian appointed her to the International Bahá’í Council, the ninth member of that august body. Leroy was very proud of this distinction that came to her. She was further honored by election to that body in 1961. She worked on it with all the capacity she had. In 1963, when the work of the Council was ended, the members received this tribute: ‘All the

[Page 613]IN MEMORIAM

Hands present at our meeting in Bahjí wish to express to the members of the Council their deep appreciation of the services they have rendered the Cause of God . . . collectively and severally they have greatly contributed to strengthening the World Centre of the Faith

During the World Congress, Leroy suffered a pneumonia that was diagnosed as fatal, from which the prayers of the friends in London saved him. He was to live two additional years, years of diminishing physical strength during which he and Sylvia undertook a long teaching trip. He had become, said a friend, spiritually irresistible; the harvest of their travels was rich. For Sylvia, the two years were a time of increasing concern, as she cared for him day and night, and faced step by step the realization of his loss. One afternoon two months before his death, Leroy turned to his daughter and said with a strange intensity: ‘She’s an angel! She’s an angel!’

Leroy’s death was one of the several great sorrows of her life. In the eighteen years she lived without him, she was valiant and uncomplaining, but not without pain: ‘I miss him so very much. He was a tower of strength to me, even when sick; he had such loving ideas, so many kind thoughts for everyone.’ She met her personal tragedies With a quality of faith that was unchanging and without doubts. This caused her prayers to be very powerful.

Though she had to leave Haifa, it always remained home. Her thoughts were there; her energy came from there. When Visiting the Holy Land with her family nine years later, she looked

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down as Lod Airport came into view and said joyously, ‘Oh, I’m home!’

She lived as a widow first in Wilmette, where loving friends eased the transition to her life alone. She was busy with the Local Assembly andwith guiding. In 1968 she moved to Alexandria, Virginia, to be near her grandchildren. There a close Bahá’í community gave her spiritual support and opportunities for service. She was a member for ten years of the Spiritual Assembly; she held firesides; she took part in teaching projects, opening areas in Southern Virginiagzshe scrubbed the Bahá’í Center so that a children’s school could be opened; she took her grandchildren to summer schools and conferences, to Alaska and Bermuda. But then, she loved to sit down with a volume of The Bahá’í World and just read. Often when one called this was what she was doing. Perhaps it took her back. Certainly she brought a breath of Haifa, and the historical perspective she acquired there, to all who knew her in those years. She retained her affectionate nature and cheerfulness, even as her memory faded in the last years. She passed away on 24 August 1983. She is buried in Washington, D.C. next to her daughter, Farrulgh.1

In a long letter of devotion written to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in 1919, Leroy asked ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to remember her: ‘O my Lord, may Thy blessings and confirmation descend upon my dear wife that she may be of the utmost firmness and steadfastness in the Covenant and Testament, and render always greater service in the Cause.’

ANITA IOAS CHAPMAN

'See ‘In Memoriam’, The Bahá’z' World, vol. XIII, p.919.

[Page 614]' D

614 THE BAHA

1 WORLD

Munireh Anwar Abdullah Anwar (Mum'rih Anvar) (‘Abdu’lla’h Anvar) 1918—1983 1904—1983

Informed that ‘Abdu’lláh Anvar passed away on 25 September 1983, the Universal House ofJustz'ce cabled DEEPLY GRIEVED PASSING DEVOTED VALIANT PROMOTER FAITH ABDULLAH ANWAR. HIS LONG RECORD HISTORIC SERVICES PIONEERING FIELD IN HIGHLY SENSITIVE INTENSELY INHOSPITABLE REGIONS IS UNFORGETTABLE. HIS REWARD ABHA KINGDOM UNDOUBTEDLY BOUNTIFUL. ARDENTLY PRAYING HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS HIS NOBLE SOUL. ASSURE RELATIVES LOVING SYMPATHY. INFORMING NATIONAL ASSEMBLIES CONCERNBD HOLD MEMORIAL GATHERINGS. 0n 2 November 1983 his faithful wife of forty-eight years succumbed to a heart attack. The House of Justice cabled ASSURE RELATIVES FRIENDS LOVING PRAYERS PROGRESS SOUL STEADFAST SELFLESS MAIDSERVANT BAHAULLAH MUNIREH ANWAR WHO NOW JOINS HER ILLUSTRIOUS HUSBAND IN ABHA KINGDOM AND WHO ALWAYS SHARED IN HIS HEROIC SERVICES SACRED THRESHOLD.

[Page 615]IN MEMORIAM

SAMUEL NJIKI (NJIKI SAMUEL NJENJI) 1935—1983 Knight of Baha’u’llah

DEEPLY GRIEVED PASSING KNIGHT BAHAULLAH SAMUEL NJIKI HIS DEVOTED PIONEERING SERVICES CAMEROON WARMLY REMEMBERED. PRAYING SHRINES PROGRESS HIS SOUL HEAVENLY KINGDOM ASSURE RELATIVES LOVING SYMPATHY. 23 October 1983 Universal House of Justice

Mr. Njiki Samuel Njenji, known as Samuel Njiki, who was born in 1935 in Batala-Bangante, Nde Division, Western Province, Republic of Cameroon, was the first Bamilike tribesman to embrace the Faith of Baha’u’llah. The son of Mr. Njenji Isaiah and Mrs. Minkeu Marie, both of Batala, he was educated at the primary school level and later on successfully completed a course in typewriting. In 1974, he obtained an Advance Diploma in Salesmanship (London).

Mr. Njiki was employed as a typist with Cameroon Development Co-operation (CDC) in the area office in Bota from 1950 to 1954. Early in 1954 he came into contact with the Bahá’í Faith through Mr. Enoch Olinga, a Ugandan from Teso, Who, although he was himself a relatively new Bahá’í, had travelled 3,000 kilometres from his home to settle in West Africa to open Cameroon to the Bahá’í Faith. For his service in opening British Cameroon to the Cause of Baha’u’llah in October 1953, Shoghi Effendi designated Mr. Olinga a Knight of Baha’u’llah; in October 1957 he was named by the Guardian a Hand of the Cause.

Writing of Mr. Olinga in Bahá’í News, May 1984, Mr. Don Addison, who is an ethnomusicologist specializing in African studies and who served as a faculty member at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, from 1981 until 1983, stated, ‘When one strives . . . to appreciate how strong are the cultural ties that bind an African to his traditional society, and to his indigenous culture (and hence to his very identity) it becomes all the more clear what an amazing example Enoch Olinga must have been to others when he set out for Cameroon. Most Africans in their whole lives never travel more than a few mi1es from their home areas (isolated

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Samuel sz'ki

cases for education or business being the most notable exception), let alone to other countries, so the feat that Mr. Olinga accomplished by settling in West Africa was, in and of itself, truly inspiring.’

At the intercontinental conference held in Kampala, Uganda, from 12 to 18 February 1953 there had been read the message from Shoghi Effendi calling for the opening of ‘that phase of the Ten-Year Crusade which, God willing, will culminate in the introduction of our glorious Faith in all the remaining territories of that vast continent [Africa] as well as the chief neighbouring islands lying in the Indian and the Atlantic Oceans.’1 Among the thirty-three Virgin territories and islands assigned to Africa was British Cameroon as well as French Cameroon. In a cablegram dated 8 February 1954, Shoghi Effendi reported on the progress of the Ten-Year Crusade and stated that ‘All African States, Co1onies, Protectorates and Trust territories, with the exception of Togoland, Spanish Guinea, Bechuanaland, Swaziland, Gambia and the French Cameroons have been opened.’2

A few weeks after Mr. Samuel Njiki became

‘ The World Order of Bahá'u’lláh, pp. 135~140. 2ibid., p. 56.

[Page 616]616

a Bahá’í he heard Mr. Olinga read the stirring and history-making cable from the Guardian requesting the opening to the Faith of the remaining unopened territories in West Africa. Immediately five people arose to fill these goals. Among them was Mr. Njiki who in April 1954 moved to Douala, in what was then French Cameroon, an act for which he was designated by Shoghi Effendi a Knight of Baha’u’llah. Softspoken and gentle, Mr. Njiki later recalled those unique times, remarking how unaware he and the other local believers were of the true implications and deep significance of the Guardian’s call, but adding that they‘were united in their eagerness to arise and spread the healing message of Baha’u’llah. Arriving at his post on 9 April 1954 Mr. Njiki cabled the Guardian: ARRIVED. GRATEFUL PRAYERS KNOWLEDGE UNDERSTANDING ESTABLISH COMMUNITY VIRGIN LAND ALSO OVERCOME DIFFICULTIES’ I MAY MEET.

Mrs. Meherangiz Munsiif, an Indian believer resident in England, also arose to open French Cameroon to the Faith, arriving at her goal on 16 April 1954. She, too, was named a Knight of Baha’u’llah for this service. Although she and Mr. Njiki reached Douala only days apart, they had not met one another before their arrival. They met by pre-arrangement at the Post Office where Mr. Njiki sat on the steps clasping as identification his Bahá’í prayer book. A re-enactment of their meeting was recorded on film within minutes of their having met, and the resulting photograph of Mr. Njiki, showing him seated on a bench, holding his prayer book as though awaiting his fellow pioneer, appeared in the June 1954 issue of the Indian Bahá’í News Bulletin, No. 69. A news item in that same issue reports the arrival of the two pioneers at their post, and notes that although Mr. Samuel Njiki fell ill and was in hospital for some time, he had recovered and joined Mrs. Munsif‘f in winning friends among the local people.

On 24 August 1954, the assistant secretary wrote to Mr. Njiki on Shoghi Effendi’s behalf saying how pleased the Guardian was with ‘the sacrificial services’ Mr. Njiki was rendering, and adding: ‘The Guardian becomes very happy when he contemplates the fact that so many of the new African Bahá’ís have arisen to pioneer for the Faith. He feels those of you who are doing this are laying the foundation for great spiritual service in the Cause of God, that you

THE Bahá’í WORLD

are rendering historic service, and that you are becoming the honour and glory of the African people. The full extent of your deeds and services is not known now, but in the future they Will be greatly valued and appreciated.’ After assuring Mr. Njiki that the Guardian would offer prayers on his behalf, the assistant secretary continued: ‘He is hoping that through the confirmation of the Holy Spirit, you will be able to bring the light of Divine Guidance to many of the native inhabitants of the French Cameroons.’

Mr. Njiki remained at his pioneering post in Douala until 1956.‘ Upon returning he settled in New Town, Limbe. Eventually he occupied a modest home near the Local Centre in New Town, remaining there until his passing on 5 October 1983, after undergoing surgery at Provincial Hospital. From January 1972 until his death he was employed by the Ministry of Equipment, Department of Construction.

Samuel Njiki was married to Ndawoua Pauline by whom he had four children, Bless, Nancy and Lawrence, and an infant born after Mr. Njiki’s passing.

In addition to his pioneering service, Mr. Njiki was a member of the Spiritual Assembly of Limbe up to the time of his death and, to the degree that his deteriorating health permitted, he participated in the teaching work and served on various committees including the Local Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds Committee and the Local Visiting Committee. The name of Samuel Njiki will be remembered through the ages for the part he played in what surely will be acclaimed in future as one of the most important and thrilling episodes in the annals of the Bahá’í Faith on the African continent.

(Adapted from a memoir by the NATIONAL

SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF CAMEROON)

RAULPAVON (RAUL PAVON MEJlA) 1933—1983

DEEPLY DEPLORE LOSS ZEALOUS SERVANT CAUSE BAHAULLAH RAUL PAVON DISTINGUISHED PROMOTER FAITH AND INDEFATIGABLE WORKER IN TEACHING INDIGENOUS PEOPLES LATIN ANEERICA. HIS OUTSTANDING SERVICES AS MEMBER BOARD COUNSELLORS AMERICAS AND

[Page 617]IN MEMORIAM:

Rad! Pavén

UNIQUE ENDEAVOURS ESTABLISHMENT FIRST BAHAI RADIO STATION WARMLY REMEMBERED. PRAYING HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS HIS RADIANT SOUL WORLDS GOD AND SOLACE LOVING COMFORT HIS BEREAVED FAMILY. FEEL CONFIDENT HIS DEARLY CHERISHED PARENTS REJOICE ABHA KINGDOM RANGE HIS DEDICATED SERVICES. URGE ALL COMMUNITIES AMERICAS HOLD MEMORIAL GATHERINGS BEFITTING HIS HIGHLY VALUED CONTRIBUTIONS BELOVED FAITH. Universal House of Justice 23 October 1983

Only future generations will be able to properly assess the varied activities and projects spearheaded by Rail Pavén Mejia to promote the objectives of the Cause he so ardently loved; we stand too close to his accomplishments in the field of mass teaching and the Vision he held, and shared, of the future spread of the Faith through the mass media, especially radio. Rafil was born in Otavalo, Ecuador, where he resided at the the he passed away. He heard of the Bahá’í Faith during the mid-19508 and in May 1958 wrote to the National Teaching Committee of Ecuador requesting to be accepted as a Bahá’í. He sometimes related that

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I

after becoming a Bahá’í, he left books and pamphlets lying about the house hoping his parents would become curious and read them. His mother, Sefiora Clementina Mejia de Pavon has told of her curiosity and her decision one day to look over some of the material to see What her son was ‘mixed up in’. She later said that he had often mentioned the Faith, but that it had never really touched her heart. Now she began seriously to investigate the Cause and became a Bahá’í in July 1960. Rafil’s father, Sefior Segundo PaVon Barrera also began to study the Faith, and in December 1960, he too became a staunch believer. (The signal contributions to the Faith in Ecuador made by Mr. and Mrs. Pavon are recorded in The Bahá’í World, vol. XVIII, ‘In Memoriam’.) As the years passed, the entire Pavon family became Bahá’ís.

Rafil was a Bahá’í for twenty—five years during which he was a teacher of the Faith, a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of Ecuador and of the Local Spiritual Assemblies of Otavalo and Quito, serving also on various national and local committees. For the last ten years of his life he served as a member of the Continental Board of Counsellors in South America and the Continental Board of Counsellors in the Americas when the Boards of the Americas were merged. He early gained the love and respect of his fellow Counsellors. He was especially popular With youth. Everywhere he went they sought him out. When he arrived in Lima, Peru, on his last Visit, even though he was not well and was there to meet with the National Assembly, he took time out to have lunch with Bahá’í youth. Before special meetings, the youth of Lima begin with prayers at the graveside of their dear friend Rafil.

When queried as to how he became interested in converting the masses, Rafil related in an interview that he had become enthralled by the Guardian’s letters when he first read them; that he had studied them carefully, and had become caught up in the spirit of what the Guardian desired, and what he meant by ‘mass conversion’. These messages inspired him to engage in mass teaching among the indigenous people. In 1960, while he was teaching in another area of the country, the Local Spiritual Assembly of Otavalo, the Teaching Committee, and some pioneers who lived there asked the National Teaching Committee if Rafil might transfer to

[Page 618]618

Otavalo to help in teaching the Indians of the surrounding area. Their request was granted, and he was privileged to assist in the election of the first all-Indian Local Spiritual Assembly of Ecuador in Vagabundo, Ecuador, in 1961.

Raul did not become famed as a successful mass conversion teacher without being tested. These tests at times so tried his soul that he sometimes considered pioneering to another country. But Ecuador could never release him. Though his services were shared from time to time with other countries, at their request, it seems to have been his destiny to remain in his own country to serve the Cause.

The Hand of the Cause Dr. Raḥmatu’lláh Muhájir loved Raul dearly, and was well aware of the opportunities for mass conversion in Ecuador. On his Visits, Dr. Muhájir began to spend more time with Raul in the mass teaching areas, helping and guiding him and the other teachers. Raul said he learned a lot from Dr. Muhájir about direct teaching, and about the power generated from using the name of Baha’u’llah. Reminiscing, Raul called the days spent with the Hand of the Cause some of the happiest of his life.

Raul was a very shy man, avoiding the limelight whenever possible. However, after he was named a member of the Board of Counsellors, much of his shyness disappeared. It seemed that the power of that institution helped to bring forth many of his latent talents. Raul knew that Shoghi Effendi had advocated the use of radio for spreading the Teachings, and he diligently pursued this Vision until it became reality in Radio Bahá’í, Ecuador, the first Bahá’í-owned and operated station in the world. He also enVisioned the use of television, the arts, and drama as media of proclamation and was active in these fields whenever time permitted. He also loved poetry and wrote beautiful poems inspired by the Faith. While in Canada a few months before he died, he wrote a haunting poem foreshadowing his early demise. This poem was forwarded to his family after his death. He wrote others describin g the early days of mass teaching or immortalizing those who worked closely with him in the teaching field.

He was very delicate from childhood. One of his co-workers recalls how sick he would sometimes become while travelling over the high mountain ranges to reach the homes of the indigenous people. Often he could hardly

THE Bahá’í WORLD

breathe. She fretted that she was unable to carry him down the mountain and did not dare to leave him alone to go to find help. They prayed together that he would be able to walk down the mountain for there was no transportation and houses were miles apart. She relates that on three distinct occasions she witnessed the power of faith revive him when it seemed he was dying and there was no help in sight. Many times his doctors ordered him to stay out of the mountains but he would leave only for short periods to rest and teach at a lower altitude. He missed the teachin g work amon g the indigenous in the Sierra and would always return to this work and to his devoted family as soon as possible.

As the years passed and he was called upon as a Counsellor to travel constantly, his attacks became more frequent, often necessitating medical care While on his journeys. When returning from a meeting of the Board of Counsellors in August 1983, he became very ill in the airport in Miami, Florida, and was placed in a hospital in that city. As soon as he felt better he left to return home and consult with his family about the diagnosis made there that he needed an operation. Seeking further medical advice, he was put in touch with a Bahá’í physician in the United States, where he again went for tests and treatment. Returning to Ecuador a few weeks later he found a cable from Bolivia asking him to come immediately because of an emergency situation with their radio station. He felt it his duty to go and left the following day without taking the requisite time to rest or to acclimate himself again to the high altitude. After a week in Bolivia he became ill and left for Lima, Peru. There he met with the National Assembly and, refusing hospitality, went to a hostel near the Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds. His condition worsened during the night and he was taken to hospital on the following day. Information was sent to his shocked family and friends in Ecuador that he was not expected to live. After an operation it was found that he had an incurable, chronic condition, as previously diagnosed, and, indeed, could not live.

The National Spiritual Assembly of Peru had a quorum of its members present in the hospital all week praying for him and ready to be of whatever assistance they could, and a number of believers, including youth, kept a Vigil at the hospital until his death. As it became apparent

[Page 619]IN MEMORIAM

that the end was near, his devoted Bahá’í doctor asked Rafil if he had a message for his family and for Counsellor Mas‘ud @amsi. He answered, ‘Only that I love them very much’; and again, asked if he had any words for his family, he answered, ‘All the Bahá’ís are my family.’

Raul Pavon Mejia was interred on Sunday morning, 23 October 1983, in the new extension of the English Cemetery in Lima. A short distance away, in the older section of the cemetery, rests the father of the Bahá’í Faith in Ecuador whom Raul so deeply admired, J ohn Pope Stearns. A beautiful eulogy was pronounced at the graveside by Mr. Donald Witzel of Venezuela who represented the Continental Board of Counsellors in the Americas.

The International Teaching Centre sent the following cable:

DEEPLY GRIEVED UNTIMELY LOSS OUTSTANDING EXEMPLARY SERVANT BLESSED BEAUTY RAUL PAVON. HIS DEVOTED HISTORIC SERVICES SPANNING TWO DECADES WILL EVER REMAIN ASSOCIATED TREMENDOUS UPSURGE INDIGENOUS BELIEVERS FULFILLMENT PROMISE MASTER AND ESTABLISHMENT FIRST BAHAI RADIO STATION. EXTEND HEARTFELT CONDOLENCES LOVE BEREAVED FAMILY AND FRIENDS. ASSURE FERVENT PRAYERS SHRINES BOUNTIFUL REWARD ABHA KINGDOM.

And on 24 October 1983 the Teaching Centre wrote to all Counsellors: ‘We know you are saddened at the loss of such an active colleague, and that you will wish to join your prayers with those of the institutions and friends at the World Centre for his rich blessing in the realms on high.’ '

(Adapted from a memoir by HELEN BASSETT HORNBY)

YVONNE LIEGEOIS CUELLAR 1896—1983

On 7 December 1983, in Arapahoe County, Colorado, USA, well into the eighth decade of her life, Yvonne Liegeois Cuellar died, far from Bolivia, the land where she was the first to embrace the Bahá’í Faith and where she was to render it her highest and most distinguished services. She loved Bolivia devotedly and being

619

possessed of a great Vision of its future was convinced that its people would win astounding Victories for the Cause of Baha’u’llah. She was indefatigable in her advocacy of the Faith for which she made immense sacrifices and to which she demonstrated exemplary loyalty and steadfastness. Nothing could dim the radiance of her

”spirit. On 11 November 1950, in his ownhand,

1Shoghi Effendiwrote assuring her of his ‘heartfelt admiration for the spirit that so powerfully animates you in the service of our beloved Faith, and of my profound gratitude for the many and splendid achievements which have distinguished the record of your stewardship to the Faith you love so dearly.’

Yvonne who was born Yvonne Alice Liegeois in Paris on 11 March 1896, has left an account of how she learned of and accepted the Faith, from which the following extracts are taken:

‘In November of 1940, after undergoing radical surgery in Buenos Aires, Argentina, I returned to my home in La Paz, Bolivia, with little resistance and a sad heart. At that time my native country, France, had fallen to the Nazis and the news was very depressing A short while later, a woman who exuded happiness and radiance came with the news that I had always been awaiting—Christ had returned; He had fulfilled His promise and announced His mission exactly at the time that the prophet, Daniel, predicted. He is called Baha’u’llah, the Glory of God. He has written His revelation with His own pen; He has come to bring peace, justice and unity to the world. He has proclaimed that women have the same rights to education as men. These were the principles for which I argued and fought during my youth in France.’

The radiant Bahá’í with whom Yvonne had come into contact was Eleanor Adler of Los Angeles, California, who, despite her ignorance of Spanish, had felt impelled to bring the message of Baha’u’llah to La Pazjust six months after she herself embraced the Cause. Yvonne wrote: ‘At the time, I had a few paying guests at our home . . . I had a room ready to receive Eleanor Adler, whom I heard talking about these teachings to a Mr. Gee [of the cable office]. I was f acing the fireplace where eucalyptus wood burned gaily, and then turned to Eleanor and said, “I want to know all about this!” “I’ll tell you about it,” she replied. “No! I want to read His Words by myself I” . . . That very night she

[Page 620]620

handed me copies of Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, Bahd’z' Scriptures, and Prayers and Meditations by Bahá’u’lláh . . . I could scarcely sleep, entranced by the Words of Baha’u’llah, the Word of God!’

F rom that point on Yvonne dedicated herself to the service of the Cause. She lived to teach the Bahá’í Faith. She simply-could not understand how anyone could fail to recognize Baha’u’llah and respond to His teachings. She proclaimed the Cause to everyone she knew and to people in every walk of life. She sponsored in her home meetings and banquets at which the Faith was presented to a circle of international guests which included well-known writers, poets, intellectuals, statesmen and members of the diplomatic corps. She brought the Faith to the attention of leading authors including Abel Alarcon, Vicente Donoso Torrez and Max Bairon who wrote extensive and well—informed articles about the Faith. El Diario and La Razon, newspapers of La Paz, published the first articles about the Cause.

Through Yvonne’s dedicated efforts to make them aware of the Cause, her husband, Colonel Arturo Cuellar Echazu, accepted the Faith in 1944, as did their daughter in 1946. Colonel Cuellar joined Yvonne in proclaiming the Faith by means of programmes on Radio Illimani and Radio Bolivar of La Paz.

In 1945, largely through the efforts of Yvonne, her husband and Flora E. Hottes, the Spiritual Assembly of La Paz was formed, the first in Bolivia. A photograph of this Assembly was placed by Shoghi Effendi in the Mansion at Bahjí. Two years later, Yvonne was able to arrange the first audience with a Bolivian President, His Excellency Enrique Hertzog, who graciously accepted a Bahá’í book presented in the name of the Spiritual Assembly of La Paz. Later in 1947 the Bolivian government accorded official recognition to the Faith.

Encouraged by the Guardian with Whom she was in frequent correspondence, Yvonne, in 1948, opened a second Bahá’í Centre in La Paz, on Illampu Street, as a venue for reaching the indigenous people.

In 1949, after meeting the Hand of the Cause Amelia Collins at a Bahá’í conference in Rio de J aneiro, Yvonne’s enthusiasm knew no bounds. She encouraged her husband to join her in a teaching trip to Tarija where she delivered addresses on the Faith to the University and

THE Bahá’í WORLD

the Rotary Club. She also addressed the University at Sucre and, with the Guardian’s approval, Visited Cochabamba. These may be regarded as the first teaching trips within Bolivia.

Yvonne and her husband made a substantial contribution towards the translation of Bahá’í literature into Spanish. Colonel Cuellar translated Foundations of World Unity, extracts from God Passes By, and reviewed the translation of The Renewal ofCivilz'zation. He also helped with the review of some other early translations. Yvonne encouraged the La Paz community to become self—sufficient in the publication of pamphlets.

She was of great assistance to all the pioneers who arrived in Bolivia. In 1949 when Dorothy Campbell was stricken for a week with typhoid in La Paz, Yvonne brought her mattress to Dorothy’s home, slept there and helped nurse her back to health. Such were her detachment and generosity.

In June 1953, the Cuellars had to leave Bolivia and go to the United States where they helped form the Local Spiritual Assembly of Park Ridge, Illinois. Three years later the National Spiritual Assembly of South America requested their urgent return. The La Paz community needed them so they moved to Bolivia where they continued to be pillars of the Cause. Then one day some people knocked on Colonel and Mrs. Cuellar’s door and asked for information about the Faith. It was Andrés and Carmelo Jachakollo who embraced the Faith in 1957 and ever since have served it as travelling teachers. Their enthusiastic activity in promoting the Cause reinforced Mrs. Cuellar’s conviction that Bolivia would witness entry by troops. Foreseeing that the Bolivian community could go forward rapidly, she worked towards creating a team of trained believers who could carry on the work. For a nominal fee, she and her husband donated the present National Centre, totally furnished and well equipped, which serves as the permanent seat of the National Spiritual Assembly of Bolivia. When mass conversion in indigenous areas began, Yvonne obtained a document from Alvaro Perez del Castillo, the Minister of Indigenous Affairs, which permitted Bahá’í teachers to travel without hindrance throughout the entire country including the rural areas. She also donated Bahá’í literature to the libraries in La Paz.

[Page 621]IN MEMORIAM

Yvonne Liegeois Cuellar

This done, she was able to respond to the appeal for teachers to Visit France in preparation for the election of the first National Spiritual Assembly of that country which was to be held in 1958. She was very happy to assist with the strengthening of the Faith in the land of her birth. She was on a trip through Marseilles and Lyon when she was informed of the death of the beloved Guardian. She immediately returned to Paris, consulted with the Local Spiritual Assembly and proceeded to London. After Shoghi Effendi’s burial she continued her journey to various centres in France, and then settled in the United States where she continued to teach with Vivacity and enthusiasm. She Visited Bolivia in 1969 and was thrilled to see how the Bahá’í community had expanded and developed. She maintained close correspondence with the National Spiritual Assembly, and until the last moment of her life she continued to support and pray for the growth of the Faith in Bolivia. In honour of her devoted and loyal services the National Assembly has placed a photograph of dearlyloved Yvonne Cuellar in the National Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds and in all the Bahá’í institutes, and

621

after her passin g commemorative meetings were held throughout the country in tribute to this extraordinary being whose efforts in the early days of the Faith are an incomparable example for the Bahá’ís of Bolivia who deeply love and respect her. On her tomb at Riḍván 1984 there was mounted a plaque adorned With a nine—pointed star and the legend: ‘The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Bolivia in grateful memory of: Yvonne de Cue11ar Spiritual Mother and First Believer of the Bahá’í Community of Bolivia.’

Describing the lives of Yvonne and Arturo in the United States, Dorothy Stewart has written: ‘They settled near their daughter in Littleton, Colorado, in 1969 and continued their distinctive service to the Cause of God by actively participating in teaching projects. Yvonne’s efforts in the past fifteen years have greatly contributed to the establishment of several new localities and Local Spiritual Assemblies in north-eastern Colorado.’

‘The Cue11ars were planning to return to Bolivia as pioneers in 1977,’ reads an account in the February 1984 issue of T [26 American Balzci’z’, ‘but Mr. Cuellar died before their plans were completed and Mrs. Cuellar, who even then was in failing health, was unable to go alone. Instead, she remained active in teaching the Faith in Colorado.’ The account states that in 1981 Mrs. Cuellar cancelled her pilgrimage to the World Centre preferring, as she wrote to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States, ‘to help our brethren’, the persecuted Bahá’ís of iran, and contributing ‘all I could to the Universal House of Justice’.

‘Her mortal body’, writes Dorothy Stewart, ‘lies in the Littleton, Colorado, Cemetery next to her husband Both gravesites share an obelisk monument which identifies them as Bahá’ís the cemetery is situated on a low hill south of the small town of Littleton and is planted with stately evergreen trees and beautiful roses. Looking westward one Views the magnificence of the Colorado Rockies.’

Her exemplary devotion prompted the Universal House of Justice on 14 December 1983 to cable the National Spiritual Assembly of Bolivia:

SADDENED LEARN PASSING YVONNE CUELLAR STALWART STEADFAST HANDMAIDEN BAHAULLAH TO BE EVER DISTINGUISHED AS FIRST

[Page 622]622

‘ DECLARED BELIEVER BOLIVIA OFFERING PRAYERS SACRED THRESHOLD PROGRESS HER SOUL ABHA KINGDOM.

(Adapted from an article submitted by the NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY or THE Bahá’ís OF BOLIVIA and translated from the Spanish by KATHIA NARAGHI [NARAQiD

MARGARITE IOAS ULLRICH 1898~1984

Margarite Hope, the ninth child of Charles and Maria Ioas, was born in Chicago, Illinois, on 7 July 1898, the day her parents wrote their letters to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá seeking permission to become Bahá’ís.

As the Ioas children were growing up, their father would gather them each week around the large table. He spoke of religious subjects and interpretations of the Bible, which he had read in Greek, showing them how the prophecies were fulfilled in the Bahá’í Faith. Although the children were active in other churches when young, they all became followers of Baha’u’llah, Leroy being appointed a Hand of the Cause and serving on the International Bahá’í Council.

In 1912, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá came to Chicago. Mr. and Mrs. Ioas went many times to see Him, taking one or two of the children along. Margarite (better known as Marge) described her Visit in these words:

‘I can remember distinctly the first time my mother took me to a meeting where He was going to speak. The people were all waiting for Him to arrive, and when He entered the room and came close to me, I wanted to fall at His feet, but instead I didwhat all the others did, and that was to arise.

‘On one particular day Mother went, I went along. There were other children there that day, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá called us all into His sitting room and seated Himself on the divan. We children grouped ourselves around His knees, and He covered us with His outstretched arms, His mantle falling over us like two wings, shielding and protecting us from all harm. I was thirteen at the time and had been attending the Methodist Sunday School. We used to sing a song that impressed me very much. I had thought how wonderful it would be if such a

THE Bahá’í WORLD

Margarite Ioas Ullrich

thing happened to me. This song [“I think when I read that sweet story of old . . .” about Jesus enfolding the children in His embrace] is what came to me as we knelt at ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s feet, and I thought “It’s really happening to me!”

‘Mother said it reminded her of a quotation from the Bible: “Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.” Luke 18:16.’

This meeting had a profound effect on Marge’s life, which became one of service to the Cause she espoused.

In 1920, in response to a letter Marge wrote to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in which she pleaded, ‘Help me to always follow Thy noble commands and be one of Thy servants, Who guided by Thee, manifest Thy wonderful teachings in my actions, thus bringing the truth of Thy words to those who are ready to hear them,’ she received from the Master this Tablet dated 2 December 1920:

He is God!

O thou who art attracted to the T ruth!

T0 the affectionate Lord do I pray to bestow upon thee assistance and confirmation so that thou mayst be occupied in service to the Kingdom of God and like unto a candle be enkindled with the fire of the love of God.

Upon thee be the Glory of the All—Glorz'ous!

[Page 623]IN MEMORIAM

In 1922, Marge married Clarence Ullrich.1 Her husband, although reared a Catholic, had left the church when he was quite young and later became a Freemason. Despite his objecting strenuously, at first, to all Marge’s activity for the Faith, she continued her service, at this time giving talks and serving as secretary of the Program Committee at the Wilmette House of Worship, where she spent at least one day a week as a guide. When their children, Marjorie and Florence, were old enough, they went along on days When school was not in session. For many years Marge could be found at the Chicago Bahá’í Center assisting with the weekly afternoon lecture—teas and at the Annual Convention, where she often served as a delegate. Clarence’s attitude softened after his mother’s passing, and he himself served on the Maintenance Committee for the House of Worship. In 1940, when a ninth member was needed to form a new Local Spiritual Assembly for which Marge had been working diligently, Clarence signed his declaration card, officially acknowledging his belief in the Bahá’í Faith. Marge was chairman of this new Local Assembly in Oak Park, Michigan, for one year, then its secretary, until the family’s departure in September 1941 for Mansfield, Ohio.

The arrival of the Ullrich family created a group in Mansfield where there had been only an isolated believer. Every week in the Ullrich home a fireside was held, even if the only attendees were the members of the family. Marge frequently invited friends over for a bridge game, advising them they would hear a Bahá’í talk before the game began. The first person who became a believer came for the bridge, being completely uninterested, initially, in the religious aspect of the evening.

During the years in Ohio Marge served on the Regional Teaching Committee for Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky, part of the time as its secretary; as advisor to the National Youth Committee, of which Marjorie was amember; as teacher at two senior youth sessions at Louhelen Bahá’í School; as delegate to the Annual Convention; and as speaker in many cities in Ohio and the mid-West.

In 1945, the family was planning to move to New Jersey. Because Florence needed medical

ISee ‘In Memoriam’, The Balui’z’ World, vol. XV, p.465.

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attention after an accident sustained on the way to a junior youth session at Louhelen, they instead moved back to their home in Oak Park. This permitted Marge to continue and expand her service in the Temple area as speaker, guide, member of the Jubilee Committee, delegate to the Annual Convention, secretary of the Regional Teaching Committee of Illinois and Iowa, and chairman of the Temple Guides Committee. The following year she made a teaching trip to four cities in the southern United States, with her daughters and Bob Miessler providing music for the meetings.

At the International Conference which took place in 1953 in conjunction with the Temple dedication, both daughters decided to pioneer to Virgin territories, for which service they were named Knights of Baha’u’llah by Shoghi Effendi.

About the time the girls were leaving for their pioneer posts, Clarence and Marge went on pilgrimage, together with Marge’s sister, Viola Tuttle and her daughter, and met their beloved Guardian Who gave them a very warm welcome.

Marge was severely injured in an accident in October 1955. Even in a comatose state, she asked the nurse to contact Horace Holley, the secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly, who subsequently cabled the World Centre for prayers in the Shrines. Although absent from the Holy Land, the Guardian added his prayers to those of Leroy and Sylvia Ioas and others in Haifa. It took a long time for Marge to regain the use of her limbs. First Marjorie and then Florence flew home from their pioneer posts and for seven months helped during Marge’s recuperation. In February 1956 a letter from Sylvia stated that the Guardian was ‘assuring you of his prayers for your complete recovery’ and ‘of his prayers for the success of every effort you will exert . . . for the promotion of our beloved Faith’. As late as April 1957 a letter written on the Guardian’s behalf stated: ‘The Guardian continues his prayers for your healing, which he hopes from now on, Will be quite rapid. Your spirit of service is an example to all—how you are actively serving in spite of your sulferings and difficulty. The wisdom will become apparent later. The Guardian sends you both his loving greetings.’

Marge and Viola made a teaching trip to Venezuela, Colombia and the islands of the Caribbean in 1958. After Clarence’s retirement

[Page 624]624

in 1959, they sold their homes in suburban Chicago and moved to Camaguey, Cuba, to help establish the first Spiritual Assembly in that community in April 1960, preparatory to the formation of the National Spiritual Assembly of Cuba at Riḍván the following year.

Marge and Clarence left Cuba for Curagao for the birth of a grandchild in December 1960. They were looking forward to their return to Camaguey when they learned that the United States Government would not allow them to return to Cuba. Consequently, they went to Jamaica in early 1961 and were subsequently elected to the first National Spiritual Assembly of that country, Marge becoming its secretary. She and Clarence each took on the task of raising to Assembly status a goal community in the mountains, and with the assistance of the Supreme Concourse they were able to do so. As members of the National Spiritual Assembly of J amaica, they participated in the election of the first Universal House of Justice in Haifa in April 1963, and then attended the World Congress in London.

After the Congress, Marge’s health required their leaving J amaioa, so they returned to the United States, settling in Manatee County, Florida. Marge became secretary of the Local Spiritual Assembly there in 1966 and remained in that position until she resigned because of poor health in 1975. She and Clarence continued to travel for the Faith and were asked to conduct Summer School sessions on pioneering. After Clarence’s passing in 1969, another Bahá’í showed the slides which he had used to accompany Marge’s talks on the Holy Land.

Marge was a prolific letter writer. In addition to the letters she wrote regularly to cheer her daughters, there were the special ones written when advice was needed, or sent in response to questions about the Faith to which the' girls needed answers. She sent them programs for various occasions and news of the Bahá’í world community. She maintained an extensive correspondence with her brother, Leroy. She wrote letters of welcome to new believers and to pioneers. There were invitations to firesides and public meetings, letters arranging speakers, to the religious editors of newspapers, cards to those who were ill, letters to shut-ins to keep them in touch with the outside world, and letters to family members to keep the family close after their mother’s passing.

THE Bahá’í WORLD

In the 19705, Marge felt very strongly that the experiences of the Ioas family with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá should be recorded for posterity, and decided to undertake this task herself. She contacted each of the remaining members of her generation of the family for their experiences and compiled the information, along with the Tablets received from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. After obtaining the approval of her brothers and Viola, the work was put in final form by Monroe Ioas and distributed to all the family.1

In April 1983, Marge fell and broke her hip. She clung to life for some months, but infections, shingles, and the feeling of not doing anything for the Faith made life so miserable that she prayed to be released from her physical frame. She was granted her wish on 7 J anuary 1984, when her radiant soul flew to join the members of her family who had gone on before.

Auxiliary Board member Ben Levy spoke for many when he wrote to one of the Manatee County Bahá’ís: ‘The passing of Margarite Ioas Ullrich is a great loss to the Bahá’í world, for this noble maidservant distinguished herself in those many decades of Bahá’í service to the Cause of Baha’u’llah and makes her deserving entry into the Paradise of Abhá. She will be sorely missed by so many Who were the recipients of her tender love and who basked in the warmth of her radiant personality.’

The Universal House of Justice cabled to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States on 10 January 1984:

SADDENED PASSING FAITHFUL MAIDSERVANT BAHAULLAH MARGARITE IOAS ULLRICH WHOSE LIFE REFLECTED BOUNTY HER ATTAINMENT PRESENCE BELOVED MASTER. HER DEVOTED PIONEERING SERVICES WITH HER DEAR HUSBAND TO CUBA AND JAMAICA ENHANCE BRILLIANT ANNALS HER DISTINGUISHED FAMILY. LOVINGLY SYMPATHIZE SURVIVING RELATIVES. ASSURE ARDENT PRAYERS HOLY SHRINES JOYOUS WELCOME HER RADIANT SOUL ABHA KINGDOM.

With love and appreciation from her daughters, MARJORIE IOAS KELLBERG and FLORENCE MARIA KELLEY

1The booklet Part of the Bahá’í' History of the Family of Charles and M aria Ioas, by the five living children of Charles and Maria Ioas (Berwyn, 111.: Monroe Ioas, 1978, 36 leaves, was sent to the Bahá’í World Centre Library in 1978.)

[Page 625]IN MEMORIAM

EDITH MAY MILLER DANIELSEN 1909—1984 Knight of Baha’u’llah

Edith May Miller (Danielsen) was born 25 October 1909 in Deer Park, Washington, U.S.A., and was the youngest daughter born to Rawlins Adam Miller and LuEmma Estella Donaldson. Edith’s family were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Her father worked as a carpenter and was also a partner in a general store in Deer Park.

When Edith was just one and a half years of age, her mother passed away. Edith and her two older brothers, Delbert and Lester, were sent to live with relatives in Missouri where they remained until October 1915 when her father married Anna Faith Hopkins. Edith later attended Deer Park High School from which she graduated circa 1929, and then studied at Washington State College in Pullman for approximately two years. On 17 October 1933, she married Theodore Raymond Danielsen in a Methodist ceremony in Bremerton, Washington.

Alice Anne Miller, a niece of Edith’s, has written, ‘Edith was always interested in a large number of things. She had tremendous know1edge of the world, of history, of religions, and of space. She was fascinated by the potential of the mind and consciously searched for something in her 1ife that wasn’t self—1imiting.’

Edith Danielsen first heard about the Bahá’í Faith while living in Alaska from one of the early Alaskan Bahá’í pioneers, Janet Whitenack Stout, whose ‘In Memoriam’ appears elsewhere in this volume. Although Edith did not initially respond to the Bahá’í teachings, she heard about the Faith again years later from a Bahá’í—possibly Bea Haley—in Washington State. Hearing of the Faith on the second occasion, she wrote a letter to Janet Stout and said, ‘Send me everything you have about the Faith.’ Janet sent Edith Bahá’í books which she read avidly; being sincerely in search of answers, Edith was given the gift of recognizing the truth of the Bahá’í Revelation. On 18 February 1949, Edith became a member of the Bahá’í community.

Theodore (Ted) Danielsen, Edith’s husband, embraced the Faith of Baha’u’llah on 20 April 1951. Shortly thereafter, on 24 August 1951, he was killed when a United Airlines plane crashed.

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Edith Danielsen

The loss of her husband and the Guardian’s call for pioneers at the beginning of the Ten Year Crusade prompted Edith to sell her home and offer herself as a pioneer. She was named a Knight of Baha’u’llah by Shoghi Effendi for her service in opening the Cook Islands to the Faith, her arrival at her post (in Rarotonga) being conveyed to the Bahá’í world by the Guardian in a cablegram dated 11 November 1953, the text of which appears on page 52 of Messages to the Bahá’í World.

Edith spent her first year in the Cook Islands at the Hotel Rarotonga and then was able to move to the Maori Village of Muri, some time in 1954. A young girl, Rima Nicolas White, moved in with Edith to help her. Rima became the first Cook Island woman to become a Bahá’í. Edith was instrumental in having Writings of Baha’u’llah translated into the Maori language, and as a pianist drew people to her through her music. Rima Nicolas White stated that ‘Dani [as Edith was often called in the Islands] was a real teacher of the Faith.’

Edith returned to the United States for medical reasons half—way through the Ten Year Crusade. While in her home country, she met and married Keith Craig; however, this mar [Page 626]626 THE Bahá’í WORLD

riage was later annulled. Edith returned to the Cook Islands. From there, she travelled to Taipei, Taiwan. She also served the Faith in New Zealand for several years, helping to form and serving on the first National Spiritual Assembly of New Zealand. Much of her work centred around working with public relations and with youth.

Mrs. Jean Simmons of Auckland provides this tribute: ‘Edith Danielsen was a remarkable lady, and to my mind her “instant, exact and complete obedience”—to quote a well-known prayer—was her most outstanding Virtue. She instantly responded to calls for assistance by going to the Cook Islands, to Taiwan, and, when the need arose, to “my beloved New Zealand”her words. At the request of the National Spiritual Assembly, on Which she served a term, she settled in Hamilton, purchasing a large home with special facilities for firesides. Everything Edith undertook was done with the Faith foremost in her mind. She loved beauty and was very artistic. She designed unusual and attractive greeting cards and a unique ringstone symbol medallion, and produced much display material. She was clever at organizing displays. She played the organ and belonged to an organ society. Edith took delight in fun and hospitality, and many people benefited from her kindness. Her ability to teach and communicate with youth was great, and many now-adult Bahá’ís owe much to her guidance in their youth years. When calling to mind this Knight of Baha’u’llah, one remembers with admiration her steadfastness in, and devotion to, the Faith of the Blessed Beauty.’

Edith Danielsen returned to the United States due to ill health but she continued to serve the Bahá’í community as she was able until her death in Kirkland, Washington, on 29 January 1984. Mrs. Naomi L. Robinson, writing on behalf of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Bellevue, Washington, in which community Edith served for a time after her return from the South Pacific, stated: ‘Always active within her capacity, Edith Danielsen took obvious enjoyment in her association with the Bahá’í friends and in her hobbies which included nature walks and the collecting of all manner of natural things such as rocks and leaves. Her warm, affectionate and spiritual presence contributed greatly to the communities of Bellevue and Kirkland. It was a bounty to have known such

a beautiful person. At the time of her passing,

friends of all faiths and races gathered to offer a

last tribute to Edith, lovingly relating anecdotes and reminiscences of their contact with her.’ When confirmation of the death of Edith Danielsen reached the World Centre some months after her passing, a letter was written on behalf of the Universal House of J ustice and sent to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States on 28 June 1984, which said, in part: ‘The House of Justice regrets that it had not been informed earlier of the death of this outstanding Bahá’í but Wishes nonetheless to assure her relatives and friends of its loving sympathy and that it will pray fervently in the Holy Shrines that her soul may be richly rewarded in the Abhá Kingdom for her manifold services to the Cause.’ Adapted from an article by ALICE ANN MILLER and SUSAN STARK CHRISTIANSON

ETHEL COWAN REVELL 14 April 1897—9 February 1984

DEEPLY GRIEVED ANNOUNCE PASSING ETHEL REVELL SAINTLY STEADFAST SELFSACRIFICING PROMOTER CAUSE GOD. BLESSED BY ASSOCIATION ABDULBAHA COURSE HIS VISIT AMERICA AND RECEIPT TABLETS FROM HIM. HER TIRELESS LABOURS STERLING QUALITIES EARNED ADMIRATION SHOGHI EFFENDI WHO APPOINTED HER INTERNATIONAL BAHAI COUNCIL AS ITS WESTERN ASSISTANT SECRETARY. THIS CROWN HER SERVICES CONTINUED MEMBERSHIP ELECTED COUNCIL SUBSEQUENT SERVICES MANY CAPACITIES WORLD CENTRE INCLUDING SECRETARY HANDS HOLY LAND. URGE NATIONAL ASSEMBLIES HOLD BEFITTING MEMORIAL GATHERINGS HER HONOUR IN ALL MASHRIQULADHKARS OTHER CENTRES. PRAYING HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS HER RADIANT SOUL ABHA KINGDOM.

With these words the Universal House of J ustice on 9 February 1984 announced to the Bahá’í world the passing of one who lived her life of dedicated service as though no alternative existed and who would have been amazed to be accorded such accolades.

[Page 627]IN MEMORIAM

The Revells were a devout Christian family living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. The father, Edward, was a weaver, who passed away, after years of illness, in 1900, leaving his forty-one-year-old wife Mary with six young children, though Ethel herself mentions there being eight children in the family. Mary Revell, though tiny in size, was a pillar of strength, possessed of phenomenal courage. Before her husband died, foreseeing the diflieulties of her situation, he told her she would never be able to keep all the children with her, but she assured him he need not worry, she would do so; she got employment in a factory and with the assistance of the older children, who valiantly got jobs at an early age, she preserved her home and kept her family together. Ethel’s own employment certificate shows she was fourteen when she went to work; most of her working life she was listed as ‘stenographer’. Like her mother, she was small and delicate in build.

Annie McKinney, Mary Revell’s sister, was one of America’s early believers and interested Mary and her daughters, Jessie and Ethel, in the Bahá’í teachings; they attended meetings in 1906 taught by Mrs. Isabella Brittingham, a renowned and erudite Bahá’í, and as a result Mary Revell, Jessie, not yet fifteen, and Ethel, not yet ten, accepted the Faith. Gradually the whole family became Bahá’ís and the Revell home became the hub of activities in Philadelphia for many decades. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had a great love for this family, particularly its most distinguished members Mary, Jessie and Ethel, who received a number of Tablets from Him; in one written to Mary Revell in 1908 from the prison-City of ‘Akká He foreshadows His teaching mission to the West: ‘T hy letter was received and was of the utmost sweetness for it began: ”0 T hou Ensign ofPeace and Salvation! ” It is the hope of this imprisoned one to become the cause of Peace and Salvation in the world and summon the inhabitants of the globe to love, kindness, righteousness, uprightness and the adoration of T ruth ...’

We are fortunate to have the first letter Ethel herself wrote to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, dated 22 September 1909: ‘To my dear Master, I rejoice in the thought that I am a Bahai. I am the eight [sic] child, and am twelve years of age. Since mamma has come into this faith I haven’t gone to Sunday School. I would rather learn the primary lessons of today. I hope I may be a

627

Ethel Revel]

great helper in this great cause and show by my life what I am. Help me to by deeds of kindness be a great service to mankind. I am your humble servant. Ethel Cowan Revell.’ Whether this was ever answered directly to her we have no record; however, a copy of a Tablet to her from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá dated 8 October 1921, evidently replying to matters she had raised concerning others—so typical of her self-effacing naturelwbegins: ‘0 T hou maidservant of God!’ and ends, ‘Upon thee be the glory of the Most Glorious.’ The orientation to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the Centre of the Covenant, from 1906 till His ascension in 1921 was never interrupted.

During ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s travels in the United States and Canada in 1912, Ethel lost no opportunity to see Him whenever this was possible, meeting Him on more than one occasion, in more than one place, and recording these wonderful occasions in terse and Vivid language, including His visit to her own home on 10 June. After He left, she recalls, ‘I went to the room where He had been—and wept.’ In November, with her sister Mary, she travelled to New York to see Him; on that memorable day He received them alone in His room and called them His ‘good daughters’. ‘I sat opposite Him’, Ethel

[Page 628]628

writes, ‘and tried to get every opportunity I could to fix the picture of Him in my mind“ for eternity—although He was always looking straight at me and I knew He knew all I had done and would do.’ He gave her sister a box of candy and told her to share it with the friends, but He gave Ethel a jar of preserves and said, ‘Keep this yourself.’ Then Ethel adds: ‘My sister wept—I did not exactly feel like weeping—I felt more like telling everyone what we had—but I looked at her and wept, too.’ Through His interpreter ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s last words to them as they left His presence were: ‘T ell them I will always be with them.’ I think Ethel accepted this as a simple reality—as did so many early believers—which went with her all through her life. ‘

Ethel was never a person to pester anyone for attention; a few times in her life she wrote to the Guardian. Her first letter from him seems to have been in February 1928; she had sent him the gift of a calendar with her letter of 19 December 1927, for which his secretary thanks her and Shoghi Effendi appends warmly in his own hand: ‘My dear Bahá’í Sister: Your constancy in service, your unshaken loyalty and unsparing efforts greatly hearten me in my work and sustain me in my arduous task. I will continue to pray for you from the bottom of my heart that you may receive the Master’s richest blessings and guidance in all that you do, Your true brother, Shoghi.’ Again, in another letter, in his own hand, he wrote: ‘May the Beloved bless, sustain and protect you and cause you to establish firmly the foundations of His Faith in the hearts of the newcomers, and assist you to fulfil your heart’s cherished desire, Your true brother, Shoghi.’

In 1936, when Shoghi Effendi had recently strongly appealed to the North American Bahá’í community to arise and teach the Cause of God, his secretary wrote: ‘The Guardian’s advice is that you, as well as your dear mother and sister, should labour in those towns and cities in Pennsylvania where there are no residing believers your immediate objective should be the formation of a nucleus of believers who, in their turn, will endeavour to further enlarge their community and extend the sphere of their local Bahá’í aotivities.’ Shoghi Effendi appended: ‘Dearest Co—worker: My heart is deeply touched by your noble resolution. The Revell family is winning fresh laurels

THE Bahá’í WORLD

in their service to the Cause of Baha’u’llah. Perseverance and persistence will crown your efforts with success. My prayers will ever accompany you. Rest assured. Gratefully, Shoghi.’

The tone of this postscript is unusually warm. I believe it must have been in connection with this letter that the Revell family’s epic motoring exploits took place. Ethel told me that they realized they could not carry out these teaching activities in neighbouring towns unless they had a car—so they (it must have been out of J essie and Ethel’s skimpy wages) bought one, probably second hand. Who was to be chauffeur? Ethel. Ethel sat in the front seat and drove, Mrs. Revell and Jessie sat in the back, and J essie directed operations from there. On one of these excursions, Ethel told me, she drove up a hill on a street that had no outlet and was completely paralysed by' the prospect of turning the car around and going back down the hill, so she stopped. She said a man had been watching her from the window of his house and finally called out, ‘Lady, do you want me to turn your car around for you?’ ‘Yes, please,’ said Ethel. The three Revell ladies were so prostrated by this whole terrible ordeal they could not face the drive back to Philadelphia and spent the night in a hotel! Nothing, however, stopped their teaching efforts.

Mary Revell died in 1943, many of her children surviving her as Bahá’ís, but Jessie and Ethel were unique, active in all kinds of endeavours, particularly the teaching work, both locally and through national events. Their devotion and loyalty to Shoghi Effendi he was well aware of; in December 1949, Horace Holley, secretary of the National Assembly, wrote to them jointly: ‘The Guardian has directed us to send you a copy of his statement covering recent cases of COVenant breaking in his family. This information he states is for you to have as old believers who “remember the past and know what Covenant-breaking is”, but is not for circulation or publication.’

Very historic circumstances brought the Revell sisters, Jessie and Ethel, to Haifa: In a cable to the Bahá’í world, 9 January 1951, the Guardian stated, ‘PROCLAIM NATIONAL ASSEMBLIES EAST WEST WEIGHTY EPOCH MAKING DECISION FORMATION FIRST INTERNATIONAL BAHAI COUNCIL, FORERUNNER SUPREME ADMIN [Page 629]IN MEMORIAM

ISTRATIVE INSTITUTION DESTINED EMERGE FULNESS TIME . . .’ Shoghi Effendi went on to explain, ‘PRESENT ADEQUATE MATURITY NINE VIGOROUSLY FUNCTIONING NATIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE INSTITUTIONS THROUGHOUT BAHAI WORLD COMBINE INDUCE ME ARRIVE THIS HISTORIC DECISION . . .’ No names appeared in this message but Shoghi Effendi had already begun, about two months previously, to summon its members to the World Centre, the first was Dr. Luṭfu’lláh Ḥakím (Luṭfu’lláh Ḥakím), then in Britain, through a cable on 14 November 1950, addressed to the National Spiritual Assembly of the British Isles, which simply stated: ‘KINDLY ARRANGE DEPARTURE LOTFULLAH HAKIM HAIFA FOR NECESSARY SERVICES’; the second cable, of the same date as I recall, was addressed to the American National Spiritual Assembly and with equal brevity and simplicity stated: ‘APPRECIATE EXTEND FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE REVELL SISTERS COME HAIFA REQUIRE THEIR SBRVICES.’ On 22 November they themselves received a confirming cable: ‘REVELL SISTERS, WELCOME YOUR PRESENCE HAIFA. SHOGHI.’ Early in December, Mason Remey and Amelia Collins were likewise summoned by the Guardian to the Holy Land; both planned to arrive later that month. By 2 March 1951 Shoghi Effendi was able to cable the Bahá’í world: ‘GREATLY WELCOME ASSISTANCE NEWLY FORMED INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL PARTICULARLY ITS PRESIDENT MASON REMBY AND VICEPRESIDENT AMELIA COLLINS THROUGH CONTACT AUTHORITIES DESIGNED SPREAD FAME CONSOLIDATE FOUNDATIONS WIDEN SCOPE INFLUENCE EMANATING TWIN SPIRITUAL ADMINISTRATIVE WORLD CENTRES PERMANENTLY FIXED HOLY LAND CONSTITUTING MIDMOST HEART ENTIRE PLANET.’ A year later the Guardian, in his Naw-Rúz 1952 message to the Bahá’í world, cabled: ‘

ANNOUNCEMENT ENLARGEMENT INTERNATIONAL BAHAI COUNCIL. PRESENT MEMBERSHIP NOW COMPRISES AMATULBAHA RUHIYYIH KHANUM CHOSEN LIAISON BETWEEN ME AND COUNCIL. HANDS CAUSE MASON REMEY, AMELIA COLLINS, UGO GIACHERY, LEROY IOAS, PRESIDENT, VICEPRESIDENT, MEMBER AT LARGE, SECRETARY GENERAL, RESPECTIVELY. JESSIE REVELL, ETI—IEL REVELL, LOTFULLAH HAKIM, TREASURER, WESTERN EASTERN ASSISTANT SECRETARIES.’ Three years later, on 4 May 1955, the Guardian announced to all National Assemblies, ‘. . .NUMBER MEMBERS INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL RAISED NINE THROUGH APPOINTMENT SYLVIA IOAS.’ When one contemplates the above

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shaping of Bahá’í history and realizes that two of the nine ultimate members of the Council were the modest, humbly employed, relatively uneducated Revell sisters, it gives one pause to think and causes one to rejoice.

It is very easy to recapitulate salient historic events but what passes in the hearts of those concerned is another matter! The Revell sisters were stunned by this succinct summons to Haifa; they wrote to the National Assembly on 21 November—in reply to their letter of 15 November transmitting the Guardian’s message: ‘We feel every once in a while that we must be dreaming about all this. At the Feast Wednesday, we plan to read your letter to us. We have told no one yet about it, hoping we would have further word about our plans. So you can know how pent up we feel with this information inside of us.’ On 15 January 1951 they sailed direct, on the SS. LaGuardia, from New York to Haifa, Via Gibraltar, Palermo, and Naples; typical of these indomitable women, they persuaded the purser to let them hold a World Religion Day meeting for passengers of all classes, and to himself preside as chairman; they also arranged to meet the captain and inform him of the Faith!

Shortly after their arrival in Haifa Shoghi Effendi told them he believed it was because of their mother that they were here. Mary Revell had indeed attracted rich rewards on the heads of those two beloved daughters, who never married and whose entire lives were consecrated to serving the Faith. Ethel told me, when in a hurry her mother often would, instead of calling ‘Ethel! Jessiel’, call ‘Jethel!’ Of the many marks of personal kindness and trust shown them by the Guardian perhaps the most touching was the gift of a small pair of silver vases from the innermost Tomb of Baha’u’llah, which had stood for a long time over the place where He is laid to rest; Shoghi Effendi gave one to each of them.

Going back over my diaries I see how little Luṭfu’lláh, Jessie and Ethel figure in them, the reason being that usually turbulent and distressing crises were recorded and these three, Luṭfu’lláh, Jessie and Ethel——who served day after day, night after night, seven days a week, year after year—were no source of distress to our beloved Guardian! For us, as for him, there was no weekend; except for the nine Holy Days we worked right through, our example being

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Shoghi Effendi himself; we were truly consecrated to his service.

I could name the ‘angels’ I have known in my life on the fingers of one hand; Ethel is certainly one of them. She was totally dedicated to the Cause of God; pious, unselfish, self—effacing. The Revell family were richly endowed with the native American humour; this characteristic made it very easy to work with both sisters. They were good sports, full of fun and told jokes, one of Ethel’s favourites being: ‘Generally speaking women—are generally speaking!’

Jessie—six years older—«was lively, friendly, and assertive; Ethel was also friendly but quiet, unassuming, and retiring. Both sisters, however, were extremely capable, sensible women, Ethel being the more domestic and a better cook! From the time she came to Haifa until Shoghi Effendi passed away, Ethel acted as my secretary and I was his private secretary. She continued always to help me with my letters and typed my manuscripts until she was too old and frail to do so. During the six years when the Hands of the Cause were responsible for running the affairs of the Faith until the election of the Universal House of Justice in 1963, she acted as our English secretary. Every confidential thing was safe with Ethel. Her deep faith enabled her to surmount the bitter deprivation and upheaval of the Guardian’s passing and to give the loyalty of her heart first to the Hands and then to the Universal House of Justice.

In June 1961, when the International Bahá’í Council, of which she was a member appointed by Shoghi Effendi, was, according to his own plan, to be superseded by an elected Council, Ethel wrote to the Hands in the Holy Land: ‘F or my part, I am deeply grateful for the gift the beloved Guardian gave to the Bahá’í world—the body of the Hands of the Cause of God, and, closer to home, the Hands in the Holy Land. Often I pray in the holy Shrines that Baha’u’llah may continue to guide, strengthen and sustain you in solving the diflficult problems with which you are constantly faced as you direct the steps of the believers in carrying forward our World Spiritual Crusade.’

Ethel was a consistent contributor to the Bahá’í International Fund. In a letter acknowledging a contributién, the Hands in the Holy Land wrote to her: ‘The Hands of the Cause

THE Bahá’í WORLD

wish you to know how much they appreciate your ceaseless efforts to assist with the work at the World Centre of the Faith. Surely the Beloved Guardian is pleased with you and will richly reward you spiritually for all you are doing.’

All who knew Ethel valued her. The Universal House of Justice wrote to her in 1973, ‘As we review the many advances of the Cause of God during the past decade our thoughts turn towards you and the role you have played in the advancement of the Faith since the early years of its establishment in the United States, culminatin g in your service as Western Assistant Secretary of the appointed International Bahá’í Council and as a member of the elected Council. Your presence among us in Haifa is a continual inspiration to us all ...’ From her childhood the Whole philosophy of Ethel Revell was to give rather than take; to serve, to contribute in every way she could to the Cause of God. Not only did she always support the F und, but when her sister Jessie died she insisted on erecting her tombstone out of her own very limited resources, and contributions a few friends had sent towards Jessie’s grave she requested the Universal House of Justice to place in the International Fund.

In the thirty—three years of my close friendship and association with Ethel I cannot remember ever finding her out of sorts, disagreeable, or impolite. Part of her nature was not only her sweet character, but, like a lot of mild, quiet, good~tempered people, she could be very obstinate in small personal matters; she went her own way and lived her own way while being totally self-elfacing. One example of this comes to mind: at the back of the Western Pilgrim House, across the street from the home of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, in which Ethel and Jessie each had a room from the time they arrived in Haifa and became members of the International Council, there was a large yard with a place for drying laundry. However, Ethel had strung a clothes line diagonally across her bedroom which, like all those in the Pilgrim House, was not very big. Of course no one intruded on her privacy, but I was so close to her that I often went in to speak to her and I used to remonstrate with her and say that this was neither necessary nor good for her health because it increased the humidity; but for some reason I never could fathom, she refused to hang her clothes outside!

[Page 631]IN MEMORIAM

When she came to Haifa Ethel’s hair was short; one day, after she had been to the barber it was really difficult to see what benefit she had derived from his ministrations. So I told her that as long as that was the way her hair was going to look every time she went to the barber, I would henceforth cut her hair free of charge as I could certainly do as good a job! For a long time I did cut her hair; later she let it grow long and when we went to Europe together in 1958 to order the monument for the beloved Guardian’s grave and buy certain things in Paris for the Archives, I often dressed her hair in the morning before we went out, amidst considerable repartee on her part! We were also, I remember, uneasy bed—fellows in a double bed in a respectable but very modest hotel in Montmartre.

In 1952 when the beloved Guardian sent me to America to dedicate on his behalf the Mother Temple of the West in Wilmette for public worship, I was very concerned about who was going to personally wait on him, because no one but me had access to him directly in his private apartments; he would always send his messages through me, who then transmitted them to various people. My absence, therefore, for some weeks in North America was going to be very inconvenient for him. I asked him what he would do? Without the slightest hesitation he said, ‘Ethel will wait. on me.’ There was not any question in his mind who in Haifa he intended to answer his bell when he rang it! And so Ethel, the quiet one, intelligent and devoted, submissive and obedient, was the one who answered the Guardian’s bell. As she lived across the street in the Western Pilgrim House, someone had to go call her whenever the Guardian rang his bell; she told me that one day early in the morning he did so and she hurried over and upstairs; the Guardiancalled her into our sitting room at the front of the house and told her that in the night he could not sleep and had gotten up and looked out of the window and seen a white horse tied to a tree on the empty plot of ground which belongs to us across the street, and that she should go and find out what was going on and why this person had brought a horse there, and he added, ‘. . you can see the evidence’ and pointed to some droppings as proof that there actually had been a horse there! Of course, the owner of the horse was found and informed he

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could not graze his horse on our property.

For many years all the members of the International Bahá’í Council guided at the Shrineineluding the Hands—and Luṭfu’lláh, Ethel, Jessie, and Sylvia. Of course everybody had many stories of things that happened. I remember one of Ethel’s: In those days there were relatively few Visitors; a man went into the Shrine and when he came out said to Ethel, who had been standing by the door, ‘Do you feel God closer in there?’ Ethel said, ‘Yes, I do.’ He said, ‘So do I,’ and walked off.

One of the functions of Ethel and Jessie, particularly in the years after the beloved Guardian passed away, was to serve the pilgrims in the Western Pilgrim House. Later, when the Universal House of Justice increased the number of pilgrims, Ethel guided the English-speaking ones when they Visited the Holy Places. This was one of her functions for a number of years and won her the hearts of many people. She was so unassuming that I think few people realized how efficient and shrewd she was. I remember when I was buying in Germany a large supply of dishes for use in Bahjí; some plates were greatly reduced in'price because the patterns were different, so I bought these rather than a set. This bothered me and I asked Ethel, who was with me, if she thought it would create a bad impression on the pilgrims? ‘Rúḥíyyih Khánum,’ she said, ‘if they notice the difierence in the pattern they should not be on the pilgrimage!’ I have never forgotten this profound, perceptive observation!

Ethel was a most lovable and delightful companion as well I know, and my father had every reason to know this too and was very attached to her; during his convalescence from a very serious illness she came nearly every day across the street to our house and took him for a walk; as he was wobbly on his legs and very frail she would hold his arm to help him through the front door, whereupon, invariably, as she reported, there would be quite an incident because she did not want to let go and he refused to precede her, a lady, through the door!

After the election of the Universal House of Justice (who for twenty years used the Western Pilgrim House as its headquarters), Ethel and Jessie, at its request, went to live next to the Oriental Pilgrim House, where both Western and Eastern pilgrims were now being received, and acted as hostesses. They served in this

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,,

T he Hand of the Cause of God Amatu’l—Bahd Rdlll'yyih fldnum and member of the Universal

THE Bahá’í WORLD

House of Justice ‘Alz’ Nalcfiiavdm’ with Ethel Revel] (centre) in the House of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’z in 1973.

capacity for some time, Ethel continuing also to act as secretary to the Hands of the Cause. Later on, the Universal House of J ustice decided the work at the Pilgrim House was too much of a burden for these devoted sisters, now getting on in years and Jessie not in very good health, so an apartment was rented for them. Jessie was particularly anxious to Visit the Holy Places in Persia, Shoghi Effendi having assured her in writing that he hoped some day she would, so the two sisters took their vacation in 1965 and Visited many historic Bahá’í sites in Baha’u’llah’s native land Where they were warmly and lovingly welcomed by a community which appreciated and treasured the services they had rendered in the Holy Land for so many years.

Upon their return we found that Jessie’s failing health was due to cancer, which swiftly and painfully ended her life. Ethel, her life-long companion, nursed and cared for her with the greatest devotion. When J essie died I felt it was wrong for Ethel to live far from the House of ‘Abdu’i—Baha, Which for her had so many associations in the lifetime of the beloved

Guardian and afterwards, so with the permission of the House of Justice, 1 made a small apartment for her at the entrance of the property, where she lived until she died. Knowing her intensely independent nature, we agreed she

would be quite free to live her own life as she

pleased. With this arrangement she was content and happy in her little home, where she often entertained friends (including me!) and pilgrims she knew; her association With others was always for them a rich and wonderful ‘deepening’ experience, bringing people closer to the Guardian through her reminiscences, always increasing their knowledge, understanding and love.

In the end there was nothing left of the frail little Ethel but a wisp—«but it was the same old wisp! Her mind and her sense of humour never failed till the last day of her life. As I sat with her the day before she died I remarked that as her teeth were very bad it was lucky she did not have toothache; out came the 01d flash of humour: ‘You’re telling me,’ she said! Towards the end of her illness there was a great longing

[Page 633]IN MEMORIAM

to be released from the misery and incapacity of her body, prone to falling and difficult to control, which now needed day and night care. She endured her pains, misery, and dependence on others with the same fortitude and sweetness she had shown in the face of a long life full of work, cares and sorrows. Her end was made easier by the constant care of her devoted Bahá’í nurse, and the help of many other friends who served her. I remember when one night I called in our nice, wise doctor who had been attending her and said: ‘Doctor, I want you to know I do not want Miss Revell to go to a hospital, I want her to stay right here and be nursed in her own home’; he said, ‘I do not want her to go to a hospital either; I want her to stay here, too’; like us all he developed a deep respect and esteem for his patient. We were recalling, the day before she died, how she had been chosen above all others to serve Shoghi Effendi during my absence. She said, ‘Well, I tried to obey and to do what he wanted me to.’ The day she died we had coffee together—though she had been eating nothing—and chatted; in the evening, she passed away; like a little breath going out of the window her heavenly spirit departed. It was here she passed away; here in the home of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá that she had the great honour of a beautiful funeral in the main hall; from here that she was carried forth by loving hands to be laid at rest in the Bahá’í cemetery under the shadow of all the places she had served for over thirty years, the Shrines, the Archives, the home of the Master, the two Pilgrim Houses. She rests in company with four other members of the International Bahá’í Council—precursor Of the Universal House of Justice—Amelia Collins, Leroy Ioas, Luṭfu’lláh Ḥakím, and her dear sister Jessie Revell.

I had the feeling at Ethel’s funeral that when she died she had just gone straight up like a rocket! As far as I am concerned, she went to the highest heaven, to the right hand of the Throne of God—because I think that is where Ethel deserved to be, and personally, I think that is where she is.

RUHIYYIH

RENEE SZANTO-FELBERMANN 1900—1984

Renee Szanto-Felbermann (Szanto-Felbermann) was the first Hungarian to embrace the

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Bahá’í Faith. Her declaration occurred in 1936, three years after she first heard of the Bahá’í Cause at a lecture given in Budapest by Martha Root.

Renée was born on 21 J une 1900 into a J ewish family, the second daughter of Heinrich and Aranka Felbermann (née Haas). She absorbed considerable information about the J ewish faith from her parents and at age thirteen she was sent to a Christian boarding school in Weimar, Germany. Thus, at an early age, she acquired respect and tolerance for various religious points of View.

Deeply attached to her father, a distinguished international journalist, Renee was introduced by him to the leading Jewish intellectuals of Europe and many of its artistic, literary and social circles. She worked as a journalist in Budapest and, through her membership in the P.E.N. Club, she was in contact with many of the leading writers of the period.

From 1933 until 1936, Renee lived in London

where she arranged the publication of her father’s memoirs1 which she had edited. In London she had the opportunity to deepen her knowledge of the Faith through meeting many Bahá’ís. When she returned to Budapest she grew depressed by the fact that there was not a single Bahá’í in Hungary at that time. But soon afterwards she received a letter from two American believers, Mrs. Randolph Bolles and her daughter, Jeanne, who had just arrived in Budapest and had begun to hold Bahá’í meetings. Renee participated in these gatherings regularly and became absorbed in the Bahá’í Writings. In her memoirs she recalls: ‘. . . I read and reread the books and Writings of Baha’u’llah and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and the more I read the more I felt that the time had come to sever myself from former convictions, principles and prejudices and have the courage to answer the call of Baha’u’llah .. .’

In December 1940 Renée met Dénes Balint Szanto, a Unitarian, who was interested in the Bahá’í Faith and its spiritual principles. They married in the summer of 1941, only a few months before Hungary was swept into the horrors and fears of World War II. In September 1942 Renee gave birth to their only child, a son whom they named Marius.

Soon after their marriage, Hungary was

1Heinrich Felbermann, The Memoirs of a Cosmopolitan. (London: Chapman and Hall, 1936.)

[Page 634]634 THE Bahá’í WORLD

Renée Szanto~Felbermann

invaded and occupied by the Nazis. Years of oppression, persecution, fear and suffering followed during which the Bahá’í Faith was Renee’s only solace. She and her socially prominent mother were in extreme danger. It was only by chance that they escaped the fate which befell so many Hungarian Jews in this period. To protect the life of her little son, Renee secretly entrusted the care of the child to her husband’s parents.

Even after the end of the war Renée and her family were not allowed to live in peace and security. Indeed, their situation worsened under Communist rule in Hungary, so that they were forced to flee the country two months after the uprising of December 1956. After having been compelled to remain in Vienna for a short time they finally reached London. Renee became an active and dearly-loved member of the British Bahá’í community and was able to fulfil her literary aspirations through the publication in 1980, by the Bahá’í Publishing Trust of the United Kingdom, of her book Rebirth—The Memoirs of Renée Szanto-Felbermann. This work, telling the interesting story of her life, her acceptance of the Bahá’í Faith and her sufferings through the tragedies which befell the Hungarian J ewish community during the Nazi occupation, has become a means of teaching

and proclaiming the Message of Baha’u’llah, exactly as she intended.

Mrs. Lina DeSmithson who came to know Renee well during the period she lived in Croydon, England, has written:

‘Renée used every opportunity which came her way to teach the Faith, and was always very courageous and cheerful.

‘In 1981, when her health began to fail and

she was unable to live alone any longer, her .

husband having died, she moved to Germany to live with her son. On 28 February 1984 Renée died in Freiburg, Germany after a lifetime of service to the Cause of Baha’u’llah. She was a living example of Bahá’í love, and her warmth and gentleness were felt by all who had the great fortune of coming into contact with her.’

When advised of the passing of Renée, the Universal House of Justice on 29 February 1984 sent the following cable to the National Spiritual Assembly of Germany:

GRIEVED LEARN PASSING RENEE SZANTO FEL BBRMANN. FUTURE GENERATIONS BAHAIS

HUNGARY WILL CHERISH MEMORY HER DEVO TION CAUSE GOD HEROIC PERSEVERANCE PATH

BAHAULLAH KEEPING ALIGHT FLAME HIS FAITH

PERILOUS YEARS. PRAYING HOLY SHRINES PRO GRESS HER SOUL ABHA KINGDOM. KINDLY

CONVEY HEARTFELT SYMPATHY MEMBERS

FAMILY.

INGEBORG FRANKEN

GEORGE RUSSELL TRUE 1911—1984 Knight of Baha’u’llah

George was born into one of the outstanding families of Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A., on 2 March 1911, his grandfather having been American Consul in Madeira under President 'Abraham Lincoln. His parents had spiritual natures and, in addition, his father was an artist and a deep thinker. He used to read continually to his son, developing in him a love of books, and an inquisitive mind.

George was orphaned at the age of twelve, after which he was raised by various aunts and uncles. He took a Bachelor of Science degree from Cornell University and on the day of his graduation, 18 June 1934, he married Mar [Page 635]IN MEMORIAM

guerite (Peggy) Trauger. The couple lived in Detroit while building a home in Grosse Pointe Farms.

George often said that when he was a child in Sunday School, he thought, ‘If Christ came to people so many years ago, why not now?’_

Thus it was not a great surprise to him to learn.

through his employer, Mr. Lou Eggleston,l Who held firesides in his home, that Baha’u’llah was the return of Christ. On or about 26 October 1936, he and his wife enrolled in the Bahá’í community in Detroit, and later moved as home front pioneers to Grosse Point Farms. George was a member of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Detroit, and later a member of the Spiritual Assembly of Grosse Pointe Farms when one was formed there. He also served for some time on the Regional Teaching Committee of Michigan.

In late September of 1953, in response to the Guardian’s call for pioneers, he and his wife and son, Barry, left Grosse Pointe Farms. They had planned to go to Nigeria where they had friends—among them, Prince Orizu, who had Visited them in Grosse Pointe Farms and invited them to Nigeria. But when they arrived in London, the Guardian cabled that there was already one Bahá’í in Nigeria, and that it would be more meritorious to settle in a Virgin territory. En route to some of these places, they landed on Tenerife in the Canary Islands at 4:00 am. on 18 October 1953, and cabled the Guardian that there were no Bahá’ís there. The Guardian cabled back SETTLE CANARIES, which they did.

In spite of not knowing the language, Mr. True, With his engineering training, mounted a cinder block factory, the first of its kind on any of the islands. It proved to be very successful.

In 1955, the first Local Spiritual Assembly of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. was formed, Mr. True being elected as chairman. He continued to serve on that body until 20 April 1979 When he and his wife moved to Valle Gran Rey on the island of La Gomera, thus opening another island to the Faith.

Mr. True, in his college days, was known as ‘Trusty’ because of his honesty, reliability and humanitarian services. In La Gomera, some have called him ‘Jorge, el justo’mGeorge, the Just~—for the same reasons. His capacity to con 'See ‘In Memoriam’, T he Bahá’í World, vol'. XII, p. 713.

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George Russell T rue

Ciliate and arbitrate fairly and without prejudice was recognized by his relatives who in 1958 recalled him to the United States to assist in settling a disputed matter. Among the letters of recommendation he was given when he left America is one referring to his integrity, loyalty, reliability and sound judgment. It also cites his creative intelligence and adaptability.

George was always considerate and kind, remaining silent instead of making a comment which would give oflence. He read continually on a wide variety of subjects. He also had a great love of music and collected and recorded hundreds of hours of the classics, although he enjoyed light operettas and popular songs as well.

He firmly believed the Bahá’í principle that work performed in the spirit of service is worship, and constantly put aside his own affairs to be of service to others. Even today, friends and neighbors comment that he has left them many ‘remembrances’. The Villagers knew him as one who would willingly help them with repairs on everything from watches to plumbing, locks, electricity, shoes, glasses, or other items. For his own amusement he was experimenting in his shop with solar energy.

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In a letter which arrived after his passing on 9 April 1984, a friend wrote: ‘He really was a most remarkable man. He knew more about more subjects than anyone I have ever met so far in life. From agriculture to zoology, and in between, religion, science, philosophy, music, building, art, finance and many other matters, he covered them all. Truly a walking encyclopedia, and a great humanist as well. Never once did I ever know him to be other than on top of the world, at peace with himself and all his neighbors of the world, which as a good Bahá’í took in just everyone. Would that your Faith really becomes the guiding principle to all personal and international affairs as that would be “goodbye” to the arms race, war and misery of every kind.’

In a similar way, he touched the hearts of many who knew him and who even today feel his loss. The depth of the feeling of the people in Valley Gran Rey, La Gomera, where he made his last home, was expressed in a special mass which was held for his soul, requested by a neighbor who believes in God and Christ but not in the church. This was tendered as the ‘highest expression’ of her appreciation. Although I was unable to attend, I have been told that the church was packed with George’s many friends from the mountain to the beach. And it was Palm Sunday!

His influence will continue for~ years, no doubt, as his favorite prayer, O God, refresh and gladden my spirit. . ., was read at the funeral and has been chosen to be engraved on his tombstone. Innumerable people have requested copies of the prayer, which perhaps will awaken and guide them.

Although I had the joy of knowing George True for over fifty years, and of being his wife for forty-nine years and ten months of that time, I still never knew the depths of his soul. He was always inquiring, questioning, investigating“ hundreds of steps ahead of me. I am sure he must be gloriously happy in the next world where he can comprehend things from another dimension and converse with the many people he read about or knew of through books and music and science, who can guide him on to greater heights.

On 12 April 1984, the Universal House of Justice cabled:

GRIEVED PASSING STALWART KNIGHT OF

BAHAULLAH GEORGE TRUE EVE ESTABLISHMENT

THE Bahá’í WORLD

NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY TOWARDS ACHIEVEMENT OF WHICH HE LABOURED so SELFLESSLY.1 SUPPLICATING HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS HIS NOBLE SOUL ABHA KINGDOM COMFORT HEARTS BELOVED WIFE AND FAMILY.

PEGGY TRUE

SHIRIN NOORANI (_S__I_I_IRIN NURANI) 1918—1984 Knight of Baha’u’llah

The picture presented by the life of the maidservant of Baha’u’llah, ghirin Nurani, is one of selfless servitude against a sacrificial background. When the Universal House of Justice was informed of her passing, the National Spiritual Assembly of India received the following message dated 28 May 1984:

SADDENED PASSING STEADFAST DISTINGUISHED DEVOTED MAIDSERVANT GOD SHIRIN NOORANI. HER PERSEVERANCE IN KEEPING BANNER FAITH ALOFT IN KARIKAL IS UNFORGETTABLE AND WORTHY HER DESIGNATION AS KNIGHT BAHAULLAH. ASSURE RELATIVES FRIENDS LOVING PRAYERS HOLY SHRINES.

I distinctly recall the day thirty-one years ago29 August 1953—when Shirin came to Poona from Hyderabad to join me and proceed to Karikal. This was in response to the call of the Guardian in launching the Ten Year Crusade. For her service in arising to establish the Faith in this Virgin territory, flirin was named by Shoghi Effendi a Knight of Baha’u’llah. She further distinguished herself by steadfastly remaining in her chosen pioneering post. Shirin was born in Bombay on 19 April 1918 into a Bahá’í family of Zoroastrian origin. She was married in Bombay and had two sons. Her husband passed away three years after their marriage. This first crisis in her personal life only served to reveal her spiritual strength. After the death of her husband she was responsible for the household and was required to take care of her two children, her two brothers, and her aged parents. She valiantly and lovingly dis 1The first National Spiritual Assembly of the Canary Islands was formed at Riḍván 141 of the Bahá’í Era (21 April 1984), with its seat in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

[Page 637]IN MEMORIAM

Shirin Noarani

charged her duties, was never heard to grumble or complain, and always exuded a contented radiance.

The family later moved to Hyderabad and fihirin dedicatedly served them while she completed a course in nursing and training as a midwife in the hope of serving humanity. When she went to Karikal, she wanted to put her training in nursing to use, but she was unable to find a job and her offer to serve as a volunteer hospital worker was not accepted. Undismayed, she devoted her energies to the task of raising up a community of the Greatest Name in a Virgin land. And this was no ordinary task, for it took no less than six years to form a Local Spiritual Assembly in Karikal.

Although she never wanted to leave her pioneering post, fihirin had a deep sense of responsibility towards her parents, particularly when they became aged and ailing. The balanced manner in which she devoted her services to her parents and to Baha’u’llah was truly exemplary. She returned to Bombay for brief periods and sustained two more tragic blows, the deaths of

her younger son and her father. She returned '

to Karikal with her mother whom she nursed until she, too, passed away. Her brother, a bedridden diabetic, then joined the family in

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Karikal and Shirin now showered her immense love and affection upon him, her spiritual strength remaining undiminished even after his death. But the strain of bearing all these ordeals began to tell on the heart of this spiritual giant. She struggled on for two years, always actively serving the Faith, in spite of her heart ailment, without regret or remorse, always lively and cheerful till the last when, on 25 May 1984, a stroke brought to an end the physical life of this indefatigable maidservant of Baha. SALISA KERMANI (KIRMANi)

GENEVIEVE E. VOELZ 1886—1984

Mrs. Genevieve E. Voelz passed to the Abhá Kingdom in Wilmette, Illinois, USA, on 5 June 1984 at the age of ninety-seven. She had been a dedicated and devoted follower of Baha’u’llah for more than eighty years. She was born in the city of Chicago on 7 December 1886, the only child of the marriage of Knude and Laura Thime. Genevieve received her early religious training from her maternal grandmother, who, though not belonging to any church, clung steadfastly to the Bible to ease the burdens of a difficult life. As a young girl, Genevieve attended many different churches: she would attend one church in the morning, another in the afternoon, and still another in the evening. She played the piano for singing and helped with the children. Although she was often asked to join the Churches she attended, she would not.

Genevieve was just six years old when the first mention of Baha’u’llah was made in America at the Congress of Religions held in Chicago in 1893 in conjunction with the World Fair. She remembered attendin g the Fair and nearly being crushed to death by the crowds. The Bahá’í Faith spread quickly. It was only ten years later, when she was sixteen, that she learned of it and became a Bahá’í, along with her parents. They were introduced to the Faith by Benjamin Jacobson, who was the husband of her aunt on her father’s side. He had learned about it at the factory where he worked as a machinist. Both Mr. and Mrs. Jacobson also became Bahá’ís and, shortly thereafter, they moved to Kenosha,

[Page 638]638

Wisconsin, which became the second Bahá’í community in America.

One year later, when Genevieve was seventeen years old, her mother passed away. The funeral was believed to be the first Bahá’í funeral to be held in America. Mr. Thornton Chase, the first American believer, conducted the service, and Mr. Albert Windust, another very early Bahá’í, sang a hymn.

Following her mother’s death, Genevieve went to Kenosha for a short time to assist her aunt, Mrs. Jacobson, who had a sick child which later died. During her stay, she met Louis J . Voelz, son of Mrs. Emma Voelz, who later married Henry Goodale, a member of the first

Spiritual Assembly of Chicago, with whom she ’

subsequently settled in Kenosha. Both mother and son were Bahá’ís, having joined the Faith circa 1902—03.

Genevieve Thime and Louis Voelz were married on 25 December 1905, at which time Genevieve was nineteen years of age and Louis was not quite twenty—one. Five children were born to them: Eldon, Genevieve, Paul, Lauretta and Vernon. Eldon and Genevieve (Kraai) are now deceased. All five children became Bahá’ís and have served and are serving diligently as pioneers, either abroad or on the home—front. All three living children are members of Local Spiritual Assemblies and one has served the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States for more than forty years. Grandchildren of Genevieve and Louis are active in the Cause of Baha’u’llah, and great-grandchildren are also serving in various capacities or preparing for service.

One of the significant events in the life of Genevieve Voelz was the Visit of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to Kenosha on 15 and 16 September 1912. He had accepted an invitation from Mrs. Emma (Voelz) Goodale to be a guest in her home. Mrs. Goodale occupied the second floor of this dwelling (she would stay with relatives during the Master’s Visit), and the first floor was occupied by Genevieve and Louis and the three children who by then had been born to them.

Not knowing when ‘Abdu’l-Bahá would arrive, and assuming that He would be escorted directly to the apartment upstairs, for which there was a separate entrance, Genevieve, who was then twenty-five years old and occupied with the care of her children, was startled to glance up and see ‘Abdu’l-Bahá enter her living

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Genevieve E. Voelz

room and sit down. He was followed by a large group of people, including His entourage and other Bahá’ís who had gone to meet Him. It was a very hot day and the door was open, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá chose to enter 'and be seated. Genevieve recalled that He asked? for a drink of water. She felt in a daze by the suddenness of His appearance, as she went to get the water. She had difficulty in finding a suitable glass for Him; since she had small children and was also of limited means, she mostly had only jelly glasses. She was also concerned that the water was not cold enough. There were no refrigerators in those days, and she did not even have an icebox. It seemed to her that she would never get the water for her unexpected guest.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá spent a day and one-half in that household. During His stay, He gave a string of opal prayer beads to daughter GeneVieve, who was two years old. Paul, aged nine months, sat at ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s feet looking up at Him, and He placed a similar string of beads on the infant’s head, like a crown. Mrs. Voelz was impressed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s energy, constant movement and acts of giving.

Earlier that year, on 1 May 1912, Mrs. Voelz was present When ‘Abdu’l-Bahá laid the cornerstone for the House of Worship in Wilmette.

[Page 639]IN MEMORIAM

She and her husband, Louis, served the Temple faithfully in various capacities from its inception. Together they made four Temple models, one of which was exhibited in the Bahá’í booth located in a prominent place in the center of the Hall of Religions at Chicago’s Century of Progress Exposition, 1933—34. Another was made and sent to Shoghi Effendi, upon his request. The other two were exhibited at various fairs around the country. From 1944 through 1950, a period of seven years, Genevieve and Louis came to Wilmette from Kenosha on weekends, a distance of forty miles, to serve as guides. In those days, a guide would escort each individual Visitor or small group through both the upstairs and downstairs of the unfinished edifice, consequently making many trips during the day. When they were through, they would take the electric train back to Kenosha, often having to stand up for the entire hour-long journey home.

Mrs. Voelz served the Kenosha Bahá’í community for more than fifty years. Many meetings were held in her home and she entertained numerous Visiting Bahá’í teachers. She conducted children’s classes and helped to maintain the Bahá’í Center by cleaning, making and washing curtains and lamp shades. She served for a time as a member of the Spiritual Assembly. Louis Voelz was elected secretary of the Spiritual Assembly of Kenosha for thirtysix of the total of forty-one years that he served on it. In March 1922, he inaugurated the Kenosha Nineteen Day News Letter which, during the six years of its existence, was sent to all Bahá’í Centers in the world.

In 1956, owing to the declining health of Mr. Voelz, the couple left Kenosha for Florida to be near their daughter, Genevieve, and son, Vernon; there they became members of the first Spiritual Assembly of Sarasota. Following the death of her daughter, Genevieve (Kraai), in 1960, and the death of Mr. Voelz in 1963, Mrs. Voelz moved to Wilmette to live with her daughter Lauretta, who serves at the National Center. Mrs. Voelz was a member of the Wilmette Bahá’í community for fourteen years, during which time she served on several committees and welcomed Visitors, young and old, inspiring them with her knowledge both of the Teachings and of the early history of the Faith in America.

LAURETTA E. VOELZ

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ANNA GROSSMANN 1905—1984

Anna Grossmann was born on 16 August 1905 in Pirmasens, a small provincial town in Southern Germany. She was the eldest of three girls who were brought up in a middle class home typical of pre-war Germany: order, accuracy, reliability and uprightness were cherished Virtues, and her father’s sincerity and perseverance became soon apparent in Anna Grossmann’s life, even though the influence of the mother was stronger. From her mother she inherited a deep feeling for others, love, compassion, understanding, and the willingness to help and encourage. The need for tolerance and unity was increasingly made obvious to her, as she grew up in a town that was close to the border of F rance when national animosity was strong. All these different components formed Anna Grossmann’s character in such a way that it showed a harmony of thinking and acting, a spirituality and a sense for reality, sympathy and strength, energy and patience, insight and steadfastness which should be the distinct features of the character of any Bahá’í,

These outstanding characteristics were blended with grace and sweetness and a remarkable willingness to be different and open to everything new. When still a schoolgirl, she fell in love with Hermann Grossmann who no doubt impressed her with his tolerance, his readiness to assist others and to put aside his own aspirations. Above all, she would have been attracted by his unusual sense for beauty and art, science and religion. They married in 1924 and had two children, Susanne Bahíyyih and Hartmut Harlan.

In 1920—21 , still within the lifetime of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Hermann Grossmann became a Bahá’í, and a little later, at the age of sixteen, Anna Grossmann accepted the Faith which she served all her life with unshakeable confidence and loyalty. This became especially obvious during the time of Hitler when the Bahá’í Faith was banned. Fearlessly she upheld the truths of Baha’u’llah’s Cause before the Gestapo, kept in touch with the believers, encouraged and strengthened them, and became an example and refuge to many through her absolute trust in the guidance and protection of Baha’u’llah.

After the war, Anna Grossmann served the Faith and its institutions in various ways,

[Page 640]640 THE Bahá’í WORLD

Anna Grossmann

mainly as a member and secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of Germany and Austria. She was instrumental in the re—establishment of the Administrative Order in these countries, but above all she became a great teacher of the Cause through her deep knowledge, spirituality, clarity, simplicity, purity of motive, selfless devotion and heartfelt sympathy. In talks, deepening classes and conversations, she impressed because of her confidence, her conviction, her personality and her humaneness.

Twice she went on pilgrimage, and the long conversations between the Guardian, her husband and herself left a deep and lasting impression on her. In 1937, Shoghi Effendi dwelt on the unfoldment of the embryonic Administrative Order of the Faith; in 1957, he presented the Vision of the New World Order of Baha’u’llah. Drawing on her obedience and ties of loyalty to Shoghi Effendi, and her friendship with Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih __K_harium, Anna saw it as her task to familiarize the believers with the greatness and significance of our Godgiven institutions, and to spur the friends on in their work for the Cause.

In 1954, Anna was appointed by the Hands of the Cause of God as one of the first Auxiliary Board members for the protection of the Faith. Again she met all the demands made upon her With exemplary zeal: she enjoyed the love and confidence of all the believers; she advised, encouraged and inspired institutions and individuals. Without rest she helped to raise the good reputation of the Faith; she deepened and strengthened the believers, invigorated the institutions, and spread the call of God in many European countries.

Anna Grossmann also worked as an assistant and secretary to her husband who served as a Hand of the Cause for many years in Europe and South America, from the time of his appointment by Shoghi Effendi on 24 December 1951. She accompanied him in 1960, 1961 and 1962 on teaching trips extending from Venezuela to Tierra del Fuego, to strengthen the light of God in those parts of the globe.

Servitude, sacrificial spirit and detachment were characteristics she displayed to her very last days. She was in her late seventies when she left her home in Neekargemfind, the muchloved German Bahá’í community, to pioneer and join her son’s family in Finland. On 12 June 1984 she died in Savonlinna, Finland after having served for some years on the easternmost Local Spiritual Assembly of Europe.

The purity of her heart is beautifully expressed in her own words: ‘I wish to be buried where I die. Should I die within one hour’s journey from Neckargemfind or in Neckargemfind I should like to be buried in the same grave as my husband. As an epitaph I wish my name, the year of birth and death only.

‘I wish to be buried as a Bahá’í; if need be, a prayer read from my prayerbook will do.

‘I thank my children, my son- and daughterin-law, the members of my family, my grandchildren and all the friends for their love, kindness and friendship. My deepest gratitude goes to the Universal House of Justice and the Hands of the Cause of God, they were extremely kind to me.’

From the World Centre of the Bahá’í Faith came a lasting tribute to the life and deeds of Anna Grossmann. The Universal House of Justice telexed her family on 14 June 1984:

EXTEND WARMEST SYMPATHY PASSING YOUR ESTEEMED AND MUCH LOVED MOTHER WHOSE

[Page 641]IN MEMORIAM

SOUL UNDOUBTEDLY REJOICING SERVICES CAUSE HER CHILDREN GRANDCHILDREN ESPECIALLY YOUR OWN DISTINGUISHED LABOURS. HAVE TELEXED NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY GERMANY QUOTE GRIEVED LEARN PASSING ANNA GROSSMANN OUTSTANDING PROMOTER FAITH. RECALL WITH PROFOUND EMOTION HER LOVING ANGELIC CHARACTER HER STALWART UPHOLDING FAITH AT SIDE HER ILLUSTRIOUS HUSBAND DURING DARKEST YEARS CAUSE GERMANY HER INSPIRING SERVICES TEACHING FIELD INCLUDING EXTENSIVE TRAVELS SOUTH AMERICA HER TIRELESS LABOURS AS MEMBER AND SECRETARY NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY AND AS MEMBER AUXILIARY BOARD. FINLAND BLESSED BY HER PIONEERING THAT LAND EVENING HER EARTHLY LIFE. CONVEY MEMBERS BEREAVED FAMILY HEARTFELT SYMPATHY ASSURANCE PRAYERS HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS HER RADIANT SOUL ABHA KINGDOM. URGE HOLD BEFITTING MEMORIAL MEETING MASHRIQULADHKAR UNQUOTE HAVE ALSO TELEXED NATIONAL ASSEMBLY FINLAND. HARTMUT GROSSMANN

SUZETTE HIPP 1901—1984 The essence of faith is fewness of words and abundance of deeds. Baha’u’llah

A long life of loving service is not distilled into one word, but of all the qualities which spring to heart in thinking of Suzette Hipp, loyalty is, doubtless, in the forefront. Her family could recount examples of her practical aid—material, moral and spiritual. Suzette’s larger family, the Bahá’ís, might tell even more.

Suzette Hipp was born in Esch—sur-Alzette, in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, on 16 September 1901, into a family of five daughters and three sons. She chose to become a nurse and worked in this profession in England, from 1925 to 1936. Upon her return to Luxembourg she opened her own practice as masseuse, podiatrist and physiotherapist, soon becoming well known, since her skill and devotion brought her clients from all walks of life, including some of the most noted public personalities.

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Suzette H ipp

During World War II the occupiers of the Grand Duchy had experience of Suzette’s courage and independent spirit when she spoke up for family and friends who were too cowed by the Gestapo to defend themselves. For Suzette, principles were to be followed under all circumstances. This quality lent lucidity later to Bahá’í consultations, where Suzette often cut through verbiage t0 the core of some subject. It also made her friendships rock—solid. Yet, her gravity was spiced with humor and, when principle obliged her to present some hard truth to a friend, her kindly regard let him know upon whom he might rely to face it.

All of Suzette Hipp’s qualities came to focus in 1947 When she learned of the Faith while treating a pioneer, Honor Kempton,1 who went to her, footsore from walking through Luxembourg chanting the Greatest Name to herself and seeking those whose hearts Baha’u’llah had, prepared for His Cause. In December of that same year Suzette responded, becoming the first resident Luxembourg Bahá’í. Thus began a profound friendship and collaboration in service to the Faith.

1See ‘In Memoriam’, The Bahá’í World, vol. XVIII, p. 748.

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In 1949, the Local Spiritual Assembly of Luxembourg-Ville was formed, the first Bahá’í institution in the Grand Duchy. From 1953 to 1957, the Benelux Regional Committee served the interests of the Faith in the Benelux countries, evolving into the Benelux Regional National Spiritual Assembly and so continuing until 1962. In that year the Luxembourg National Spiritual Assembly was formed. Through these historic developments, Suzette served on all these bodies and on many of their committees. She made the first translations of Bahá’í literature into the language of Luxembourg—by her choice, a prayer book. She organized children’s classes in her home: present members of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Luxembourg and Bahá’ís serving in other lands recall her lessons and example. That home became the first National Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds of Luxembourg.

With Honor Kempton, Suzette pioneered Within her country to Ettelbruek, where they maintained a home that was a center of Bahá’í activity for many years. In 1973, they moved to Kopstal-Bridel to form the last Local Spiritual Assembly of Luxembourg’s Nine Year Plan goals. In 1982, this time alone, Suzette again arose, at the age of eighty-one, to assure the formation of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Walferdange.

On that golden, flower-scented afternoon in 1963, When the roll call of the nations reached Luxembourg, Suzette stood to cast her ballot in the first election for the Universal House of Justice, fully aware of the immensity of the moment and, thereafter, wholly oriented to the directives of the supreme body of the Faith.

In 1976, when Honor Kempton was invited to the International Teaching Conference in Anchorage, Alaska, Suzette accompanied her. Traveling by way of Chicago, they were able to Visit the Mother Temple of the West in Wilmette and to talk with former members of the European Teaching Committee, to Whom Suzette expressed her heartfelt gratitude for the Committee’s having sent, in the lean years just after the war, pioneers to Europe bearing Baha’u’llah’s message of hope for the world.

The thirtieth anniversary of the founding of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Luxembourg, held With appropriate festivities in 1979, gathered about Su‘zette several generations of Bahá’ís from many lands. Her remarks on that

THE Bahá’í WORLD

occasion again bespoke her deep-felt gratitude that the Bahá’í world View had reached the smallest of the member countries of the United Nations.

From that small, verdant land Suzette entered the heavenly realm on 22 June 1984, after a long illness. She rests in the lovely little cemetery of Bridel, side by side with Honor Kempton, two shining examples in the annals of the Faith in Luxembourg. '

To the cable announcing her passing, the Universal House of Justice replied on 24 June 1984:

ASSURE LOVING PRAYERS PROGRESS SOUL BELOVED SUZETTE HIPP. HER DISTINCTION AS FIRST NATIVE LUXEMBOURG BAHAI GAINED ADDED LUSTRE HER NOBLE CONSTANT SACRIFICIAL DEVOTION INTERESTS CAUSE GOD. HER LIFE OF SERVICE ENRICHES ANNALS FAITH LUXEMBOURG PROVIDES CHALLENGING EXAMPLE SUCCEEDING GENERATIONS BELIEVERS. HER BURIAL SIDE ILLUSTRIOUS HONOR KEMPTON HIGHLY APPROPRIATE. ADVISE HOLD BEFITTING MEMORIAL SERVICES. EXTEND LOVING SYMPATHY RELATIVES FRIENDS GRIEVOUS LOSS. DAVID NED BLACKMER

AZIZULLAH SOLEIMANI (‘AZIZU’LLAH SULAYMANIY~L ARDAKAND 1901—1984

‘Azizu’llah Sulaymz’miy-i-Ardakani was born on 11 November 1901 in the town of Sabzavar, Iran, the youngest of eight children, only three of whom survived infancy. ‘Azizu’llah’s father, a farmer called Sulayman, who had embraced the Bahá’í Faith in his youth and was active in teaching its principles and promoting its interests, was favoured by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Who, in His own hand, addressed several Tablets to him. On one occasion ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, on one page, addressed several Tablets to Maryam Sultan, the wife of Sulayman, and to their children, including ‘Azizu’llah, extolling their services and exhorting them to continue their efforts. ‘Azizu’llah was seven years old when his father, in search of a better livelihood, moved With his family to ‘Ifiqabad, Russian Turkistan, Where the Bahá’í community, its numbers swelled by believers from various parts of Iran

[Page 643]IN MEMORIAM

W

Azizullah Soleimani

but especially from Yazd and Aghirbayjan, enjoyed complete freedom and were able to gather daily for dawn prayers in the beautiful Mashriqu’l-Adhkár where Ustad Sulayman was engaged as caretaker.

‘Azizu’llah began attending the Bahá’í school where, in addition to the usual curriculum of science, mathematics and study of Arabic, Persian and Russian, the book Lessons in Religion was taught. He achieved excellent grades in all subjects, especially Arabic. During the summer holidays he used to accompany his father to the Temple grounds each day where, from the portico, he would chant in a loud voice verses from the Hidden Words, the whole of Which he memorized as directed by his father. His father also insisted that he transcribe a few pages of Tablets every day, and in this way he acquired good penmanship. Some of the friends asked him to transcribe for them all the verses of the Kitdb-i—Aqdas, a task to which he devoted four or five hours each evening for a week. He was paid for each copy a sum adequate to cover the cost of paper and ink and to provide a small profit from which he purchased shoes and socks for himself. During his school years ‘Azizu’llah

, transcribed more than one hundred copies of the Kitdb—i—Aqdas and, as a result, memorized all

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the verses. In time he became an accomplished scholar.

When he had a few free hours in the evening, he would beg his mother to tell him stories. Although illiterate, she knew and could recount in a delightful manner, tales found in famous books. A similar narrative skill was acquired by ‘Azizu’llah as amply demonstrated in his compilations of the accounts of the lives of early believers which were published under the title M asdbz'h—i—Hiddyat (Lamps of Guidance). Nine volumes were produced before the Islamic revolution and were highly appreciated by the friends; a tenth volume was at press when the upheaval began.

When the sad news of the passing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá reached ‘Iflqabad a number of the Bahá’ís decided to go to iran and serve as travelling teachers. With the approval of the Local Spiritual Assembly, ‘Azizu’llah and his business partner travelled for eleven months through various towns in the northern provinces of Mazandaran and K_hurasan, meeting the Bahá’í communities and teaching the Faith. They were in sari when the first letter from the beloved Guardian, to gether with the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, was received.

A few months after returning to ‘Ishqábád, ‘Azizu’llah, accompanied this time by Siyyid ‘Abbas ‘Alavi, made a second journey to lran, spending a year and seven months there. When he returned to ‘Iflqabad he found it necessary to discontinue his trading business due to Government restrictions on private enterprise. For seven years he occupied himself with various engagements, including two years devoted to teaching in the Bahá’í school in ‘Ishqábád, until it was confiscated by the Government. Finally, in the spring of 1930, he and his mother and his family emigrated to iran. Here he spent several years in Mashhad and Sabzivar as an accountant in Sipah Bank before settling in Tihran where he opened a business office in partnership with a friend. Throughout these years all his spare time was dedicated to the service of the Faith. In 1945, on the advice of the National Spiritual Assembly, he disposed of his business and served as director and teacher of the Bahá’í study class, a three-year course of advanced studies sponsored by the Local Spiritual Assembly of Tihran. He taught Arabic, Persian literature, logic and the history of Islam.

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Upon completion of the course in 1948 he went to Tabríz as the resident Bahá’í teacher for Aghirbayjan. He continued this pattern, travelling to various towns and Villages in that province, until 1955 when, as a result of an instruction given to him during his pilgrimage by the Guardian, he started travelling to other cities in him. In 1961, With the approval of the National Spiritual Assembly, he made Tihran his residence and continued his previous activities. From 1966 to 1974 he travelled on five missions for the Cause in Eastern and Western countries, the shortest journey lasting nineteen days and the longest one year. In 1975 he was invited by the Universal House of Justice to work in the Research Department of the World Centre of the Faith in Haifa.

At the beginning of the Islamic revolution ‘Azizu’llah’s residential flat in Tihran, Which was to have been donated to the Faith upon his death, was confiscated. Although he was not arrested, his life was in danger, and he had to keep out of sight. He was saddened greatly by the torments inflicted upon the believers.

Life was lonely for him after the death of his spouse in 1972, although he enj oyed good health and kept active. He suffered a stroke in 1983 and on 26 October 1984 he passed away in his daughter’s home in Gunbad-i-Qabi’is. The day before his passing friends came to Visit him throughout the day, and in spite of being in pain, and suffering from shortness of breath, he spoke with them all. He was the last believer to be buried in the Bahá’í cemetery before the property was confiscated by the Government. He was married twice and is survived by four daughters and two sons.

On 22 November 1984 the Universal House of J ustice sent the following telex to the National Spiritual Assembly of Italy:

KINDLY CONVEY PARVIN SOLEIMANI GRIEVED PASSING AZIZULLAH SOLEIMANI DEVOTED PROMOTER FAITH IRAN. HIS SCHOLARLY PUBLICATIONS LIFELONG SERVICES TEACHING FIELDS MADE HIM AN OUTSTANDING SERVANT CAUSE CRADLE FAITH. ASSURE FRIENDS RELATIVES ARDENT PRAYERS PROGRESS SOUL. KIUMARS SULAYMANI ARDAKANI (KiYUMARIg SULAYMANIY-I—ARDAKANi)

(Adapted from a memoir translated from the Persian by FU’AD AsgaAF)

THE Bahá’í WORLD

T eresa Pia T afla

TERESA PIA TAFFA 1915—1984

On 10 November 1984, after a long period of poor health, during which hope often alternated with resignation, our very dear friend, Miss Teresa Taffa, passed to the other world. Her heart stopped simultaneously with the end of a prayer being read by friends sitting at her bedside, a great comfort in her transition to eternity.

Sorrow and praise were expressed by the Universal House of Justice in a telex sent to the National Spiritual Assembly of Italy on 14 November 1984:

HEARTS GRIEVED LOSS OUTSTANDING DEVOTED BELIEVER TERESA TAFFA. HER MANIFEST LOVE FOR FRIENDS UNFLAGGING MERITORIOUS SERVICES PIONEER TEACHING ADMINISTRATIVE FIELDS ADD LUSTRE ANNALS FAITH ITALY PROVIDE SHINING EXAMPLE ALL FRIENDS. ASSURE LOVING PRAYERS PROGRESS HER SOUL ABHA KINGDOM.

Her honoured resting-place is in the little town of Marino, in the area known as the ‘Castelli Romani’ which rises on the picturesque slopes

[Page 645]IN MEMORIAM

of the Albani Hills. She was born in the tiny Village of Pomponesco near Mantua, a city which the beloved Guardian once Visited and the news of Whose opening to the Faith brought him much joy. This area today has the highest number of Bahá’í centres in Italy.

Teresa was an only child. Her father, Camillo Taffa, was an Army Veterinarian Officer; her mother, Lina Peverati, was a Venetian of noble lineage, a pianist. After completing her classical studies, Teresa began studying piano, and received a diploma from the Conservatory of St. Cecilia in Rome. She took voice training with the famed baritone, Riccardo Stracciari, a contemporary and close friend of Caruso’s. Her artistic talents injected a delicate note of beauty into the meetings with the friends. In her Will and Testament she expressed the wish that her piano be donated to a promising music student.

With her father, then a Colonel, Teresa used to attend meetings in the Officers’ Club in the Barberini Palace, a well-known seventeenth century structure in Rome. Patrons and personnel of this Charming buildin g often saw arriving a diversity of guests, eager to make interesting new acquaintances. It was here, during the opening years of the Ten Year Plan, that Teresa heard of the Bahá’í Faith which soon conquered the citadel of her heart. A letter written on behalf of the Guardian by his secretary on 29 March 1956 acquaints us with the auspicious beginning of Teresa’s life as a Bahá’í: ‘He is very happy to have this opportunity of welcoming you personally into the service of our beloved Faith and hopes that you will be a means of attracting many other souls to the Cause of God.’

In that same year, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Italy and Switzerland appointed her a member of the European Teaching Committee, and it was through the Translation and Publishing Committees that she met and profited from association with Angeline Giachery and her husband, the Hand of the Cause Dr. Ugo Giachery.

Miss Taffa was one of the first Italian pilgrims to Visit the Holy Land after the work of teaching the Bahá’í Faith in Europe gained momentum following World War II. Her pilgrimage, which occurred in February 1957 and which opened new Vistas to her, was crowned by the privilege of meeting the beloved Guardian, whose sec 645

retary wrote on his behalf on 12 March 1957: ‘It was a great pleasure to him to have you here as his guest He feels sure that the fruit of your pilgrimage will be manifest in your services in the future.’

During her first evening in Haifa the Guardian asked of the friends in Rome and upon learning how many they were he said they must scatter. He also spoke of some important cities in Italy, including Venice, where Teresa settled towards the end of the 1950s, after giving up her position at the National Centre of Atomic Research in Rome.

On the eve of the close of the Ten Year Crusade, in 1962, there appeared one of the most significant fruits of that campaign, the birth of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Italy. Teresa was elected to that body in that year—its only female member—and in thirteen subsequent years, during five of which she served as its secretary.

In 1963 she was in the Holy Land as a delegate to the first International Convention for the election of the Universal House of Justice, and as a thrilling prelude Visited the almostcompleted Mother Temple of Europe on her way to Haifa.

A stirring message from the Universal House of Justice outlining the goals of the Nine Year Plan for Italy intensified dear Teresa’s longing to pioneer. After beseeching prayers of the House of Justice she received a cable reading: DELIGHTED YOUR IMMEDIATE RESPONSE ASSURE PRAYERS ACHIEVE HEARTS DESIRE SERVICE BAHAULLAH. After Naw-Rl'iz 1966 she settled in Lipari, thus opening to the Faith the Aeolian Islands, a significant goal assigned to the Bahá’ís of Italy. That initial spark of light has now become a Local Spiritual Assembly.

Appointed to the committee for the first oceanic conference of the Bahá’í world which was held in Palermo, Sicily in August 1968, Teresa served with great ability and perseverance. Drawn by a deep desire, she travelled to Turkey and in Adrianople Visited the historical sites associated with the Blessed Perfection. A photograph she took of the dwelling of Rida Big may be seen in the Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds in Rome. Appointed an assistant to the Auxiliary Board, she served with distinction. Her declining health did not prevent her from offering yet another servicemthis to be the last—that of contributing, with maturity and

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wisdom, to the special teaching project at Portici, in the area of Naples.

An Italian pilgrim in J une 1983 was suddenly asked by the Hand of the Cause Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum, ‘How is Teresa? Is she in Rome?’ Teresa had not been forgotten! May we also not forget her!

In her generosity, Teresa left her apartment to the Cause, expressing the hope that it be maintained in dignity, and become a place of inspiration and activity in service to the aims of the Causeman opportunity for the present and future generations to demonstrate their gratitude and loving remembrance of such a distinguished and beloved sister.

Teresa fulfilled the hope expressed in the letter of 12 March 1957 written on behalf of the Guardian that the fruit of her pilgrimage would be manifested in her future services; and it would seem that in fulfilment of a wish expressed by Shoghi Effendi in his own hand in a postscript to that letter, ‘the Almighty graciously’ assisted her ‘to promote, at all times, the Vital interests of His Faith . . .’. The nobility of her ancestry was always clearly apparent in her character and her deep devotion to His threshold.

MARIO PIARULLI

ABBAS WAKIL (‘ABBAS VAKlL) 1911—1984 Knight of Baha’u’llah

Abbas Wakil (‘Abbas Vakil), whose family was closely associated with the growth and development of the Bahá’í Faith in both ‘Iráq and iran from the time of Baha’u’llah, was born in Iskenderun, Turkey in 1911. A tall, quiet and outwardly reserved man, ‘Abbas was a tower of faithfulness with his sights constantly focused on serving the Cause he loved so deeply and whose interests he placed at the very centre of his existence.

When he was still a young man, he and his family left Turkey to settle in Baghdad, -.‘Iráq where they Visited the pioneers who had located in various parts of that country, encouraging them and providing whatever assistance they could.

In 1952, ‘Abbas Vakil married Samira, a member of a devoted Bahá’í family, who became

THE Bahá’í WORLD

Abbas Wakil ( ‘Abbds Vakz’l)

his partner in service to the Cause of Baha’u’llah. Soon after their marriage they returned together to Turkey. While there, they were moved by the appeal of the beloved Guardian at the beginning of the Ten Year Crusade for pioneers to open various Virgin territories to the nascent Faith of Baha’u’llah. Shoghi Effendi had indicated that sacrifice was the hallmark of this enterprise which, although in its immediate effect, might involve separation and suffering, would nevertheless inevitably be the harbinger of untold victories for the Faith, particularly for future generations who would reap the fruits of the labours of those who arose with total obedience to play their part.

The call of the beloved Guardian increased their ardour, desire and determination to pioneer, despite Samira’s being in the eighth month of her pregnancy. Against the recommendation of the doctor, and in anticipation of settling as pioneers in a new and challenging environment, they undertook an arduous fourday train journey to the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. Cyprus had become the sole focus and goal of their endeavours.

‘Abbas arrived in Cyprus in August 1953 and was joined three months later by his dear wife

[Page 647]IN MEMORIAM

and their new-born son, Leroy. They made their home in Nicosia. For their service in opening Cyprus to the Faith, Shoghi Effendi bestowed upon them the accolade Knights of Baha’u’llah. The arrival of ‘Abbas was followed within a month by the arrival of two valiant pioneers from the British Isles, Hugh McKinley and his mother, Violet,l who were also named Knights of Baha’u’llah.

It was to Cyprus that Subh-i-Azal, the faithless half—brother of Baha’u’llah, together with his feeble band of followers, had been banished by Sultan ‘Abdu’l-‘Aziz in 1868. The prospect of building a Bahá’í community in an area with such a heritage was daunting, but with enthusiasm, wisdom and patience the pioneers pursued their task. Their hearts were uplifted and fortified on receiving from Shoghi Effendi a loving and encouraging cable assuring them that he would pray at the Holy Shrines for their tranquillity and success. In time, as a result of sustained efforts, a burgeoning Bahá’í community was raised up composed of Bahá’ís of Greek and Turkish background, as well as native Cypriots. Many pioneers and travelling teachers passed through Cyprus contributing to the teaching work and illustrating the diversity of the followers of Baha’u’llah.

For a period of approximately ten years, ‘Abbas and his family served the Faith diligently in their adopted goal contributing greatly to the firm establishment of the Cause of Baha’u’llah in Cyprus. The family was ultimately obliged to return to Turkey due to the deteriorating political situation in the island. For a time, ‘Abbas Vakil served as a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of Turkey.

‘Abbas passed to the Abhá Kingdom on 5 December 1984, survived by his wife, Samira, and their three children. Learning of the passing of this staunch believer, the Universal House of Justice cabled his family on 10 December:

GRIEVED PASSING DEVOTED PROMOTER CAUSE KNIGHT BAHAULLAH ABBAS WAKIL HIS LIFELONG SERVICES CAUSE MANY FIELDS UNFORGETTABLE PRAYING HOLY THRESHOLD PROGRESS HIS RADIANT SOUL.

The imposing figure of ‘Abbas Vakil was commensurate with his firm faith, steadfast heart and deeply-rooted belief in the power of

1See ‘In Memoriam’, The Bahá’í World, vol. XVI, p. 512.

647

divine assistance at all times and under all conditions. With self—effacement, true humility and distinction, he served the Threshold of his Beloved in three countries.

RIDVAN MOQBEL (RIDVAN MUQBIL)

ERIC MANTON 1911—1984

Towards the end of the Second World War, in which he served with credit in the British Army, was wounded and lost his left eye, Erie Manton, who was born on 17 December 1911, in his search for permanent world peace, was serious in his consideration of the merits of Communisrn. However, he saw a notice of a Bahá’í public meeting to be held in the Library in Northampton, where the speaker was Marion Hofman. He went to this meeting and his attention was caught. In 1946 he declared his belief in Baha’u’llah and was a member of the first Local Spiritual Assembly of Northamptonthe first Local Spiritual Assembly formed during the Six Year Plan of the British Isles (1944—1950). This was the beginning of a series of ‘firsts’ for Eric. He pioneered to Edinburgh and was a member of its first Local Spiritual Assembly—the first in Scotland.

In preparation for the opening of the Ten Year Crusade, the beloved Guardian in his Convention 1950 message called on the National Spiritual Assembly of the British Isles to prepare to embark, after a year’s respite, on a Two Year Plan ‘CONSTITUTING PRELUDE INITIATION SYSTEMATIC CAMPAIGN DESIGNED CARRY TORCH FAITH TERRITORIES DARK CONTINENT WHOSE NORTHERN SOUTHERN FRINGES WERE SUCCESSIVELY ILLUMINATED COURSE MINISTRIES BAHA’U’LLAH ‘ABDU’L-BAHA’. Eric took action on the announcement appearing in the Bahá’í Journal and wrote to Shoghi Effendi on 14 October 1951. The reply written on Shoghi Effendi’s behalf conveyed his happiness at hearing of the plans to go to Africa and assured him of prayers that God would strengthen him in His Faith with a foundation of love and devotion ‘which nothing can ever shake’. At the foot of the letter was a message in his own hand, signed ‘Your true brother, Shoghi’ which read: ‘May the Almighty bless and guide you in your new field of service to His Faith, and aid you to win great Victories in the days to come.’

[Page 648]648

Eric Manton

With the approval of close family members (Eric was a widower), he left by sea on 29 December 1951, with his 13-year-old son Terrence, on a five-week journey through the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal, then down the east coast of Africa, reaching Dar es Salaam on 24 January 1952. There he was met and welcomed by Mr. Jalal Naflijavani, and stayed in the home of Hassan and Isobel Sabri. He had served with Isobel on the historic first Local Spiritual Assembly of Edinburgh. Eric and Terry proceeded to Beira where they disembarked and went overland by rail to Livingstone, then to Lusaka, the capital of Northern Rhodesia (as Zambia was at that time known) on the morning of 8 F ebruary 1952. Not only was Eric the first pioneer in that country; he was the first pioneer in southern Africa.

An electrician by trade, he secured a position with the Government’s Public Works Department in Livingstone. Some months later he was transferred to the Copperbelt, where he lived in Kitwe although his area included other nearby towns, and he became a familiar figure as he moved about training and supervising his workmen. He once told me how his watchword

THE Bahá’í WORLD

became ‘Do a goodjob’. Some years later, when he was living and working in Luanshya in his own electrical contracting business, he was reminded of this when his foreman, with whom he was discussing the work programme and to whom he suggested a short cut, replied, ‘Remember, boss, always do a good job.’ Eric told the tale with relish and a degree of pride.

From Kitwe, he was able to teach the Faith and Miss Jessie Frankson, a nurse at the Government Hospital in Luanshya, became a Bahá’í in April 1955. In October of that year, Eric and Jessie were married and shortly after this, in February 1956, the couple and Terry transferred to Fisenge where they had a smallholding, raising vegetables and poultry for the Luanshya market, while Erie established himself as an electrician. J essie had an adopted daughter, Mary, so the family of four were involved in the teaching work on the Copperbelt. This area had already been opened to the Faith by Eleanor and Lyall Hadden and their family who had gone to South Africa in December 1953 and moved to Luanshya, Northern Rhodesia, in August 1955. It was here that at Riḍván 1956 the first Local Spiritual Assembly in Northern Rhodesia was formed and a neighbouring Village of Fisenge, where the first local woman embraced the Faith, was opened. After the departure of the Hadden ‘family in October 1956, the Mantons filled the gap and proceeded to work with and encourage the believers to erect the first local Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds in Zambia in Fisenge. Teaching was also done in Kitwe, the principal town of the Copperbelt, where the second Local Spiritual Assembly was established.

In the course of a visit to the remote North Western Province of Northern Rhodesia in 1962, Eric and Jessie observed the potential there for the spread of the Faith and called the attention of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of South and West Africa to the possibilities. A project was planned and proven teachers such as Florence Muruma, William Masehla, Max Seepe and his wife, Rudolpho and Angelica Duna from South Africa, and George Mpayila from Nyasaland all spent time in the area assisting in the achievement of the one outstanding goal of the Ten Year Crusade for the Southern Africa region ‘to begin the process of large scale enrolments’. By Riḍván 1963 there were 1,000 believers in the Mwini [Page 649]IN MEMORIAM

lunga area. Eric and Jessie were the backbone of the campaign, making many hazardous journeys of 500 miles over roads hardly worthy of the name and almost impassable in the rainy season, to reach the friends, who were themselves accepting responsibility for the spread of the Faith.

In 1964 the first National Spiritual Assembly of South Centra1 Africa was formed. Previously this area had been under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of South and West Africa. The new National Spiritual Assembly was responsible for Southern and Northern Rhodesia, Bechuanaland and Nyasaland. Eric was Chairman of this Assemb1y until 1967 when

the Universal House of Justice called for the

establishment of the National Spiritual Assembly of Zambia (as Northern Rhodesia had become known in 1964). Eric was its first chairman, in which capacity he served for nine consecutive years, and then on several more occasions until Riḍván 1982.

During the last two years of his life, his activities were perforce curtailed, but his interest in the progress of the Cause, and his encouragement to all, never faltered. In the early hours of 12 December 1984 he passed away peacefully in his sleep, five days before his seventy-third birthday. The Universal House of Justice sent the following cable to the National Spiritual Assemb1y:

DEEPLY GRIEVED PASSING FAITHFUL SERVANT DEDICATED PROMOTER FAITH ERIC MANTON. HIS OVER THREE DECADES OF DEVOTED SERVICE ON AFRICAN SOIL UNFORGETTABLE. CONVEY ALL MEMBERS HIS DEAR FAMILY LOVING SYMPATHY. PRAYING HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS HIS RADIANT SOUL ABHA KINGDOM. ADVISE REQUEST ALL ASSEMBLIES ZAMBIA HOLD MEMORIAL GATHERINGS TO HONOUR HIS NAME.

ETHNA ARCHIBALD

NIKOLAS PRINTEZIS 1921—1984

Nikolas Printezis, known to his friends as ‘Nikos’, was born on 17 July 1921 in Greece. In 1984, when asked how he became a Bahá’í, he dictated the following reply to a member of the History Committee of the National Spiritual Assemb1y of Greece:

649

N z'kolas Printezz's

‘I was working as a manager at the Delos Hotel in Athens in 1958. A beautiful lady named Ramona Brown,1 from Los Angeles, California, USA. rented a room in this hotel for a few days. At this time, Erik Blumenthal, now a member of the Continental Board of Counsellors, was a pioneer in the Athens area. Erik came to Visit Ramona at the hotel and their spiritual radiance impressed me. On the day she left, I asked her “What is your Faith?” and was told that she was a Bahá’í. I wanted to know about the Bahá’í Faith but she was on her way out and could not pause to explain it to me. She apologized and gave me a pamphlet which I put in the drawer of my desk. Some time later, Annie (Anni) Langenhorst and a friend of hers entered the hotel. When I saw them, I had the

A feeling that they had come to see me. They

asked me whether Ramona had left a forwarding address and I answered that she had not. However, because of the radiance of their countenances, I felt moved to ask them if they knew about the Bahá’í Faith. They spoke to me for hours about it. After a few weeks they brought me to Erik’s house and there I met Miss Ketty Antoniou, Mr. George Krustis and

1See ‘In Memoriam’, The Bahci’z’ World, V01. XVII, p. 399.

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Dr. Nikolas Mavromatis, the rather new Greek Bahá’ís living in the Athens area. Three months later, at Naw-Rúz 1960, after meeting with Bahá’ís from time to time and learning more about the Faith, I became a Bahá’í.’

Later, as a result of a fall, Nikos lost entirely the sight of one eye and retained only partial Vision in the other.

There were very few Bahá’ís living in Greece then, and only Dr. J. E. Esslemont’s Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era had been translated into Greek. Nikos yearned to know more and more of the Holy Writings of the Faith and to be able to read them in his own language, and he believed that other Greeks would feel the same way. He had many Tablets and prayers translated into Greek and would write them out by hand, to read for himself and to give to his friends. He made, by hand, little prayer books and gave them as gifts. He memorized many prayers in several languages and felt just as comfortable reciting a Bahá’í prayer in Persian or Arabic as in his native Greek. Later he was given a typewriter and spent hours typing translated Writings. This was difficult work because his eyesight was so seriously impaired, but he performed the task joyfully until the end of his life.

At the be ginning of the Nine Year Plan (19641973) some Iranian pioneers came to settle in Greece. He helped many of them to learn the Greek language. The children, who are now adults, still remember him as their loving Greek teacher. The Five Year Plan (1974—1979) brought many pioneers to Greece because its goals called for the establishment of six Local Spiritual Assemblies in order that the National Spiritual Assembly could be formed.

Nikos was a member of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Athens for many years after its re-formation during the Nine Year Plan, and before the National Spiritual Assembly was formed in 1977 he served on the National Coordination Committee which functioned for three years under the aegis of the National Spiritual Assembly of Germany, ‘mother’ of the Greek community. He was elected to the first National Spiritual Assembly of Greece in 1977 and frequently in subsequent years. He attended the International Convention for the election of the Universal House of Justice in Haifa in 1978. He was elected as a delegate for the election of the National Spiritual Assembly of

THE Bahá’í WORLD

Greece many times throughout the years and was a member of several national committees.

Nikos travelled all over mainland Greece and to the islands to sow seeds. Twice he went as a travelling teacher to Cyprus. He was very concerned with filling the goals set for Greece by the Universal House of Justice, and tried to help in every way he could.

In 1983, Nikos became the first Bahá’í born in Greece to have his Greek registration card state that his religion was Bahá’í.

Around the beginning of December 1984, Nikos suffered a sudden stroke which partly paralyzed him for a short time but from which he appeared to recover sufficiently to permit his being discharged from hospital. However, on 14 December at about 5 am. his heart stopped. He was buried in the third cemetery in Athens the following day with Bahá’ís from all over Greece in attendance because all knew and loved him.

On 17 December the National Spiritual Assembly received the following cable from the Universal House of Justice:

GREATLY DISTRESSED NEWS PASSING NIKOS PRINTEZIS DEPRIVING GREEK BAHAI COMMUNITY ONE OF ITS MOST OUTSTANDING MEMBERS. CONVEY PROFOUND SYMPATHY BEREAVED FAMILY ASSURE FERVENT PRAYERS HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS HIS SOUL ABHA

KINGDOM. NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF THE Bahá’ís 0F GREECE

MOGAMAT ROESHDI DAVIDS 1936—1984

Mogamat Roeshdi DaVidS—known as Rushdi —was born in Cape Town, South Africa on 7 November 1936 into a Cape Malay family. His father, Cassiem, was a tailor and a leading layman in the local Muslim community, and he reared his Children to be broadminded as he was. As a child, Roeshdi, through his warm personality, made many friends, particularly among rugby enthusiasts of whom he was one.

Roeshdi declared his belief in Baha’u’llah in October 1961, about a month after his father had embraced the Faith. Fanatical elements in the population threatened the family and stoned

[Page 651]IN MEMORIAM

their dwelling. Cassiem was advised by the Spiritual Assembly of Cape Town to move his tailoring business to a quiet suburb. At their new home, Al—Bayán, the persecution continued, and business was much reduced. Roeshdi was expelled from his favourite rugby club and ostracized by many of his friends. But these experiences only strengthened the faith of these new Bahá’ís. Cassiem soon found himself secretary of the Spiritual Assembly of Cape Town, and later he served for a year on the National Spiritual Assembly.

In December 1961, Roeshdi married Gabeba Ahmed in the first Bahá’í wedding in Cape Town. He was elected to the Local Spiritual Assembly in the same year, and served on that body until he and his family moved to Johannesburg in 1967. There Roeshdi continued working in the building trade, and he and his family became staunch members of the community. Their home was a centre of Bahá’í activity.

In 1971, when his father’s health began to fail, Roeshdi agreed to return to Al—Bayán to help support the large family of two women and nine children. Cassiem passed away in J anuary 1972, and Roeshdi and family were soon settled back at Al—Bayán. He took various jobs to meet these responsibilities, and eventually set up his own business so as to be freer to serve the Cause. Al—Baya’n was a hub Of Bahá’í activity, with Visitors, Bahá’í and non-Bahá’í, constantly coming and going. Then, as now, many happy firesides, study classes and prayer meetings took place in that house.

While ably serving on the Spiritual Assembly of Cape Town, Roeshdi assisted with the erection of the local Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds, and participated in the many local and extension teaching activities in the area. His resilience in the face of set-backs was remarkable.

The Continental Board of Counsellors appointed Roeshdi an Auxiliary Board member in 1976. Now, in addition to the substantial role he played in the Cape Town community, Roeshdi travelled widely, as circumstances permitted. His area of service extended over most of the Cape Province, and included the island of St. Helena. He spoke at summer schools, participated in conferences or represented the Continental Board of Counsellors at National Conventions in Botswana, Bophuthatswana, Lesotho, South-West Africa/Namibia as well

651

Mogamat Roeshdi Davids

as South Africa. His simple, firm and 10ving approach made him a popular speaker.

After many months of careful saving, Roeshdi and Gabeba were able to fulfil a longcherished desire. In October 1984, they went on pilgrimage together, and returned radiant. Then, on 15 December 1984, Roeshdi was suddenly gone. After a heart attack at a Bahá’í fund-raising occasion, he passed from this world, leaving a community saddened by his loss, but remembering his example of steadfastness and love.

Learning of _his passing, the Universal House of Justice cabled on 19 December:

SADDENED NEWS PASSING AUXILIARY BOARD MEMBER RUSHDI DAVIDS. PRAYING HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS HIS SOUL. CONVBY FAMILY FRIENDS LOVING SYMPATHY.

NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF THE Bahá’ís OF SOUTH AND WEST AFRICA

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Irving Geary

IRVING GEARY 1887-1984 Knight of Baha’u’llah

SADDENED LEARN PASSING KNIGHT BAHAULLAH CAPE BRETON ISLAND IRVING GEARY WHOSE DEVOTED LONGSTANDING SERVICES CANADIAN MARITIMES AND ESPECIALLY PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND EPITOMIZE TRUE DETACHMENT STEADFASTNESS PATH GOD. ASSURE FAMILY PRAYERS SHRINES PROGRESS HIS SOUL. Universal House of Justice 21 January 1985

Irving Geary was born in Eng1and on 2 February 1887. He emigrated to Canada in 1906. In Toronto, Ontario he and Grace Harmon were married in 1912. Irving was employed in the accounting office of a large department store and mail order house, the T. Eaton Company, and was transferred to Monoton, New Brunswick in 1919 to assist in the opening of the company’s first mail order operation in Atlantic Canada. A son was born there in 1920 and was named George Eaton; he is now a member of the Bahá’í community of Scotland.

Mabel Ives made a teaching trip to Moncton in October 1937 to establish a Local Spiritual

THE Bahá’í WORLD

Assemb1y there. A study class she inaugurated attracted Grace and, when meetings were held in the Geary home, Irving became involved. After several months both Irving and Grace embraced the Faith and this began their life of devotion to Baha’u’llah.

The Spiritual Assembly of Moncton was formed in April 1938, greatly assisted by the teaching effort of Dorothy Baker, whose dedication created a 1ifelong impression upon Irving. That first Assemb1y of the Atlantic region elected Irving as its chairman. He immediately resigned from the church where he sang in the choir, and where he had so thoroughly enjoyed using his rich baritone voice to sing the anthems of praise to God. Throughout his life he continually testified to the fact that for him, Gleanz'ngs from the Writings ofBaIzd’u’lláh was sufficient proof of Baha’u’llah’s claim to be a Manifestation of God.

The first Seven Year Plan (1937—1944) was about to end and Canada’s smallest province, Prince Edward Island, still had no Assembly. The National Teaching Committee asked the Gearys and others to move there just months before the plan was to end. Irving resigned an excellent and secure position many years before normal retirement age and moved to the island early in January 1944. The Assembly was formed but at great sacrifice to all those who pioneered there. Irving and Grace Geary, and Doris and Willard McKay who had pioneered from the United States, joined forces and bought a small farm to supplement their meagre savings as regular employment was unavailable.

By 1951 the Gearys were asked by the National Spiritual Assembly to move to Halifax, Nova Scotia to assist with the Assembly there. They responded immediately. While in Halifax, Irving was ab1e to secure employment with a construction company, although he was now approaching sixty-five years of age.

Although Irving was not present with his wife when the Guardian’s call for pioneers was announced at the All-America Intercontinental Teaching Conference in Chicago in 1953, Grace offered their services to pioneer to the unopened territory of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. The Gearys arrived there in October 1953, and for this service were awarded by Shoghi Effendi the title Knights of Baha’u’llah. There was a shortage of housing at Baddeck, where they

[Page 653]IN MEMORIAM

settled, and the only available shelter during that first winter was a summer cottage inadequately insulated against the bitter cold.

Irving had learned the art of printing in old English script and over the years many of the Bahá’í friends were recipients of quotations from the Writings executed in this script and beautifully illuminated with water-colour sketches. While he was in Baddeck, Irving was asked by the local yacht club to make a permanent display of historical significance for the club.

By 1961 the call again came to the Gearys to return to Prince Edward Island, because the Spiritual Assembly of Charlottetown needed reinforcement. They moved within a short time of receiving the appeal and the Assembly was made secure.

Grace died in 19651 and during the period of adjustment, Irving was encouraged to apply for pilgrimage. He was invited to Haifa in 1966 and the Visit brought him great joy. For many years afterwards he travelled to Summer Schools and National Conventions and Visited many communities sharing his slides and tapes.

In 1970 Irving married Hilda Burgin, a devoted servant of the Faith. They offered to pioneer overseas but Hilda’s infirmities proved to be too great an obstacle and they settled in Prince Edward Island. Hilda passed away in 1973.

Irving continued to serve on the Local Spiritual Assembly of Charlottetown, of which he was for many years the able and efficient treasurer, until he entered hospital in November 1984. He died on 30 December 1984, within a few weeks of his ninety-eighth birthday.

From the day that Irving declared his belief in Baha’u’llah he dedicated his life to the Faith. The Bahá’í community‘loved him dearly and he was known to everyone, young and 01d, just as ‘Irving’. He responded with enthusiasm and warmth to the affection spontaneously showered upon him by the Iranian Bahá’í immigrants as they arrived to become part of our community.

R. D. DONNELLY

1See ‘In Memoriam’, The Bahá’í World, V01. XIV, p. 310.

653

CLAIRE GUNG (CLAIRE KLEINE-GUNG) 1904—1985

DEEPLY GRIEVED NEWS PASSING DEVOTED MAIDSERVANT GOD KNIGHT OF BAHAULLAH CLAIRE GUNG. HER DISTINGUISHED RECORD SERVICES HOLY CAUSE AS FIRST PIONEER LEAVE HER HOME COMMUNITY SIGNALIZING INAUGURATION AFRICAN CAMPAIGN IN RESPONSE BELOVED GUARDIANS CALL WON HER ACCOLADE MOTHER OF AFRICA. HER NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS IN PIONEER FIELDS IN UNITED KINGDOM TANZANIA KENYA ZIMBABWE MALAWI AND UGANDA DESERVE HIGH PRAISE PARTICULARLY HER CONTRIBUTIONS T0 EDUCATION CHILDREN IN SPIRITUAL HEART AFRICA. PRAYING HOLY SHRINEs PROGRESS HER NOBLE SOUL ABHA KINGDOM. MAY VALIANT SOULS ARISE FROM AFRICAS FERTILE SOIL FOLLOW IN HER FOOTSTEPS. Universal House of Justice 7 February 1985

_ Miss Claire Kleine-Gung, a woman of frail con stitution and humble worldly attainments, arose all alone and with leonine courage to pioneer for Baha’u’llah nine times over a period of thirty-nine years, five in the British Isles and thirty—four in Africa. Staunch in the Covenant, a lover of the Guardian, in 1950 she became the first British believer to meet his call for pioneers for Africa during the Two Year Plan (1951—53), which the Guardian had termed the first international collaboration plan in Bahá’í history.

Inspired by a deep love for the children of Africa and a lifelong dream of nurturing them, she became, in 1958, the founder and headmistress of one of Uganda’s first and foremost pre-primary institutions, its first interracial nursery school and kindergarten, now being administered by the National Spiritual Assembly of Uganda, to which she lovingly willed the school and all of her personal assets.

Claire was possessed of an unusual blend of qualities. Loving, motherly, and generousespecially to those in want—energetic, imaginative, unsparingly hard-working, dauntless in the face of difficulties and dangers, self—sacrificing, she was radiantly childlike in the quality of her faith, her reliance on God, her dependence on prayer and spiritual guidance, the sensitivity of her nature, her impish readiness for

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Claire Gung

laughter, and her capacity for joy. And yet in her long years of isolation and perseverance during the cruel period of Uganda’s successive military regimes, she suffered deeply through a profound and mounting sense of insecurity and personal loneliness, horror at the carnage surrounding her, and advancing ill health and age.

Claire Gung was born on 3 November 1904, in Gladbeek, Ruhrgebeit, Germany, the third of fourteen children and the only girl amongst the seven who survived to adulthood. Her birth was three months premature, at which time she weighed only three pounds. Her development was so slow that she started walking only at the age of four. Her father was an official in a coal mine; and save for the chronic ‘ill-health’ of her mother and the deep effect which this had on her, her childhood was not unpleasant. She was educated at a Catholic convent school and briefly at a domestic science college.

When World War I ended and Germany was plunged into economic depression, the family fortunes declined as their worldly goods were sold to meet the extreme inflation. Claire was disturbed and frightened by the troops occu

THE Bahá’í WORLD

pying Germany; and in August 1924, at the age of nineteen, she, by her own testimony, ‘ran away from home’, returning thereafter only for a few brief Visits.

For twenty-two years she worked either as a children’s nurse or as a housekeeper, first on the continent, in Switzerland, Austria, the Italian Tyrol, Belgium, and Holland, and finally in England, the country to which she moved in 1930. She retained a deep love of the Alps throughout her life and always had pictures of the mountains and their wild flowers in her home.

Claire first heard of the Bahá’í Faith in September 1939, at the outbreak of World War 11, while working for a Bahá’í, Mrs. Muriel Ward of Torquay, Devon. Mrs. Ward was dying of cancer, and her radiant acquiescence and reliance on prayer greatly impressed Claire. She became a Bahá’í in December of that year.

During the war years, Claire moved from place to place in England, evacuated several times from coastal areas as an enemy alien, an experience which deeply offended her: first to Eastleigh, Devon, then to Cheltenham where she was part of a tiny Bahá’í group, and finally to the Manchester area, where for a period she served long, hard hours in the wartime children’s nurseries. Wherever she went she actively taught the Faith and served the Bahá’í community.

It was in October 1946 that Claire began her long pioneer odyssey when she moved to Northampton and became a member there of the first Local Spiritual Assembly formed during the British Six Year Plan (1944—50). Later in the Plan she pioneered to Cardifi, Wales, where she was again on the first Local Spiritual Assembly, then to Brighton, England, and Belfast, Northern Ireland. In 1947 she was naturalized as a British subject.

In Northampton Claire learned dressmaking at the French firm, Borgue. Her sewing machine was several times her sole means of support as a pioneer. Sewing opened the doors of many homes to her and enabled her to travel and teach the Faith widely. She was also most generous in caring for the children of busy Bahá’í parents and in sewing for them.

At Riḍván 1950 the Guardian announced that the British community would spearhead a two-year teaching plan for the opening of three countries in Africa (Gold Coast, Tanganyika,

[Page 655]IN MEMORIAM

and Uganda). ‘Auntie’ Claire, as she was to be known, was the first believer to obtain employment in Africa, as the matron in a boys’ boarding school in Lushoto, Tanganyika. It was a difficult and indeed frightening decision for her to venture alone to such a distant, little developed and unknown continent, largely unopened to the Faith. She sold most of her possessions, including her precious sewing machine, to raise the money for the fare. Setting sail in December 1950, she spent Virtually the entire voyage seasick in her bunk aboard the Warwick Castle, arriving in Tanga on 25 J anuary 1951. To make the transition from the icy winter of Britain to the sultry heat of East Africa placed a considerable strain on her. Her spirits and determination were greatly buoyed, however, when, on arrival at the school where she was to work, a letter dated 11 J anuary 1951, was handed to her, written by his secretary on behalf of the Guardian.

‘You have voiced the same suffering, the sign of the same mystery, as has been voiced by almost all those who have been called upon to serve God. Even the Prophets of God, we know, suffered agony when the Spirit of God descended on them and Commanded them to arise and preach. Look at Moses saying “I am a stutterer!” Look at Muhammad rolled in His rug in agony! The Guardian himself suffered terribly when he learned he was the one who had been made Guardian.

‘80 you see your sense of inadequacy, your realisation of your own unworthiness, is not unique at all. Many, from the Highest to the humblest, have had it. Now the wisdom of it is this: it is such seemingly weak instruments that demonstrate that God is the Power achieving the Victories and not men. If you were a wealthy, prominent, strong individual who knew all about Africa and looked upon going out there as fun, any services you render, and Victories you have, would be laid to your personality, not to the Cause of God! But because the reverse is true, your services will be a witness to the Power of Baha’u’llah and the Truth of His Faith.

‘Rest assured, dear sister, you Will everincreasingly be sustained, and you will find joy and strength given to you, and God will reward you. You will pass through these dark hours triumphant. The first Bahá’í going on such an historic mission could not but sufi‘ermbut the compensation will be great!’

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In his own handwriting Shoghi Effendi had added: ‘May the Almighty abundantly reward you for your exemplary response, guide every step you take, bless every effort you exert, and enable you to win great and memorable Victories in this new field of Bahá’í activity, and thus ennoble the glorious work you have initiated in the service of His precious Faith.’

Claire spent two years as an isolated believer in Tanganyika; two years in Nairobi, Kenya, where she became a member of the first Local Spiritual Assembly of that country; approximately eighteen months in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia, where she was a member of the first Local Spiritual Assembly and was designated by the Guardian as a Knight of Baha’u’llah;I about one year in Limbe, Nyasaland; and finally, some twenty—eight years in Kampala, Uganda, where she arrived in August 1957.

In January 1955 Claire made the first of two joy-filled pilgrimages to the Holy Land; the second was in November 1971. Her meeting With her beloved Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, and his wife, Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum, was unquestionably the high point of her life. Her keen interest in Shoghi Effendi’s gardens, her many eager questions, her delightful sense of humour, and her entirely humble attitude concerning her services to the Faith must have warmed his heart greatly. When she lamented that she had been unable to teach the Faith to anyone in Africa, he countered by stating that, on the contrary, she was the ‘Mother of Africa’.

And a Mother of Africa she was to become. In 1958, entirely through her own meagre funds, personal planning, ingenuity and efibrt, she opened ‘Auntie Claire’s Kindergarten’ in a rented house near the Palace of the Kabakas (Kings) of Buganda on Mengo Hill, Kampala. Starting with a handful of children, she assiduously built it up until there were eventually 190 pupils. Many were the children of distinguished parents, including the Kabaka himself, government ministers, diplomats, and other leaders in public life. Only for relatively short periods did she have the valuable help 'of other pioneers as employed teachers, but nonetheless the children were always taught Bahá’í prayers, standards, and principles of character through her personal efforts.

'See Shoghi Effendi, Messages to the Bahá’í World (195057), p. 173. Claire Gung arrived in Southern Rhodesia in October 1953.

[Page 656]656 THE BAHA

In 1968 Claire undertook to build a large, new school, entirely with her own personal savings—the result of a blend of financial astuteness and frugal living. She took a bare minimum from the school fees in salary for her personal needs. She made many attractive and colourful toys for the school herself, from inexpensive locally obtainable materials. A timber merchant contributed unusable cut-ends of wood and a printshop its waste paper. Her many friends saved cotton reels, egg boxes, tin cans—anything which could be transformed into toys or teaching materials. She and her staff of ten Ugandans, mainly ayahs whom she had personally trained as teachers, did most of the cleaning, repairs and painting of the school. These economies gradually added up over the years and finally provided the means for erecting the new building.

Eventually the school was legally incorporated, with several Ugandan believers serving on the Board of Directors. Claire became so well known and respected that she was granted lifetime residence status by the Uganda Government, and the school remained in her hands when most other foreign enterprises were confiscated during the Amin regime. During fifteen

m-r

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difficult, dangerous years of civil strife, from 1971 until her death, Claire lovingly mothered and cared for both her often frightened children and distraught staff.

Claire also bought five acres of land, near the Mother Temple of Africa, and contributed them to the Faith. Part of this land was incorporated into the Temple gardens, part into the Bahá’í cemetery nearby where she is now laid to rest, and part was used for the building of a small house to which she could retreat on weekends. This building and its land she later equipped and developed into the Kikaaya Bahá’í Kindergarten, which she then gave to the Faith.

During the many years of her services to the , children and parents of Africa, Claire also took a keen interest in the activities of the Faith. She carefully increased her personal Bahá’í library; attended the international conferences in

Kampala, Mauritius, and Nairobi, also the World Congress in London; did travel teaching in Uganda, Rwanda, and Kenya; and deputized Ugandan believers to teach on her behalf. Claire was known to have remarked that she was not a speaker and that at Nineteen Day Feasts she always had stage fright when she

‘Auntie Claire’s Kindergarten’ in Kampala, Uganda; 1970.

[Page 657]IN MEMORIAM

wanted to say something or address the friends. However, as soon as she felt that she loved the friends just as she loved her own children at school, her inhibitions were dispelled, and she discovered she could speak forth easily and fluently.

In September 1979 the Hand of the Cause of God Enoch Olinga, his wife Elizabeth, and three of his children were brutally murdered in their Kampala home. Claire, who shortly before, after an extraordinarily accurate dream, had warned Mr. Olinga of his danger, was the only remaining pioneer in Kampala and bore a heavy burden in that grievous situation. Several times during those troublous years her own life was placed in danger, but she steadfastly refused to abandon her children or her school when the war and looting had forced all other pioneers to go.

Such reminiscences of this dear and precious soul would not be complete without reference to her sometimes highly imaginative and tenuous hold on reality, her propensity for exaggeration, and her long ‘conversations’ with Baha’u’llah during which she ‘explained’ to Him her problems and needs and ‘received’ His advice. Likewise, her delightful personal brand of English, a language which she never fully mastered, is lovingly remembered, by her many correspondents—‘her fascinating malapropisms and wonderful eccentric spelling’—none of which held her back from her destined course for more than fleeting moments of self—doubt nor from her daily diary, faithfully kept for over twenty years. Her deep love of German classical music served often to cheer, comfort, and inspire her.

‘Auntie’ Claire passed to the Abhá Kingdom on 6 F ebruary 1985, in her eighty-first year. She had spent some months in Nairobi, Kenya, for a much needed and well deserved rest and had broken her hip in a fall from the steps of a bus. She recovered sufficiently to return to Kampala but shortly thereafter had a massive stroke which left her almost totally unconscious, paralysed, and unable to speak. She survived for only a fortnightfisurely an answer to her frequent prayer not to be deprived of her physical capacities.

Her beautiful funeral was attended by a large gathering of her Bahá’í friends, her former pupils and their parents, and various Kampala dignitaries. The tenderness and indeed rever 657

Edward Belcher

ence With which she was laid to rest, and the memorial service and meeting at the House of Worship one year later, testify to the love which the people of Africa bore for this long-sul’fering, indomitable, caring pioneer woman.

ISOBEL SABRI

EDWARD BELCHER 1900—1985

Edward B. Belcher was born in Binghampton, New York, USA. on 27 January 1900. Asked by a friend how he had learned about the Bahá’í Faith he replied: ‘There was a time when great and difficult family problems had brought me to a desperate state. One night I had a dream that I was standing on a street corner and a man, whose face was hidden by his tremendous spirituality and beauty, passed by me and left me overwhelmed. His beard was white. When I enrolled in the Faith and saw the photograph of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, it was incredible—I recognized the face as that of the man in my dream!’ Not long after, through a social club, he met

[Page 658]658

Howard Colby Ivesm-well known to Bahá’ís as the author of Portals to Freedom— whom he had heard speak on a number of topics of universal scope. At a club picnic Mr. Ives revealed for the first time that the themes he had spoken on were drawn from the teachings of Baha’u’llah, and then spoke at length about the Bahá’í Faith. Mr. Ives then invited those who accepted Baha’u’llah to stand up. ‘We were twenty-five persons,’ Mr. Belcher said, ‘and all of us stood up. That day was truly a wonderful day for me.” The year was 1931.

Mr. Belcher remained in Binghampton until 1938 when he pioneered to Syracuse, New York to assist in the formation of that city’s first Local Spiritual Assembly which came into bein g the following year. He pioneered again in 1943, this time to Sioux Falls, South Dakota and later settled in Los Angeles. Learning of the need for pioneers in Latin America, he offered his services and reached Uruguay on 21 March 1955. Although he arrived in Montevideo, he immediately went to reside in Salto as the first pioneer to the interior of Uruguay. Later, he returned to the capital, remaining there until 1958 when he left to pioneer to Minas, Department of Lavalleja. There he lived with his wife, Margarita, for eight years until the first Loca1 Spiritual Assembly of that citymthe second Assembly in the country—had been firmly established. When the strength of this community was assured, he went as a pioneer to Pando, Department of Canelones, together with his wife and son, forming the first Local Assembly in that city and remaining from 1966 until his death on 11 February 1985 in his eightyfifth year.

Mr. Belcher’s close associate, Mr. A. Mandegari (Mandigari), who came to Uruguay as a pioneer in August 1960, has written: ‘My beloved friend was a teacher of English and by that means made friends with people from different social strata; he was always known as a “Bahá’í”. In his left shirt pocket he always carried some Bahá’í pamphlets, which were clearly Visible. We held firesides and other teaching activities in which he always participated with great enthusiasm My dear and wellremembered friend finally ascended to the Abhá Kingdom after serving as a pioneer for thirty years in Uruguay. He was a true example of perseverance. I had the great privilege of knowing him and he had my total admiration.

THE Bahá’í WORLD

I will never forget his great sense of humour; it was characteristic of him-his spirit was full of jubilation and happiness. I spent much time by his side serving on both the Local Spiritual Assembly of Minas and on the first National Spiritual Assembly of Uruguay, and I will always remember him with great fondness.’

Learning of the death of this steadfast servant, the Universal House of Justice cabled on 14 February 1985:

SADDENED PASSING EDWARD BRONLEY BELCHER

DEVOTED SERVANT BAHAULLAH. PRAYING PRO GRESS HIS SOUL ABHA KINGDOM.

(Adapted from tributes by A. MANDIGARi and MARGARITA B. DE BELCHER)

ESKIL J. LJUNGBERG 1886—1985 Knight of Baha’u’llah

PASSING DEARLY LOVED STEADFAST VALIANT KNIGHT BAHAULLAH ESKIL LJUNGBERG BRINGS CLOSE EXEMPLARY LIFE DEDICATION FORTITUDE SINGLEMINDED DEVOTION BLESSED BEAUTY. HE STAYED AT HIS POST MEETING EVERY OPPOSITION WITH LOVE AND PATIENCE WINNING HEARTS AND LAYING SPIRITUAL FOUNDATION CAUSE GOD FAROE ISLANDS. OFFERING ARDENT PRAYERS PROGRESS HIS SOUL ABHA KINGDOM. Universal House of Justice

26 February 1985

Eskil J oachim Ljungberg was born on 20 May 1886 in the small town of Filipstad, Sweden. While still a young man he made his way to England where he was employed for more than three decades in various capacities by families belonging to the British aristocracy. He spent most of his time in London where he had ample opportunity to study his favourite subject, religion, in the reading-rooms of the British Museum. His years in England imbued him with great respect and love for English culture, and he became himself the epitome of the English V gentleman, refined in his manners and impeccably courteous. Referring to that time, Eskil told of the day he was walking in a garden with the young lady to whom he was engaged to be married. They saw a distinguished-looking,

[Page 659]IN MEMORIAM

Eskil J. Ljungberg

greyhaired lady and he asked his fiancee who the lady was. He was told that she was an aunt who was probably ‘a bit crazy’, because she had ‘fallen in love’ with an old Persian gentleman who lived in the Holy Land. The young lady died before Eskil and she could be married; the aunt was Lady Blomfield.

Eskil’s introduction to the Bahá’í Faith, however, did not take place until late in 1947 when he was staying in Stockholm, earning his living as a language teacher. It was the redoubtable Swedish pioneer, Mrs. Jennie Ottilia Anderson, who originally taught him the Faith and invited him to a meeting which was also attended by Mrs. Alice Dudley and Mrs. Beatrice Ashton. These ladies became Eskil’s diligent penfriends after he arrived at his pioneering post in the Faroe Islands. In his unpublished autobiography, Eskil states that it was the Hand of the Cause Dorothy Baker, who was in Stockholm at the time he declared his belief in Baha’u’llah, Who received him into the Faith, anointing his face and hands with attar of rose. This was an unforgettable event for Eskil.

Eskil served on the newly-formed Local Spiritual Assemblies of Stockholm and later Gothenburg; but for him, as for so many other

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Bahá’ís, the international conference in Stockholm in 1953 proved to be the great turning point. Eskil often told the story of how, when the call came for pioneers, he felt he was literally pushed by invisible hands to the podium where he was welcomed by the Hand of the Cause Dr. Ugo Giaehery.

‘I wanted to go to a warm place,’ Eskil relates in his memoirs. As early as 1949 he had decided to pioneer to Casa Blanca and this move had received the approval of Shoghi Effendi. This plan did not materialize, and later on Eskil considered going to the Canary Islands. However, as so often happens with plans that seem sensible and well—conceived, Eskil, instead of going to a warm place, went to a subarctic region, the Faroe Islands, arriving there in late August 1953 and having bestowed upon him by Shoghi Effendi the honorific ‘Knight of Baha’u’llah’. Eskil had reached the ripe age of sixty—seven, an age when most people start thinking of retiring. In September 1953 he received from the European and Asian Committee of the British Isles a letter informing him that the committee had received from Shoghi Effendi a communication reading ‘Assure Ljungberg appreciation, prayers.’ In another letter, through the secretary of the International Bahá’í Council, Mr. Leroy Ioas, Shoghi Effendi once again showered Eskil with words of encouragement and appreciation.

The Faroes, originally a Danish colony, is a group of islands in the North Atlantic, between Iceland and Scotland. It must have been a considerable shock for someone who had known nothing else but cultured surroundings and soulful Bahá’í gatherings, to come to what must have seemed such a desolate spot in the North Atlantic. Eskil’s stately bearing and refined manners did not accord with the customs and habits of the Faroese. Many of them treated him with suspicion, and there were even rumours of his being a spy. But gradually he won the respect~even the admiration— of the population and, at the end of his life, was known as ‘the venerable old Bahá’í’, greatly loved by the many Faroese who had enjoyed his hospitality and become his friends.

Eskil wrote and received letters from all corners of the world. His collection comprises uncounted thousands of letters which no doubt will be an invaluable source of information to future Bahá’í historians, especially when the

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history of the Faith in the subarctic regions of the North Atlantic will be written.

He rendered memorable and outstanding serVices to the early Icelandic Bahá’í community. He made several trips to Iceland, the first one during the summer of 1957, when he held firesides and deepenings in the apartment of Miss Marguerite Allman, the first Canadian pioneer to Iceland. Those meetings attracted an attendance of up to ninety people, an incredible number of seekers in those early years of the Faith in Iceland. The many enthusiastic entries by various seekers, in Eskil’s personal guest book, is an ample testimony to his natural gift for attracting souls to the Faith. People were inspired and deeply struck by his consuming love for the Cause of Baha’u’llah.

In the summer of 1961, Eskil again went to Iceland as a temporary pioneer, at the request of the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada, which supported and encouraged him through its New Territories Teaching Committee, which at that time supervised and co-ordinated the teaching work in Iceland. He met With all the Icelandic believers and held private sessions and deepenings at their homes. He also came into contact with people of German origin who had settled in Iceland, some of Whom became the first believers in Iceland. Among them were Miss Liesel Becker and Erica Pétursson, Eskil’s dear and faithful penfriends of more than two decades.

Eskil met with many other Icelanders, most notably Mr. Kristjan Eldjarn, who later became Iceland’s President. Mr. Eldjarn, then a museum director, was greatly impressed with ‘the old Swedish gentleman’, as he fondly remembered him later, and he used to ask about Eskil whenever Icelandic Bahá’ís made presentations to the President’s Office. Eskil had already presented him with a copy of Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era by Dr. John E. Esslemont, which Mr. Eldjarn graciously received. In this period, probably one of the happiest and most rewarding in his life as a pioneer, Eskil also met with other notables in Iceland.

When he came to the Faroes in 1953, Eskil brought with him a vast reservoir of spiritual joy, happiness and enthusiasm, which he drew on during the long and lonely years in the islands. Reading his many letters containing spontaneous outbursts of joy and wonder, one

THE Bahá’í WORLD

frequently catches glimpses of ecstatic spiritual states, brought about by constant prayers and meditation. He had led a very full and active life before he came to the Faroes, and he often remarked how happy he had been in ‘the olden days’; it was as though he had been thoroughly prepared for years of almost unrelieved solitude and isolation. Among the Bahá’í guests he welcomed were the Hand of the Cause Hermann Grossmann and Mrs. Marion Hofman whom he remembered in his memoirs and spoken accounts with particular fondness. Following her Visit, Mrs. Hofman promptly sent to Eskil a copy of every book published by George Ronald, and these books became his constant and treasured companions in his loneliness, an invaluable source of comfort and knowledge. In addition, he occupied himself with writing his memoirs and translating Bahá’í Writings into Swedish, notably Baha’u’llah’s Epistle to the Son of the Wolf

In 1956, Eskil made contact with Mrs. Emma Reinert, the first Faroese to become a Bahá’í, an event which sustained and reassured him for many years. The arrival of the first British pioneer, Mr. Richard Bury, in 1970, gave Eskil a sense of support and the two became fast friends. Towards the end of the Nine Year Plan other Bahá’ís pioneered from England, including two families, each with a young child. Being joined by some of his Bahá’í family brought great joy to Eskil and the consequent formation, in April 1973, of the first Local Spiritual Assembly of Torshavn, the capital of the Faroe Islands, was the crowning event in his life as a pioneer. In the years that followed, more children were born to the pioneers; some pioneers left and new ones came, including more children. Eskil’s love for them was wonderful to behold. Sitting with a new baby in his arms, or in the midst of a lively children’s party, brought a special light to his eyes. He loved to laugh with them. The children were his dear friends, trusting him and enjoying his warm embraces.

The pioneers, the travel teachers, the Visitors and the many who corresponded with him, all have special memories of the loving-kindness he poured on them. He was a true pillar of the tiny Bahá’í community in the islands, attending all its gatherings. He remained independent, living alone and looking after himself. Those who had the pleasure of Visiting his simple home

[Page 661]IN MEMORIAM

treasure the memory of receiving his loving hospitality, each made to feel he was a special guest.

Eskil enjoyed good health most of his life, and kept his stately, almost regal bearing, to the end. He died on 23 February 1985 at the age of ninety-eight. During the last two weeks of his existence he had to remain in bed, his strength fading, but there were still flashes of his warm humour. He enquired about the health and well-being of everyone, and spoke about the Faith to a nurse who attended him. Friends who sat with him during his last hours describe their impression of his being received into the Abhá Kingdom by strong and loving hands. At the time of his death Eskil had served the Faith in the F aroe Islands for almost thirty-two years, all that time manifesting exemplary devotion, patience and steadfastness.

Baha’u’llah has written: I swear by Him Who is the truth! Erelong will God adorn the beginning of the Book ofExistence with the mention of H is loved ones who have suffered tribulation in His path, and journeyed through the countries in H is name and for H is praise. Whoso hath attained their presence will glory in their meeting, and all that dwell in every land will be illumined by their memory.

EDVARD T . JONSSON ROY PHILBROW

JANET WHITENACK STOUT 1907—1985

The following message sent by the National Spiritual Assembly of Alaska to the World Centre on 23 February 1985, announced the passing of a most remarkable woman:

DEARLY LOVED JANET WHITENACK STOUT FIRST ENROLLMENT ALASKA FOLLOWING OPENING TERRITORY HONOR KEMPTON 1939 PASSED AWAY THIS MORNING. OVER FORTY FIVE YEARS DEDICATED SERVICE DISTINGUISHED BY MEMBERSHIP FIRST LOCAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY ALASKA FIRST NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY FIRST PIONEER ESKIMO VILLAGE AND TOGETHER HUSBAND FIRST PIONEERS MATANUSKA VALLEY. SHE WAS FIRST EDITOR ALASKA BAHAI NEWS DEVOTEDLY SERVING THIS CAPACITY MANY YEARS. REQUEST PRAYERS PROGRESS SOUL COMFORT FAMILY.

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The following response was received on 26 Feb ruary: PASSING JANET STOUT DEARLY LOVED FIRST ALASKAN BELIEVER SETS SEAL UPON DEDICATED LIFE OF UNWAVERING LOYALTY CONSTANT SERVICE BELOVED FAITH. HER ’ RECOGNITION BAHAULLAH WAS FIRST FRUIT VALIANT PIONEER SERVICES HONOR KEMPTON AND INITIATED HISTORIC PROCESS ESTABLISHMENT GODS KINGDOM ALASKA. ANNALS THAT VAST TERRITORY ENRICHED BRIGHTENED HER LIFE. ADVISE HOLD MEMORIAL SERVICES THROUGHOUT ALASKA. PRAYERS OFFERED HOLY THRESHOLD PROGRESS HER SOUL WORLDS GOD. EXTEND LOVING SYMPATHY FAMILY GRIEVOUS LOSS.

Nothing about Janet, who was born on 24 November 1907, was ordinary. She neither conformed to the expectations of others nor rebelled. against convention. She was that rare soul, a truly independent thinker.

Even her early life was unusual. She was raised in wealth in Pelham, New York, USA. While a young girl, her mother took her to Europe three times. As a teenager in the 19203 she had her own motor car and a generous allowance of which $2,000 a year was allocated to clothing alone. Janet completed finishing school and later graduated from Syracuse University. Out of her clothing allowance, she surreptitiously paid for typing and other clerical lessons in order to acquire some practical skills. She became the executive director of the New York Chapter of the American Birth Control League. While serving in that capacity, her private secretary introduced her to the Bahá’í Faith, but Janet had no serious interest in pursuing it at that time.

In her excellent and well-written article, ‘In Search of a New Way of Life’, which appeared in World Order,1 Janet described the decision which led her to move to Alaska in 1939:

‘I had lived in and near New York City all my life but gradually became very dissatisfied with the high pressure tension, the hustle and bustle, the dirt and noise, and the swarms and swarms of people . . . But above all, 1 was fed up with the feverish intensity of “keeping up with the J oneses”, with the general acceptance of false standards of worth governed by money, social position, ancestry, etc. Inspired by stories

1Vol. IX, No. 11, February 1944, pp. 383—88.

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Janet Whitenack Stout

of Alaska, I set out alone for America’s last frontier to find a “new way of life” . .’

Honor Kempton had pioneered to Alaska in that same year in response to the Guardian’s plea for ‘nine holy souls’ to arise to settle the nine remaining Virgin areas of the first Seven Year Plan (1937—44). She had grown discouraged about her teaching work and wondered whether it had been a mistake for her to come; she concluded that ‘miracles don’t happen in Alaska.’ Then she met Janet.

Janet said that she was not consciously looking for a religion. However, she records that con August 6th, just nine days after meeting Honor, and only five days after Honor first mentioned the Bahá’í Faith to me, I told her I wanted to be a Bahá’í.’ Honor reported that she regarded Janet as her miracle.

In 1943, Janet moved to Anchorage from her pioneering post in the Eskimo village of Tulaksak in order to form the first Spiritual Assembly in Alaska. It was there that she met and married Verne Stout. Their two children, Dorothy (Arab) and Richard, were both born while they were living in Anchorage. Janet was busy with her home and children, and multitudinous Bahá’í activities, but still found time

THE BAHA’I’ WORLD

for her many other interests. With the assistance of her black friend, Blanche McSmith, she sueceeded in having both the Anchorage Woman’s Club and the Pioneers of Alaska become racially integrated.

Janet was secretary of the Alaska Teaching Committee in all the important years preceding the formation of the National Spiritual Assembly in 1957 and played a strategic role in the preparations for that first National Convention at which she was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly. She and Verne were two among the five members of that body who pioneered in that first year. They sold their home in Anchorage and settled first in Palmer, then five miles outside of Palmer to open up the Matanauska Valley. A Spiritual Assembly was formed there for the first time in 1960.

As the cable sent by the National Spiritual Assembly to the Universal House of Justice attests, Janet achieved an impressive array of ‘firsts’. But even more impressive than her achievements was her character. She had intense and wide-ranging interests; her involvement in all Bahá’í affairs was exemplary; she had undeViating reliability; and genuine and unusually deep concern for others distinguished her relationships.

In twenty—eight years, Janet never missed a National Convention. She was one of the oldest Bahá’ís actively involved with mass teaching during the 1970s. After recovering from hip surgery a few years ago she resumed Vigorous activity as a travelling teacher. In the remote village of Venetie, north of the Arctic Circle, a local resident seeing her hobble down a dirt path took pity on this woman in her seventies and out a diamond willow walking stick for her. It became a prized possession.

J anet had a heart attack in September 1983. She realized what was happening to her and reported her thoughts during that crisis: ‘I can’t die now; I have too much to do!’ For the next year and a half, she struggled with all her might to accomplish as much as she could. Her deteriorating physical condition and failing eyesight made it difficult, so she tried harder. On Friday, 22 February 1985, she attended a deepening class, discussed some events planned for the weeks ahead, went home to make a final entry in her diary and retired to bed. A breathin g problem wakened her in the middle of the night. She called an ambulance, got dressed, woke

[Page 663]IN MEMORIAM

Verne and got into the ambulance under her own power. By 9:55 the next morning, she consummated her ‘new way of life’ and had finished all that she could do.

JOHN E. KOLSTOE

LLOYD G. GARDNER 1915—«1985

DEEPLY GRIEVED UNTIMELY PASSING ESTEEMED LLOYD GARDNER STALWART DEFENDER INTERESTS FAITH AMERICAS. HIS DISTINGUISHED LONGTIME SERVICE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY CANADA AND MEMBERSHIP BOARD COUNSELLORS AMERICAS SINCE INCEPTION MARKED BY INDEFATIGABLE LABORS ALL ASPECTS TEACHING WORK AND COMMUNITY LIFE NOTABLY YOUTH ACTIVITIES. HIS STERLING CHARACTER HIGH INTEGRITY WARMHEARTED NATURE TOTAL DEDICATION FAITH WORTHY EMULATION. FERVENTLY PRAYING HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS HIS LUMINOUS SPIRIT ABHA KINGDOM AND SOLACE HIS SORROWING FAMILY. ADVISING ALL COMMUNITIES AMERICAS OFFER PRAYERS IN HIS NAME. REQUESTING NATIONAL ASSEMBLY UNITED STATES HOLD MEMORIAL GATHERING TEMPLE WILMETTE. Universal House of Justice 7 March 1985

Following a meeting of the Continental Board of Counsellors in the Americas, held in Bolivia, and a very successful teaching trip in St. Lucia and Barbados in the Caribbean, Lloyd was hospitalized for what seemed a not unusual case of hepatitis, apparently contracted during that journey. After a month’s stay in hospital his condition suddenly worsened and on the morning of 5 March 1985, with his wife and son praying at his side, he passed away.

Lloyd Gardner was born in Toronto, Canada on 16 December 1915, the youngest of four. His father, Ernest, was a talented jeweller and Lloyd began his apprenticeship inthe jewellery industry at the age of fourteen, emerging highly skilled in his craft of diamond setting. He would go on in later years to establish a successful jewellery business.

Lloyd enjoyed a lifelong love of sports and the out-of—doors. He was an avid skier and a champion tennis player. In 1937 he travelled

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with his best friend and tennis partner, Douglas Evans, to Camp Franklin, a young people’s camp on Georgian Bay, Ontario, and it was here they first encountered the Bahá’í Faith. The owner and a staff member of the camp who were Bahá’ís introduced the two young men to the Faith and put them in contact with the small Toronto Bahá’í community which for a time included two travelling teachers, Howard Colby Ives and his wife, Mabel. With the encouragement of Doug, who tragically was to give his life in the war, Lloyd began attending the Ives’s regular firesides and, as he often said, ‘was loved into the Faith’ by Momma Ives, whom he considered his ‘spiritual mother’, enrolling in 1938. The Faith very quickly became the focus and chief priority in Lloyd’s existence and remained so to the end of his life.

He began his administrative service on the Local Spiritual Assembly of Toronto soon after his declaration and was instrumental in the holding of the first Canadian Bahá’í Summer School, at Rice Lake, Ontario in 1938. As one of the youngest members of the community, Lloyd played a key role in encouraging and organizing youth activities. He would combine teaching with recreational outings, taking a carload of youth skiing during the day and then to a Bahá’í lecture in the evening.

World War II brought compulsory military service to Canada’s young men. In response to the directives of the Guardian, Lloyd requested non—combatant duty. He enlisted in the medical branch of the Navy and was trained as a shipboard medic. For most of the war years he was stationed in Halifax, Nova Scotia where he was able to help establish and serve on the first Local Spiritual Assembly, then an important goal of the first Seven Year Plan (1937—44).

In 1945 Lloyd was transferred to St. John’s, Newfoundland and had the privilege of introducing the Faith to that new territory Which, with Labrador, became part of Canada in 1949. He held a public meeting in St. John’s and, being the only Bahá’í, arranged the advertising and pre- and post-publicity, acted as chairman and gave the talk. The Guardian cabled his assurance of prayers.

In the postwar years, Lloyd returned to Toronto where he resumed service on the Local Assembly and was appointed to the Canadian National Youth Teaching Committee, also continuing his close involvement with Summer and

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Lloyd G. Gardner

Winter Schools. Jameson Bond, longtime member of the Canadian National Spiritual Assembly and a close friend to whom Lloyd had introduced the Faith, recalled a canoe trip they took together at that time in the Ontario lake country. They invited along a number of young male contacts on what was perhaps the first Bahá’í teaching trip by canoe.

During this period Lloyd was a member of the Canadian Radio Committee which aired weekly Bahá’í programmes on a Toronto radio station. He served one year as a delegate to the National Convention of the United States and Canada, held in Wilmette, Illinois.

The year 1948 marked the birth of Canada’s own National Spiritual Assembly which was elected in Montreal at the country’s first Bahá’í national convention. Lloyd had the honour of being elected to that new body and of serving With such distinguished believers as F red Schopflocher and John Robarts, both destined to become Hands of the Cause of God. As a member of the Canadian National Assembly in 1963, Lloyd served as a delegate to the international convention in Haifa and had the privilege of acting as a teller for the election of the first Universal House of Justice. With the

THE Bahá’í WORLD

exception of one year, he remained on the National Assembly for twenty consecutive years, functioning at various times as chairman, Vice~chairrnan and treasurer, until 1968 when he was called to international service.

‘ In the early winter of 1949 Lloyd Gardner married Helen Smith, a Bahá’í he had helped teach and with whom he had fallen in love. Thus began a spiritual union and teaching partnership, dedicated to Baha’u’llah, which would lead many souls to the Faith.

After their marriage, Helen and Lloyd pioneered to North York, Ontario and then in 1951 to Oshawa, Ontario helping to form those cities’ first Local Spiritual Assemblies. The family home remained in Oshawa where they were living when their children, Nancy and David, were born. For many years the Gardners’ weekly Saturday evening firesides were a centre of teaching in the Oshawa area, with hundreds attending, particularly youth, and many declarations resulting.

Lloyd’s pioneering in Bahá’í administrative service entered a new chapter in 1968 when he was appointed by the Universal House of Justice to the newly-established Continental Board of Counsellors in North America and continued with his appointment in 1980 as Trustee of the Continental Fund for the Americas. His responsibilities for the Board of Counsellors took him to many parts of the Americas, from Greenland to South America, but most of all required countless days and evenings of paper work which he continued from his hospital bed until three days before his passing.

Lloyd Gardner’s life was one of tireless labour—as a young man acquiring his skills as a craftsman, later struggling to build a successful business, but most of all in his dedicated service to Baha’u’llah. Lloyd was known by his friends, business associates and the Bahá’ís as a true gentleman. He led a balanced life—a love for his Faith complemented by a love for his family, the depth of which I feel helpless to describe.

Lloyd’s friend and colleague, J ameson Bond, has written: ‘Forty years after we met, Lloyd unexpectedly ascended to the Abhá Kingdom. The deeply moving tribute about his life and services from the Universal House of Justice moved all hearts. What his many friends and admirers had long recognized in its various aspects, was now summarized in a single magnificent statement. The full significance of his

[Page 665]IN MEMORIAM

services will only become known by future generations. This glorious soul, after almost half a century of exemplary, distinguished labours for the Cause he loved so well, is now released to continue, from his exalted station in the next world, his blessed influence on the development of the World Order of Baha’u’llah.’

DAVID L. GARDNER

JULIUS A. G. EDWARDS 1902—1985 Knight of Baha’u’llah

Julius Augustus George Edwards was born on 2 January 1902 in Cannon Hall District, St. Mary’s, Jamaica. He was very active in J amaican national life and energetically associated with groups whose aim was to increase and improve social opportunities for the black people of his country. Married three times, he had five sons and two daughters.

‘This distinguished gentleman,’ says a report about Mr. Edwards in the April 1985 issue of Bahá’í News published by the National Spiritual Assembly of Grenada. ‘before becoming a Bahá’í, had founded the Jamaica EconomicSocio Society, acted as chairman of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), served as an adviser to two Prime Ministers of Jamaica and had twice represented Marcus Garvey, for whom he was personal seeretary. But after accepting Baha’u’llah, he distinguished himself in service to the Bahá’í Faith.’ On one occasion, Mr. Edwards accompanied Dorothy Baker, who at the time was secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and was later appointed a Hand of the Cause of God, to a regional teaching conference in E1 Salvador at which he was requested to act as chairman. He is well-known for his teaching activities for the Cause in his country, particularly in Spanishtown.

On 29 August 1953, Mr. Edwards left Kingstown to answer the call of the Guardian for pioneers to settle in Virgin territories in the Ten Year Crusade, a service for which he was named by Shoghi Effendi a Knight of Baha’u’llah. His

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Julius A. G. Edwards

assigned area was Northern Territories Protectorate on the Gold Coast (now Ghana) and he arrived at Tamale on 29 September 1953. Mr. Edwards was able to establish the first Bahá’í group of Tamale and he also did considerable teaching in Kumasi. However, due to government restrictions he was forced to leave Tamale from whence he proceeded to Liberia where he resided until 1977. It should be mentioned that on 7 January 1956, Mr. Edwards was awarded a special citation by His Excellency William V. S. Tubman, President of Liberia, in recognition of his service to that country, and that he influenced the President to include a Visit to the Bahá’í Centre in Haifa on the occasion of his official Visit to Israel in June 1962. A photograph of President Tubman and Mrs. Tubman taken with the Hands of the Cause Residing in the Holy Land following their Visit to the Shrines of the Báb and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá on 28 June 1962 is found on page 250 of vol. XIII of The Bahd’z' World. President Tubman subsequently received the Hand of the Cause Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih ~Kh____anum during her safari in Africa in 1971.

Mr. Edwards was prominent in his teaching efforts for the Faith, holding public meetings

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and special gatherings. In 1960 he married his third wife, Vera Keens-Douglas,1 of Grenada, whom he had taught and enrolled in the Faith While she was Visiting Monrovia with her aunt. She was a wonderful support to him in the subsequent seventeen years that he spent teaching in Liberia, and travelling for the Cause to other West African countries. He will be remembered for his valued efforts to assist in the construction of the Bahá’í Centre of Dolo’s Town, Liberia.

On 20 December 1979, with his wife, Vera, Mr. Edwards left Liberia and settled in her native Grenada, arriving in February 1980. Here they continued their active service to the Bahá’í Faith, particularly in the St. Andrew’s area. Vera Edwards died on 19 November 1981 and Julius Edwards on 17 March 1985. In its cable of 20 March the Universal House of Justice bestowed the following accolade:

GRIBVED PASSING JULIUS A. G. EDWARDS EARLY BELIEVER JAMAICA KNIGHT BAHAULLAH NORTHERN TERRITORIES PROTECTORATE AND PIONEER TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS LIBERIA. HIS LONG RECORD SERVICES AFRICA CARIBBEAN HAVE ENRICHED ANNALS CAUSE. KINDLY CONVEY FAMILY CONDOLENCES ASSURANCE PRAYERS PROGRESS SOUL ABHA KINGDOM. (Adapted from a memoir by the NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF THE Bahá’ís OF GRENADA)

ORPHA DAUGHERTY 1912—1985

Orpha Maud Hiller was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado, U.S.A., in 1912, one of seven children. Although she was raised as a Christian, she became a firm atheist at age fourteen when her teacher told her it was impossible to reconcile science with the Bible. Later, during a troubled period in her life, she found several Bahá’í books in a Honolulu library. She studied the Faith by herself before ever meeting a Bahá’í. Orpha was accepted into the Faith in 1944 and for the next forty—one years served it indefatigably.

1See ‘In Memoriam’, lee Bahá’í World, vol. XVIII, p. 778.

1,1

THE BAHA I WORLD

Orpha Daugherty

When she was a young girl, Orpha’s family moved to Seattle, Washington where, whi1e still in her teens, she married Will Daugherty, a man thirty years her senior, and moved with him to Hawaii. A son, Marc, was born of this union. After a few years, irreconcilable differences forced Orpha to leave her husband and she returned to Seattle in 1945.

Agnes Alexander was Orpha’s first Bahá’í teacher. They spent many hours to gether during the first year of Orpha’s life as a Bahá’í in Hawaii. Later on she met Dorothy Baker whose advice and example set the tone for Orpha’s services to the Faith until the end of her life.

For sixteen years Orpha served the Cause in the United States in various localities including Seattle, Washington; Little Rock, Arkansas; Chicago, Illinois; and Durham and Raleigh, North Carolina. She gave innumerable public and fireside talks, and supported herself and her young son, most often by writing advertising copy for radio stations.

In 1960, heeding the call for pioneers for the Ten Year Crusade, Orpha settled in the Philippines, living on the island of Cebu and finding employment at a radio station. She also hosted two television programs during the infancy of television broadcasting in Cebu City

[Page 667]IN MEMORIAM

and although she could not directly mention the Faith while on the air, she always sought to address higher principles on her programs. In the autumn of 1962, with the encouragement of the Hand of the Cause Dr. Raḥmatu’lláh Muhájir, Orpha, then fifty years of age, left Cebu to join the mass teaching work in the Villages of central Luzon, valiantly enduring every hardship and deprivation. The Villagers would often remark that she was as persevering as a water buffalo, a beast she sometimes rode on her teaching trips. Today there are many young women throughout the tribal and Village regions of central Luzon named after Orpha. Orpha was elected to the first National Spiritual Assembly of the Philippines which was formed in 1964. Then she was struck by lymphatic cancer and with the help of friends returned to the United States where she underwent experimental treatment and was cured. After making her pilgrimage to the World Centre she returned to the Philippines and not long after was appointed by Dr. Muhájir as his Auxiliary Board member for Eastern Asia. She moved to Thailand in 1965 and while there ventured into the uplands of Laos, Visiting the hill tribes of that country. She traveled to Sarawak and Brunei where she would journey by canoe up rivers that flow from the great rain forests, teaching the Faith in the longhouses of the Iban people. She also lived in Ceylon for a time, and traveled to Vietnam and Cambodia. In October 1967, while Orpha was attending the Intercontinental Teaching Conference in New Delhi, it was decided that she would move to Taiwan where she remained until 1969 when, in response to the request of the Continental Board of Counsellors, she moved to Macau in order to promote the teaching of the Faith there. But she had long since felt the urge to return to her work in radio, in keeping with a letter she had received written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi by his secretary in April 1949 encouraging her to use her writing abilities in proclaiming the Faith through mass media. After much soul searching, she resigned her position as Auxiliary Board member in 1970 and returned to the Philippines. Here, and later in Hiroshima, J apan where she settled in 1974, she wrote forty-five one-minute mini-dramas and nineteen fifteen-minute midi-dramas which were produced by a good friend and later distributed to many National Spiritual Assemblies.

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In 1982 Orpha moved to Korea where she wrote feature articles for a Korean Englishlanguage wire service. Until the end of her life she continued writing dramas and creating Children’s material on her rusty old typewriter.

During the last year of her life, Orpha became very tired and every movement was an effort. Nevertheless, in October 1984, when she was in her seventy-second year, she once more climbed a mountain to bring the message of Baha’u’llah to the Chong Hak Donguthe People of the Pure White Crane—a community of people who, about half a century ago, isolated themselves on a Korean mountaintop to await word of a great prophet. Orpha’s presence, and the effort she had made to bring them this word, greatly impressed the elders of that gathering. Many became Bahá’ís. She was a unique teacher, generous of spirit, curious, openminded, loving, without prejudice and keenly aware of the greatness of the Cause. Bringing people to Baha’u’llah was what she lived for.

Orpha’s last months in Korea were filled with severe diifieulties. A Korean newspaper had hired her and she went to J apan to await a Visa to enter Korea. But she was refused a working Visa on the grounds of advanced age. She returned to Korea to determine her next move and welcomed an invitation from the Bahá’ís of Taiwan to come and share her knowledge of mass teaching. Her spirits were further renewed by receipt of a cable from the Universal House of Justice saying DELIGHTED PROSPECT SERVICES TAIWAN . . . She left Korea on 17 April 1985.

The last two weeks of her life in Taiwan were filled with activity. She met with the National Spiritual Assembly at their request to discuss teaching; she gave a fireside talk to which forty people came; and she moved to Hsin Tien before Riḍván to become the ninth member of a Local Spiritual Assembly. Then suddenly, during preparations for the national convention, she sulfered a stroke. Practically her last conscious words were addressed to her doctor, a Seventh Day Adventist, to whom she said, ‘Do you know that Baha’u’llah is the awaited return of Christ?’ Orpha had always wanted to die ‘with her boots on’. Three days later, on 30 April 1985, she passed away. Her earthly frame was buried in Chungli on the twelfth day of Riḍván, 142 BE. Counsellor Vicente Samaniego, who first heard of Baha’u’llah from Orpha, delivered the

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eulogy. Orpha had often stated that the Chinese were her ‘greatest love’, and she longed to return to them. And so she did. A new teaching campaign in Taiwan was dedicated in her name.

From the United States to the tribal areas of the Philippines and Sarawak, from Korea and J apan to India and Sri Lanka, Orpha Daugherty had served her Lord in seventeen countries. Upon her passing the Universal House of J ustice cabled on 1 May:

HEARTS SADDENED NEWS PASSING ORPHA DAUGHERTY LONG TIME PIONEER TEACHER PHILIPPINES EASTERN ASIA. OFFERING ARDENT PRAYERS PROGRESS HER SOUL WORLDS GOD.

JAMES MANGAN, MARC DAUGHERTY, JACK DAVIS

SAMSON KNOWLTON 1902~1985

The Bahá’ís of Canada were grieved to learn of the passing of Samson Knowlton on 28 April 1985, in his eighty-third year. Samson and his wife Rosie, who died in 1982, were among the first six members of the Peigan Nation, one of the three branches of the Blackfoot tribe, to proclaim their faith in Baha’u’llah. Their acceptance of the Faith in 1958 resulted from a Visit to southern Alberta of the Hand of the Cause J ohn A. RobartsiThe Knowltons quickly became effective Bahá’í teachers, assisting in the formation in April 1961 of the first Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the Peigan Reserve.

Samson was also a member of the Band Council, and was instrumental in the passing of a resolution to permit Bahá’ís to visit and teach the Faith on the Peigan Reserve. He made many teaching trips throughout North America, fostering a spirit of harmony between native and non—native communities.

In 1960, Samson accompanied Canada’s first native Senator, James Gladstone, a Blood Indian, to Ottawa to present to the federal Government a proposal urging it to extend to native people the right to vote in federal elections. He was also instrumental in having eliminated the ‘permit system’ Which prevented Indians from leaving the reserve.

THE Bahá’í WORLD

Samson Knowlton

The Knowlton home quickly became known as a centre of Bahá’í activity. In the spring of 1960 it was blessed With a Visit from the Hand of the Cause Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih L(_hé1num Who, in a moving ceremony, was given the Blackfoot name Natu-Okcist (Blessed Mother) by the Peigan Elder, Charlie Crow Eagle. Samson considered her Visit a most significant part of his experiences as a Bahá’í, and enjoyed sharing his memory of it with all who came to enjoy the hospitality of his home.

The Hand of the Cause Hasan M. Balyi’izi Visited the Knowlton home in 1961. Many other well-known Bahá’ís, including members of the Continental Board ' of Counsellors and the National Spiritual Assembly, also enjoyed the warm atmosphere of Samson’s home.

Samson was greatly concerned about the wellbeing of his community and felt deep love for its members, especially the elders. He took care of the old people by keeping them supplied with firewood and fresh water.

The Bahá’ís will miss the annual picnic held at the Knowlton home. These were occasions when friends came from near and far to share friendship, music and spiritual enrichment. Always, upon departing from regular Feasts,

[Page 669]IN MEMORIAM

weekly firesides and study classes, the friends received a sincere invitation to come back soon, and they knew that Samson’s door, as well as his heart, was always open.

The Bahá’í community has lost the physical presence of a strong pillar of the Faith, but his added f orce in the Abhá Kingdom will be urgin g us onward with his steadfastness, courage, patience and love.

(Adapted from Bahá’í Canada, Vol. 7, No. 3, August—September 1985)

DANIEL RANDRIANARIVO 1924—1985

DEBPLY GRIEVED PASSING DANIEL RANDRIANARIVO. MAY DEVOTED SERVICES HIS FELLOW COUNTRYMEN ADD JOY AND PRIDE HIS SPIRIT ABHA KINGDOM. FERVENTLY PRAYING HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS HIS SOUL. ASSURE RELATIVES LOVING SYMPATHY. Universal House of Justice 3 June 1985

Daniel Randrianarivo was born to a Christian family on 16 December 1924 in Ambovombe Tulear, Madagascar, and was one of seven children. After attending elementary school and taking business training he was employed in a bank and then worked as an accountant for the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Measures. In April 1953 Mrs. Meherangiz Munsiff arrived as a pioneer in Madagascar. Among the people she attracted to the Faith was Daniel Randrianarivo. He did not, however, immediately declare his acceptance of the Cause. ‘But’, writes Gilbert Robert, who was also resident at that time in Madagascar, ‘1 can never forget the miraculous time when Daniel came on foot, at midnight, to knock at the door of my flat where Mrs. Munsiff was staying. This event took place on 17 J anuary 1954. I remember that before going to bed that night, Mrs. Munsifl had explained to us that the sadness we had noted on her face was not due to her imminent departure. Of course, our acceptance of the Cause of Baha’u’llah had made her happy, she said, but she could not forget that she had come to Madagascar not on1y to share her spiritual treasure with French people, but especially with the Malagasy people. Since she had not been

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Daniel Randrianarivo

able to convince any of them, she felt sad because she had not fully accomplished her mission.

‘Baha’u’llah heard the sighs of His devoted

servant, for that night she was awakened by

the knock of a shy young Malagasy man who was convalescing from an illness. Her Visitor had come to return the book Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era by Dr. J ohn E. Esslemont that she had lent him during a Visit to a hospita1, and also to ask her what he had to do to become a Bahá’í. Daniel signed his declaration card the next day, twenty-four hours before the departure of his spiritual mother.

‘This courageous young man beautifully exemplified five virtues: punctuality, patience, courtesy, gent1eness and humility. His two passions in life were studying the teachings of the Bahá’í Faith and sharing them with others. He was a member of the first Local Spiritual Assembly of Tananarive which was formed on 21 April 1955, and he served on it for many years.” In addition, he served as assistant secretary on various committees and participated in the re—formation of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Mangatany. He was married to R. Jeanne d’Are in 1978 at the National Bahá’í Centre. Two children were born to them, a son

[Page 670]670

who passed away in his second year, and a daughter, Razafinoro Lalatiana Marie Jeanne.

‘Upon learning of the passing of Daniel Randrianarivo,’ Mr. Robert continues, ‘I rejoiced for him and for the distinction that was his. Baha’u’llah chose him to be the first Malagasy to guide the inhabitants of Madagascar to the royal path that leads to the Light. And thus, Daniel Randrianarivo wrote his name on the first blank page of the new history of his island. May the light of the Abhá Kingdom illumine forever this courageous, sincere and humble soul.’

EVE B. NICKLIN 1895—1985

On 10 June 1985, after forty-four years of pioneering service, Eve Blanche James Nieklin, the spiritual mother of Peru and one of the first Bahá’í pioneers to South America, abandoned this earthly life at her post in Lima, following a long illness.

Eve was born in Illinois on 25 J anuary 1895. She trained at a Methodist Missionary School in Kansas City, Kansas and then was stationed as a deaconess in New Castle, Pennsylvania. She attended a Bahá’í talk given in a public library by Howard Colby Ives. Subsequent Visits to the Ives’ farm for discussion of the Faith reinforced her initial favorable impression and she soon was a Bahá’í. Inspired by Martha Root, she entered the vanguard of those who answered the call of the beloved Guardian for pioneers to arise in the first Seven Year Plan (1937—44).

‘My first experience as a pioneer began long before the Crusading years,’ Eve wrote, referring to Shoghi Effendi’s subsequent Ten Year Crusade. In 1937, she made her initial attempt to pioneer to South America, the city of Bahia, Brazil being her assigned goal. Her efforts to secure a Visa were frustrated by local political disturbances and after a brief period of service she was reluctantly forced to return home where she impatiently awaited another opportunity for pioneering service. ‘Finally I received word from the National Spiritual Assembly that as Peru was Virgin territory for the Faith, would I consider going there. To me it made no difl‘erence where I went when it meant I could go.

THE Bahá’í WORLD

So in the year 1941 I went to Peru, which has become my “other country” . . .’

She arrived in Lima as a shining example of courage: she was forty-six years of age, unable to speak Spanish, without friends in Peru, and with very little money. Later she was to say of the Peruvians, ‘They have become my people.’

Eve soon began teaching English and with her students formed the ‘Club Universal’ to promote the Bahá’í principles which she exemplified so admirably in her own life. The first Peruvian to become a Bahá’í was Mrs. Isabel Barrera. She was soon followed by others, and on 20 April 1944, the first Local Spiritual Assembly in Peru was formed in Lima. ‘This has been a very happy year for me as it has seen the birth of the first Peruvian Assembly,’ she wrote to a friend. ‘The Guardian wrote me that it was a very historical date. I have what I’ve always dreamed of—a lovely little tworoom apartment—with people dropping in for tea and talking about the Faith . . .’

In 1948, with the approval of Shoghi Effendi, Eve went to Punta Arenas, Chile to strengthen the work there. The Guardian wrote to her through his secretary before her departure, appending in his own hand, ‘May the Almighty abundantly reward you for your outstanding services, remove all obstacles from your path, assist you to extend continually the range of your historic accomplishments, and enrich the record of your magnificent activities in Latin America.’ Returning to Peru, she resided in Callao where a Local Assembly was formed in 1949. Thereafter, she helped to establish and/or consolidate Bahá’í communities in the Peruvian cities of Arequipa, Cuzco, Trujillo and Ica.

In 1949 Eve helped form ‘CEBSA’, the first continental teaching committee in South America, and in 1950 she was invited to Wilmette to attend the Centenary observance of the Martyrdom of the Báb.

In 1951 Eve was elected to the first National Spiritual Assembly of South America at the National Convention in Lima. This was the consummation of her efforts. She wrote of it, ‘The hotel where this great event took place was right on the same street where I had first lived upon arriving in Lima. Naturally my thoughts went back to those days of struggle with the language, the climate, the loneliness, when I was trying to make contacts; back to all those things that a pioneer has to confront

[Page 671]IN MEMORIAM

Eve B. N z'cklin

in the field. But what a difference it made on that day! I could regard all those tests as pure happiness ...’

Eve spent a year in Uruguay (1952—53) and two and a half years in Paraguay (1953—55). None of these uprootings was easy for Eve or the local believers. Eve confided that in View of her affection for the Peruvian friends who were new in the Faith, and her concern that in her absence they might fall away from it, she would not have found it possible to go to Punta Arenas in 1948 had it not been, as she recorded, that ‘the beloved Guardian understood my fears and wrote me a beautiful letter in which he said that I shouldn’t be afraid and that he would pray for Peru while I would be gone.’

In 1953, after attending the public dedication of the House of Worship in Wilmette, Eve accompanied the Hand of the Cause Valiyu’llah Varqa on his Visit to several South American countries.

When she returned to Peru in 1955, Eve lent assistance to the work of teaching the indigenous peoples around Arequipa. In 1958 she was asked to return to Paraguay where she remained until 1962 when she again returned to Peru, this

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time to help with indigenous teaching around Cuzco, the ancient capital of the Incas. Ever eager to be in the thick of teaching, even though she was then past eighty, Eve went in February 1977 to Ica, Peru to help with the teaching work there. She spent her final years at the National Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds in Lima, surrounded by her spiritual children, grandchildren and greatgrandchildren, all of whom loved and admired her. Ellen Sims who served with Eve in Paraguay wrote of her, ‘Eve Nicklin has the special quality of imbuing new pioneers with her love and understanding of the Latin Americans. Her immediate efforts to orient me taught humility, insight, patience and, above all, esteem and love for the Latin peoples. That orientation sustained me throughout the Ten Year Crusade.’

Eve Nicklin lived for teaching the Cause, and her manner of teaching was exemplary. She always taught with Visual aids, teaching books that she. herself prepared by cutting out colored pictures from magazines to illustrate the Bahá’í principles. In a tribute paid to Eve towards the end of her life, Mario Laon stated, ‘Not with words or with Visual aids alone does Eve teach, but through her presence she continues to inspire future generations of Bahá’ís in service to the Cause, being a living example residing there in the National Bahá’í Center. She is an example of self-sacrifice, one who it would Clearly seem has tried to live the exhortation of the Master, Look at me, follow me, be as I am . . . You must die to yourself and t0 the world . . . Behold the candle, how it gives its light. It weeps its life away, drop by drop, in order to giveforth its flame of light. ’1

Her life was centered in the Faith and the Bahá’ís were her family. In 1952 she wrote to a friend, ‘If you will permit me, I shall tell you that I have known loneliness that could not have been borne but for the knowledge that this work was above one’s personal sufferings or feelings. What has happened now? In every country where I may travel, there is my family, a family that can’t be compared with any physical one . . .’ Her travels were wide~ranging, and often were undertaken in relation to her work as a member of the Auxiliary Board on which she served from 1965. In 1971 she wrote from

1Recorded by May Maxwell in her pilgrim notes published as An Early Pilgrimage (George Ronald, Publisher).

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Paraguay, ‘I’m planning to attend some meetings in Lima, Peru in December which will take me back to my old “stomping ground” l have lived in six diflerent cities in Peru ...‘1 have been back three times to live in Peru. And this is the third time I’ve lived in Paraguay. I’ve lived in Chile, Uruguay and Argentina, and have made Visits to all the other South American countries, including some of the islands and the Guianas. Just an “auld gadabout”, no es verdad [isn’t it the truth]?

Eve’s was the first voice to pronounce the greeting ‘Alláh-u-Abhá in Peru; she witnessed the first Bahá’í funeral there in 1944, and the first Bahá’í wedding in 1946. She helped establish the first Local Spiritual Assembly in Peru, and when she died, forty—four years later, there were almost 600 Spiritual Assemblies in that country.

Her grave is in the British Cemetery in Callao, near the resting-places of such other Bahá’í heroes as Counsellor Raul Pavén, John Stearns and Fidel Flores. More than one hundred people, young and old alike, attended the service, lovingly reciting prayers. Dr. Guillermo Aguilar and Auxiliary Board member Mercedes sanchez, eminent alumni of the ‘Club Universal’ who were among the first of Eve’s spiritual children, presented stirring eulogies.

Informed of her passing, the Universal House of Justice on 12 June 1985 cabled:

SADDBNED LEARN PASSING AUXILIARY BOARD MEMBER EVE NICKLIN DEVOTED STEADFAST HANDMAID ABDULBAHA HER MANY YEARS DISTINGUISHED SUCCESSFUL SERVICES SOUTH

AMERICA ARE BEFITTING MEMORIAL HER TOTAL i

CONSECRATION CAUSE BAHAULLAH. CONFIDENT LOVING WELCOME ABHA KINGDOM. PRAYING SACRED THRESHOLD PROGRESS SOUL.

Adapted from a memoir by THOMAS LYSAGHT

ROSE MAKWELUNG 1912-1985

Her unswerving devotion to the Bible led Rose Makwelung directly into the Bahá’í Faith. Born on 18 August 1912 at Tabituea, Kiribati (formerly Gilbert Islands) of Gilbertese parents—her father a Mission—educated Protestant minister—Rose Kaumai was adop THE BAHA’I’ WORLD

Rose M akwelung

ted at age three by a member of the American Board of Foreign Missions, ‘Mother’ Jessie, Hoppin, whose surname she acquired. Upon her marriage in 1945 on Kosrae (formerly Kusaie) to Tulensa Makwelung of that island in the Eastern Carolines, she became Rose Makwelung, and was known by this name for the rest of her life.

Rose was educated in mission schools, first on Kosrae, later on Jaluit in the Marshall Islands, and finally at F orsythe Memorial School in Los Angeles, USA. where she spent ten years and from which she graduated in 1932. Upon invitation of the American Board to assist a missionary family who were assuming Miss Hoppin’s post at Jaluit, Rose returned to the islands of Micronesia in 1933 and began her work as a Mission school teacher, unaware that she was embarking upon a forty-year career in education and related fields that would bring her renown both within and beyond Micronesia. She continued teaching at Mission schools on J aluit and Kosrae until the start of World War II when the occupying forces placed her in charge of Japanese classes for children of war labourers in Kosrae. After the war she organized a school system for Kosrae and was at its head until 1952 when she moved to Pohnpei

[Page 673]IN MEMORIAM

(formerly Ponape), also in the Eastern Caroline Islands, where she continued in government service. Gradually her involvement in education broadened to include women’s interests and community development. She worked continuously to raise the status of women and the family. She promoted various measures including better nutrition and sanitation to improve the life of her fellow citizens. Over the years she represented the Trust Territory Government, of which Micronesia was a part, at various conferences, particularly in Asia. In 1961 she was awarded a United Nations Fellowship grant to observe community programs in the Philippines, India and Ceylon.

At the time of her death on Kosrae on 16 J une 1985, newspapers of the area made reference to ‘beloved Rose Makwelung’. In a cable sent to other Heads of State of the Federated States of Micronesia, Governor Yosiwo P. George described her death as ‘AN IRREPARABLE Loss’ and continued ‘. .. ALL KOSRAE GRIEVES AT PASSING OF KOSRAE’S FOREMOST AND PIONEER EDUCATOR . . .HER LIFELONG DEDICATION . . . EDUCATION AND CIVIC ACTIVITIES GRATEFULLY RECOGNIZED.’ Governor Resio S. Moses of Pohnpei stated, ‘She was before her time . . . If all of us were like her, I don’t think the world would ever know war.’ Bahá’ís with whom she was associated described her qualities of character as ‘unfailing courtesy, humility, generosity, forbearance, understanding—and a love of God shown in her acts of service to her fellowmen.’ Wherever she went, her manner was mild and gentle.

Rose first encountered the Bahá’í Faith in 1955 when she was shown passages from the Bahá’í Writings which had been selected for translation into Kusaiean. This was the single Mieronesian language goal of the Ten Year Crusade, and one of three of the island languages spoken by Rose, along with English and Japanese. A preliminary Kusaiean version had been made; at the request of the Knight of Baha’u’llah for the Eastern Carolines, Virginia Breaks, Rose put the translation into final form, thus making possible the early fulfillment of an important task of the Crusade. She continued to show a moderate interest in the Cause, but was not yet ready to embrace it. Some time after the above—mentioned event, Rose renewed her interest in the Bahá’í Writings While recuperating from eye surgery on Guam. Not yet

673

allowed to use her eyes, she listened intently, night after night, as her hostess, Cynthia R. Olson, the Knight of Baha’u’llah for the Mariana Islands, read from William Sears’ Thief in the Night. With her thorough knowledge of the Bible, Rose would consider each reference, then nod her head in assent. This continued until one evening as they were about mid-way in the book, she suddenly raised her arms and exclaimed, ‘Enough! I believe!’

From that time forward, Rose studied and taught the Bahá’í Faith with all her heart and soul. To become identified as a Bahá’í in that part of Micronesia demanded courage and complete conviction. Rose did not waver, in spite of opposition from family and friends, and extended her Bahá’í teaching beyond the Eastern Carolines to include special projects in the Marshalls.

As a consequence of being elected in 1972 to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the North West Pacific Ocean, serving the Caroline, Marshall and Mariana Islands, Rose attended, in 1973, the third International Bahá’í Convention in Haifa, the first Micronesian to Visit the Bahá’í World Centre, pray at the Shrines and participate in the election of the Universal House of Justice. Upon her return, she spoke before Bahá’í gatherings in various centers of Micronesia. During these talks she commented that she had come to realize what a challenge it is for the Bahá’ís to have their lives become as beautiful as the Holy Places on Mount Carmel which had moved her so deeply.

Retiring from government service in March 1973, Rose set for herself a daily schedule of translating the Writings as well as teaching the Faith. In 1980 she moved from Pohnpei, the locale of most of her career activity, to Kosrae, the island she called home. In a life summary written by request at that time, she recounted her personal goals as she had outlined them early in life: ‘Ten years or more for the Mission, ten years or more for the government-wand the rest of my years on my own.’ ‘But,’ she concluded, ‘it seems that Baha’u’llah has other plans for me. I’m more than happy to let Him make use of me for the rest of my years! I only regret that it has to be the last ten years and not the first years.’

And she did indeed devote her final years to Baha’u’llah. Joined on Kosrae by a Bahá’í pioneer, they worked persistently to establish

[Page 674]674

the Faith on that island. As a result of their efforts and the previous teachin g there, the Spiritual Assembly of Malem, Kosrae came into being at Riḍván 1984. Rose was still a member when she departed from this earth the following year.

Said pioneer Clint Frierson upon her passing, ‘Some day Kosrae will recognize this lady’s greatness. Baha’u’llah will not allow her to be forgotten.’

CYNTHIA R. OLSON

NADEREH NABIL—AKBAR TOUFIQH (NADIRIH NABiL—I-AKBAR TAWFIQ) 1902—1985

0 Companion of My T hrone/

. . . Live then the days of thy life, that are less than a fleeting moment, with thy mind stainless, thy heart unsulh'ed, thy thoughts pure, and thy nature sanctified, so that, free and content, thou mayest put away this mortalfi'ame, and repair unto the mystic paradise and abide in the eternal kingdom for evermore.

This beautiful passage from the Persian H idden Words of Baha’u’llah most eloquently describes the life of Nadirih Khánum Nabil~i~Akbar Tawfiq and, befittingly, it adorned the opening page of the little memorial pamphlet, that was distributed by her family to the many who attended her solemn funeral. She had gained the love, respect and admiration of everyone who knew her, and had enriched the lives of those with whom she had come into contact. Her name, ‘Nadirih’, means ‘rare’ or ‘precious’, and her maiden name, ‘NabiI—i-Akbar’m—the title Baha’u’liah bestowed upon her grandfather, the recipient of the Tablet of Wisdoml—w embodies the meaning ‘noble’. In her life, Nadirih was true to her name: she was noble in character and unique in many ways. Her life was devoted to the Cause of Baha’u’llah, and she had a resolute commitment to serve it, especially through spreading its healing message. She was both a good student and a

' See ‘Lawh—i-Hikmat’, T ablets of Bahá’u’lláh Revealed After the Kitdb-i—Aqdas, pp; 135—52.

THE Bahá’í WORLD

Nadereh Nabil~Akbar T oufigh

good teacher, and throughout her life she continued to broaden her knowledge not only of the Bahá’í Faith but of other religions, as well as art, crafts, music, science, gardening, cooking and languages. She took pleasure in sharing her knowledge with others.

Nadirih, the eldest of seven children, was born on or about 26 December 1902 into an illustrious Bahá’í family in Tihran. Her father, flaylgh Muhammad-‘Aii-i—Qa’ini, an eloquent and learned champion of the Faith, was one of the nineteen Apostles of Baha’u’llah.2 Her mother, Diya’iyyih Khánum, was the only daughter of the erudite Aqa Muhammad—iQa’ini, surnamed Nabfl-i-Akbar, who in addition to being named an Apostle of Baha’u’llah was referred to by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as a Hand of the Cause of God.3 One cannot help thinking of the great influence, by association and example, that those holy souls must have had in shaping the character and the aspirations of Nadirih as she grew up in ‘Ishqawabad, Russian Turkistan, where, as directed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, her father had moved to take

2See The Bahá’í World, vol. 111, pp. 80—81. 3See Memorials of the Faithful, pp. 1~5; The Bahá’z’ World, vol. XIV, p. 446.

[Page 675]IN MEMORIAM

charge of the education of children in the Bahá’í school. Nadirih finished her formal education in that school and later taught there.

In 1924, while still in ‘Ishqábád, she married Mr. ‘Azizu’llah Tawfiq, a devoted and distinguished Bahá’í, and eventually they moved to Tihran where they combined their efforts to raise the banner of Baha’u’llah in Iran. They had four children: Anufliravan, Riyad, Danifl and Ruhi. Danish died in infancy and the sudden loss of that beautiful child was a shattering experience to Nadirih Khánum.

In 1940 she had the privilege of making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and attaining the presence of the beloved Guardian. Upon her return from Haifa, one of her earliest appointments was to the National Committee for the Progress of Women in Iran. She took up this work with great zeal. She was in the forefront in pursuing one of the aims of the Four Year Teaching Plan of Iran (1946»50), that of creating ‘educational opportunities for Bahá’í women1 with a View to preparing them to eventually participate in the administration of the Faith’, a matter which the beloved Guardian had mentioned to Nadirih during her pilgrimage. She travelled to many cities and Villages in order to meet and work with Bahá’í women, often Visiting remote mountainous areas during the harsh winter months when blizzards would result in the cancellation of regular means of transportation. With the help of local friends, Nadirih would avail herself of a ride as a passenger in an oil tanker or some other emergency vehicle in order to reach her destination. Her services were unstinting. Although she was very wise and thoughtful she sometimes seemed oblivious of the physical dangers and obstacles, and it was a sense of duty and her faith in God that prevailed. In 1954 Bahá’í women in Iran were ‘elected to membership on Assemblies for the first time, thus overcoming a long historic disability.’2

One of her outstanding services during this very busy period was the compilation and editing of a comprehensive book on the life and works of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. The scope and accuracy of her book, as well as the style and quality of her writing, drew words of praise and admiration from her co-workers and from the committee on Bahá’í literature. Although approved

‘ The Bahd’z' World, vol. XI, pp. 34—36. 2 The Bahá’í World, V01. XII, p. 65.

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for publication, due to the Circumstances obtaining at that time the book was never published in its entirety. However, responding to the request of the National Committee for the Progress of Women, Nadirih produced a masterful, condensed version of her work for use in Bahá’í deepening classes throughout the country.

In 1958 she Visited her sons who were studying in the United States and attended the intercontinental teaching conference in Chicago. Her last Visit to the United States in 1979, in the company of her husband, coincided with the Islamic Revolution in Iran and thus she was never able to return to her homeland. Simple, elegant and gracious, to the last moment of her life she was a tower of strength and an eternal optimist. In the face of adversity she displayed radiant acquiescence, but she never stopped trying and hoping, and never was idle. She was loyal to her friends and kind and considerate to all. She had a special love for children. Her seemingly inexhaustible energy was used to help others and to discharge her own duties and obligations. She was generous, perceptive and meticulous, and her ‘inner life and private character’ mirrored forth ‘the splendour of those eternal principles proclaimed by Bahe't’u’lléth’,3 which condition the Guardian set forth as the sole means for securing the triumph of the Cause.

In the final years of her life Nadirih and her husband lived with and near their children in Orange, California. Although she had her full share of hardships, trials and tribulations she remained undaunted. She passed away suddenly in the morning of 19 June 1985 as the result of a heart attack. Her funeral and interment took place in the nearby F airhaven Memorial Park in Santa Ana. These kind and comforting words were cabled by the Universal House of Justice to her grief—stricken family on 27 June:

DEEPLY SADDENED PASSING DEVOTED MAIDSERVANT BAHAULLAH NADEREH NABIL AKBAR TOUFIGH. HER OUTSTANDING SERVICES CRADLE FAITH UNFORGETTABLE. ASSURE ARDENT PRAYERS HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS HER SOUL ABHA KINGDOM. Adapted from an article by RIAZ TOUFIGH (RiYAD TAWFIQ)

3Shoghi Effendi, Bahá’í' Administration, p. 66.

[Page 676]676 THE Bahá’í WORLD

Abbas Kazimpour Amri

ABBAS KAZIMPOUR AMRI (‘ABBAS KAZIMPUR AMRi) 1895—1985 DEEPLY SADDENED PASSING STEADFAST COURAGEOUS DEVOTED SERVANT BAHAULLAH ABBAS KAZIMPOUR AMRI. HIS MANIFOLD SERVICES CRADLE FAITH AND PIONEERING FIELD UNFORGETTABLE. ASSURE RELATIVES FRIENDS LOVING PRAYERS HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS SOUL. Universal House of Justice 1 July 1985

Mr. ‘Abbas Kazimpi'ir Amri, who received from the Universal House of Justice the appellations ‘steadfast, courageous, devoted’, was born in 1895 into a Bahá’í family in Yazd, tram. After a life of devoted service to the Threshold of the Blessed Beauty, he passed away in his ninetieth year.

He spent his childhood years in Yazd, but following an uprising against the Bahá’ís in that city his family went to Shahri'id and from there to ‘Iflqabad where they stayed for some time. ‘Abbas Kazimpi’ir was a young man at the time, and he attended Bahá’í study classes under the tutorship of eminent Bahá’í teachers. When the

family returned to flahrfid, he and his father started a commercial business; at the same time they made their home a centre for teaching the Faith and for the reception of Bahá’í teachers arriving in fiahrfid from other parts of the country. The success of their enterprise and the increasing number of Bahá’í teachers being received by the family aroused feelings of jealousy and ill will among the enemies of the Faith who invaded the business premises, attacked ‘Abbas, his father and his brother with rocks and sticks, and after severely lacerating them dragged them to their home. With intensive care and long treatment their wounds healed and they recovered. After this incident, ‘Abbas Kazimpl’ir was again attacked by opponents of the Faith and the family was forced to depart for Tihran. He contributed to the Bahá’í community for use as a centre his well-equipped home in flahrfid.

‘Abbas Kazimpfir was endowed with unusual bravery and audacity in teaching the Faith; he loved to teach and his house was open to the friends for firesides and large gatherings.

Of the various historic and significant services he rendered, one which will be recorded in the history of the Faith was his delivering to Shah Rida, the father of the late Muhammad Rida Shah, in 1932, the petition of the National Spiritual Assembly of iran against the closing of Bahá’í schools by the Ministry of Education because the schools had observed the Bahá’í Holy Days. He accepted the delicate assignment gladly and discharged his responsibility with courage and honour and without regard for his personal safety. Normal channels of communication being closed to him, he stationed himself along a route generally taken by the Shah’s driver and after waiting for long hours was rewarded by glimpsing the approaching royal vehicle. He stood on the sidewalk holding the petition in his raised hand and was noticed by the Shah who had the vehicle stopped in order to inquire what his purpose was. Thus the gab received the appeal. The following day ‘Abbas Kazimpi'ir was detained and questioned by the police, but was released when the authorities had satisfied themselves that his purpose in confronting the flah was innocent.

In 1956, ‘Abbas Kazimpfir, together with his wife, Táhirih, had the privilege of making their pilgrimage to the Holy Land and Visiting the beloved Guardian. It was in the Vicinity of the

[Page 677]IN MEMORIAM

Holy Shrines that they decided to offer their services as pioneers to J apan. This decision was submitted to Shoghi Effendi who approved it, urged the couple to persevere, pledged his prayers and assured them of success in their undertaking.

With the promise of the prayers of the Guardian as their provision for the journey they proceeded to Japan from Haifa. The rest of the familyjoined them after a while. Soon the effects of Shoghi Effendi’s prayers were witnessed. In a short time the Local Spiritual Assembly of Ashiya was formed by the pioneers. The home of ‘Abbas and Táhirih became a centre for firesides and other Bahá’í meetings. He spared no effort in conveying the message of Baha’u’llah to all the people of the city by rising ear1y in the morning to distribute literature. Enrolment of the first Japanese Bahá’í brought a great deal of joy to the eager heart of ‘Abbas Kazimpfir who wished to remain in Japan till the end of his life. But after a number of years he found it necessary to return to Train on business. Unfortunately, during this trip he twice sustained heart failure and was bedridden in hospital for some time. This occurred during the time of the Islamic revolution and the news of the ordeals and oppression the Bahá’ís endured greatly aggravated his condition.

On 30 June 1985 he passed away. Although he did not attain his heart’s desire to end his life in J apan, his mother, Sakinih Khánum, after pioneering for ten years in that country, passed away and was buried there.

(Adapted from a memoir by MULUK KAZIMPI’JR AMRi translated from the Persian by FU’AD ASHRAF)

EMMA MANDELL RICE 189841985 Knight of Baha’u’llah

DEEPLY SYMPATHIZE RELATIVES FRIENDS IN LOSS STAUNCH SELF EFFACING RELIABLE MAIDSERVANT BLESSED BEAUTY EMMA RICE. HER EXEMPLARY LIFE TIRELESS SELFLESS UNFORGETTABLE SERVICE DISTINGUISHED BY PIONEERING SICILY WHICH EARNED HER BELOVED GUARDIANS ACCOLADE KNIGHT OF BAHAULLAH. ARDENTLY SUPPLICATING HOLY SHRINES

677

Emma Mandel] Rice

HER RADIANT SOUL MAY FOREVER PROGRESS THROUGHOUT HEAVENLY REALMS.

Universal House of Justice

12 July 1985

Emma Mandell Rice was born on 24 February 1898 in Boston, Massachusetts. Described by Marzieh Gail as ‘a great 1ady of New England, in the fine traditional sense’, Emma was the daughter of Emily Proctor and George S. Mandell, owner of the Boston Evening T ranscript.

After attending schools in Boston and Maryland, Emma was introduced to society as a debutante. In 1916, at the age of eighteen, she married her cousin, Neil W. Rice. Three children were born of this union, a son and two daughters. The family lived in Hamilton, Massachusetts, where Emma was known as a fine tennis player and horsewoman.

While convalescing from two serious injuries sustained circa 1940, Emma derived much consolation from the Bahá’í teachings with Which she became acquainted at that time, but she did not declare her belief in the Cause of Baha’u’llah until 1942, in part through fear of the response of her husband. Regrets concerning Mr. Rice’s

[Page 678]678

‘grave misapprehensions as to the aim and meaning of the Bahá’í Faith’ were expressed in a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi by his secretary on 22 December 1941, one of the earliest received by Emma from the Guardian. In 1942 Emma took courage from words written to her by Shoghi Effendi to declare herself a Bahá’í and, as she put it, to ‘always stand for the Faith’. Yet he cautioned her not to antagonize her f amily through her activities. Because of her interest in the Faith, her husband had hardly spoken to her for two years. After‘a time of serving abroad in the army, he returned, but the relationship worsened, and in 1945 they divorced.

Inheriting the Hamilton property upon her mother’s passing, Emma turned it into a Bahá’í center and focused her energies on the teaching work. By 1948 there was still no Spiritual Assembly in Hamilton, and the Guardian, through his secretary, urged Emma in a letter dated 6 March 1948 to ‘remain in Hamilton but make trips farther afield and aid weak centers in New England’. In his next letter he expressed delight at hearing of six new believers in Wenham as well as of Emma’s work on the regional teaching committee. For several years she represented her area as a delegate to the national convention and also enjoyed participating in activities at Green Acre Bahá’í School. She made pilgrimage to the World Centre in 1952 and was among those privileged to bring to the Holy Land gold leaf for use in gilding the balustrades of the octagon of the Shrine of the Báb.

The following year, 1953, after having attended several of the intercontinental teachin g conferences, Emma left her home in Hamilton to serve as a pioneer in Sicily, for which service she was named by the Guardian a Knight of Baha’u’llah. Her first impressions of Sicily were horrifying, for she was confronted with poverty, insanitary conditions, illiteracy and what she felt to be cruelty, previously unknown to her. But she adjusted by repeating the Greatest Name and the Tablet of Ahmad, delving into the history of the country, and learning to appreciate Sicilian ways.

In a summary of her experience, she writes, ‘I also had to learn their dances and their songs in order to dance and sing with them; and I was obliged to pray aloud . . . in Italian (a language entirely foreign to me); greet them as they came

THE Bahá’í WORLD

down their donkey trails from school and from work; eat what they had to offer, on their doorsteps and in their homes; admire their babies; Visit the sick; sew with them; draw pictures for them; translate Bahá’í stories and share my hand—typed excerpts copied from the only Italian Bahá’í book that could be had; show slides and photographs of our Temple and of our people; go to their festas, Churches, christenings, graduations, pageants, etc.’ And she adds, ‘The tourists and Bahá’í Visitors (where there were any) helped maintain my equilibrium and release the solitude of a homesick heart.’

Her first teaching experience occurred in Taormina on the morning after her arrival When the English-speaking Sicilian chambermaid caught sight of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s picture on the bureau in Emma’s hotel room. Within two months the chambermaid and the hotel laundress became Bahá’ís; with their assistance and through their enthusiasm, others also embraced the Cause. Before she left Taormina to renew her Visa, twenty-seven native residents ‘suddenly, most unexpectedly “bowed down before God,” and declared their belief in “Baha.” ’ Emma’s description of these Victories characteristically left out any mention of her own effect on those with Whom she had contact.

After waiting for her Visa in Geneva, she spent the next three years in Sicily’s capital, Palermo. Unlike her experiences in Taormina, it was only after four years’ continuous work that the first people accepted the Cause. After the first students enrolled as believers, others followed successively every few months. During this time Emma served on the European Teaching Committee, attended annually the Italo—Swiss Convention, traveled to various Summer Schools and teaching conferences, and visited the grave of Shoghi Effendi whose passing had devastated his faithful servants.

In 1958 Emma returned to the United States to restore her health. She had sold her home in Hamilton while she was at her pioneering post because of the urgent need of the Bahá’í Fund, but she returned to Massachusetts where for two years she served on the Spiritual Assembly of Boston and gave weekly radio broadcasts in Marblehead, Massachusetts, and several interviews over a Boston station. Her summers were spent at Green Acre where she was in charge of book sales and served as hostess

[Page 679]IN MEMORIAM

at Fellowship House, an assistant teacher at the nursery school, and was an active member of the Green Acre Institute Building and Improvement Committee.

In 1961 she moved to Fellowship House, winterizing and making other improvements to the deteriorating building. This was her home until 1984 when she moved to Oakwood Nursing Home in Manchester, Massachusetts. During her residence in Eliot she was active in the Garden Club and continued to participate in Green Acre programs and to maintain the bookstore; she also served on various national committees. In 1979 she was the recipient of the Reimer Award for distinguished service rendered to Green Acre. She died on 11 July 1985.

Emma is remembered for her gentle, loving spirit, her poise, her fondness for children, and her generosity. Marzieh Gail recalls that both her parents when severely ill were provided care by Emma whose ‘far—reaching services’, in Marzieh’s words, ‘were quiet, unassuming, unobtrusive’.

Perhaps the best tribute to Emma’s spirit is found in her own words about her labors: ‘Without any doubt, it was the power of “The Greatest Name,” the clear, Vivid dreams and Visions of the Master, and Shoghi Effendi’s eternal promise to me, April 1952, when I was leaving him—~“When in a predicament, think of me, and I will be with you.”——that eased the pain of loneliness, anxiety, and inadequacy, and sustained and guided me to do the things I felt he wanted me to do.’

Her willingness to arise selflessly in this service has no doubt shed imperishable luster upon her soul.

ANNE GORDON ATKINSON

KAILASH SHRIVASTAVA 1925—1985

GREATLY SADDENED UNTIMELY TRAGIC PASSING DEVOTEE BAHAULLAH PROMOTER FAITH KAILASH SHRIVASTAVA. HIS EXEMPLARY ACHIEVEMENTS MASS TEACHING PARTICULARLY IN BHIND AREA UNFORGETTABLE. BESEECHING SACRED THRESHOLD PROGRESS SOUL ABHA KINGDOM. PRAYING HIS RELATIVES FRIENDS SPIRITUAL CHILDREN WILL FOLLOW HIS HEARTS DESIRE SERVICE CAUSE GOD MAKE HIS BLESSED

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Kailash Shrivastava

SOUL REJOICE ETERNAL ABODE. ADVISE

ARRANGE MEMORIAL GATHERINGS PROVIDE

FRIENDS ACCOUNTS HIS SUCCESS ESTABLISHING FAITH UPON SOLID FOUNDATION BHIND.

Universal House of Justice

15 July 1985

Bhind, a small yet densely populated district of India situated in the Chambal Valley, known as the Valley of Terror, has a dual character. Although it has the highest rate of literacy in the State of Madhya Pradesh, it is also notorious for its bandits and highwaymen. This duality is also reflected in its inhabitants, the Rajputs, who are short-tempered, irraseible and fearless warriors, yet very pure—hearted.

Kailash Shrivastava, who was born in 1925 in Bhind, was the son of one of the wealthiest and most influential landlords of the district. His father was wellxknown for his generosity and-concern for the welfare of the people, hence they called him Babujee, a title that is usually earned by one who has worked towards the betterment of his fellow men. After his father passed away, Kailash continued the good work, and he also came to be known as Babujee.

After acquiring a Master’s degree and graduating in law in 1960, Kailash opened a practice

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in Bhind and soon became the leading criminal lawyer of the town. He was a very active politician associated with the All-India Congress Committee and was also a member of several non-political organizations and Charitable Trusts.

Some time in 1953, before he was a Bahá’í, he attended a meeting held in Gwalior at which the Hand of the Cause Dorothy Baker spoke; then, in 1960, he attended another meeting where he heard Mrs. Shirin Boman. He became attracted to the Faith on this occasion and invited Mrs. Boman and the other Bahá’ís to Visit his area. He fostered interest in the Faith in the region but because of his involvement in politics he personally remained in the background. Nevertheless, he assisted the friends in mass-teaching and enabled Village friends of the area to attend Bahá’í conferences at Gwalior, Sussera and even Delhi.

Slowly but surely, Kailash’s love for Baha’u’llah and his commitment to the Bahá’í Faith deepened. In 1972 he refused an ofler from the ruling party to contest a seat in the State Legislature. He gave up politics and dedicated himself to service to the Bahá’í Cause.

Soon after his appointment to the Auxiliary Board in March 1984, Kailash launched a teaching project in memory of the late Hand of the Cause Dr. Raḥmatu’lláh Muhájir. It was carried out through the combined efforts of Mr. Shrivastava, two hundred youth volunteers and the Bhajan Mandalies, a group of eighteen youth who were inspired by the Dawn-Breakers and who, with their songs, captivated the Villagers of the area. The results were outstanding: approximately 100,000 people enrolled in the Faith and 1,300 Local Spiritual Assemblies were established.

The personal credo espoused by Kailash ShriVastava was that one must have complete faith in Baha’u’llah and surrender one’s will to Him. This conviction was the driving force behind his ceaseless services to the Faith. In a letter addressed to Mrs. Shirin Boman, Kailash described the rapid progress of the Faith in Bhind and concluded by recording his recognition that only the will of Baha’u’llah could enable such Victories to be won. At the time this memoir is being written, Bhind has a larger concentration of believers than any other area of India.

Kailash Shrivastava passed away in the early

THE Bahá’í WORLD

hours of 13 July 1985 in a hospital at Gwalior, as a result of the injuries he sustained in a motorcycle accident.

NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF INDIA

CATHARINE E. NOURSE 1904—1985

Catharine Elizabeth Nourse, Hawaii’s treasured last direct connection to the Master and the Heroic Age, ascended to the Abhá Kingdom on 16 July 1985, in Hilo, following a lengthy illness.

Only if one insisted would Catharine, ever self—elfacing and not inclined to take herself seriously, speak of her illustrious family which traced its descent back to Charlemagne. One of her ancestors, Rebecca Nurse, was the most famous of the nineteen falsely accused ‘witches’ who were hanged on Gallows Hill in Salem, Massachusetts in 1612. Her immediate forebears came to America with land grants from the King of England in 1769 and settled in Virginia.

Catharine was born in Washington, DC. in 1904, the only daughter of the early American believer, Elizabeth Nourse, who was ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s hostess on a number of occasions during His Visit to the United States in 1912. At one such gathering the Master beckoned eight-year old Catharine to sit on His lap and, stroking her hair, said ‘Good daughter, sweet daughter.’ He expressed his appreciation for Mrs. Nourse’s hospitality by sending her a robe of Baha’u’llah’s, which Catharine later sent to the archives of the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States for safekeeping.

As a young girl, Catharine attended classes conducted by Stanwood Cobb, with young Paul E. Haney who was later appointed a Hand of the Cause of God, and an even younger Mary Maxwell who was destined to become the wife of Shoghi Effendi.

Catharine was just seventeen when, in 1921, her family obtained permission from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to travel to the Holy Land on what was to be the first of three pilgrimages for Catharine. When she and her mother, accompanied by Catharine’s older brother Boyce and younger brother Philip reached Europe, they were informed of the passing of the Master. They proceeded on their journey and were thus among

[Page 681]IN MEMORIAM

Catharine E. Nourse

the first group of Western pilgrims to Visit the Holy Land after His passing. They were present as the young Shoghi Effendi chanted prayers in the Shrine of the Báb 0n the fortieth-day commemoration of the Ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. As she witnessed, admiringly, the Greatest Holy Leaf assume the many duties that had been ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s in order that Shoghi Effendi would have time to prepare himself for his responsibilities as Guardian, there was imprinted on her mind and spirit the model of selfless service which she adopted as her own.

Naturally very shy and diflident, Catharine never quite believed how charmed the Bahá’í friends were by her recollections of the Holy Family and Of the early believers, but if prevailed upon she would oblige with priceless stories.

After remaining in her mother’s home for many years, Catharine came to Hawaii in 1937 to work for the State Board of Health. She served as chief occupational therapist for the department concerned with crippled children and she soon established the first therapy departments on each of the islands. While on Oahu she served on the Local Spiritual Assembly of Honolulu where, for many years,

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she gave the Bahá’í Center her tasteful, fastidious care as unsung ‘housekeeper’, sewing curtains and cushions, providing floral decorations, performing many housecleaning duties and making the Center inviting as 'a wellkept, warm and beautifully appointed home.

In 1957, with Gertrude Garrida to whom she had taught the Faith, and another friend, Catharine settled in Hilo for a year to assist in the establishment of the first Spiritual Assembly on the Big Island. Catharine and Gertrude moved back to Oahu in 1958 and remained there until Catharine’s retirement in 1970. They relocated again—this time as homefront settlers—to Kamuela on the Big Island, and an Assembly was soon formed in fulfillment of a Nine Year Plan goal.

Such was the quality of life of this ‘good daughter, sweet daughter’. Throughout her life she served the Faith, her family, her patients and her friends with good humor and true humility. We shall miss the light of her bright candle.

Following is the text of the message sent by the Universal House of Justice on 18 July 1985:

HEARTS SADDENED LEARN PASSING DEARLY LOVED STEADFAST SERVANT CATHARINE NOURSE. HER EXEMPLARY RECORD SERVICE DATING FROM EARLY DAYS FAITH IN AMERICA HER ASSOCIATION WITH MASTER AND GUARDIAN AND HER OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTIONS PROGRESS CAUSE IN HAWAII LOVINGLY REMEMBERED. OFFERING ARDENT PRAYERS HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS HER IMMORTAL SOUL ALL WORLDS GOD. (Adapted from Light of the Pacific, No. 183, June—July 1985)

HERBERT PARKER 1911—1985

Mr. Herbert Parker, an Aboriginal Elder, originally from the Pundjuma tribe in Western Australia, passed away in Carnarvon, Western Australia on 23 July 1985. Although he had been a Bahá’í for only a brief time, the services Mr. Parker performed for the Cause of Baha’u’llah were unique and significant.

He was greatly loved and respected for his work with Aboriginal people. Among his accomplishments was his work to engender

[Page 682]682

respect for Aboriginal family life and tribal law in a period of rapid disintegration of traditional values. In the year he died he was awarded the Order of Australia Medal and had just completed ten years of service as a delegate to the National Aboriginal Conference. Earlier in 1985, in his search for new values and laws that were consistent with his highest aspirations for his people, he, together with his wife and close family, embraced the Bahá’í Faith. Up to the time he died he urged his people to turn to the Bahá’ís. At a meeting of elders before his death he had begun the important task of reviewing the ancient law with a View to retaining its essential elements while making provision for precepts relevant to the new age.

In the mid-1970s Herbert Parker made a unique contribution towards establishing dialogue between the Government and tribal Aborigines by introducing the ‘bush meeting’, a practice that he considered should be continued in order to introduce and foster full discussion With Aboriginal people on the Bahá’í Faith and the laws of the new era.

Before making his decision to become a follower of Baha’u’llah, Mr. Parker had requested the Bahá’ís to conduct burials and marriages for Aboriginal people in his region. To this end, the Carnarvon Spiritual Assembly had arranged for the purchase of a Land Rover and the National Spiritual Assembly had agreed to the appointment of a marriage celebrant. The burial of Mr. Parker, on 30 July 1985, was the first conducted by the Bahá’ís in response to his request. The ceremony was dignified, beautiful and allowed for full expression of the deepest feelings of the numerous mourners, many of Whom had come long distances. His funeral was an eloquent testimony to the significance of his new—found belief, and to the ancient traditions of his people.

On 29 July 1985 the Universal House of Justice telexed:

DEEPLY SADDENED LEARN PASSING DEARLY LOVED BELIEVER HERBERT PARKER. OFFERING PRAYERS HOLY SHRINE PROGRESS HIS SOUL WORLDS GOD.

THE Bahá’í WORLD

EHSANOLLAH REZVANI, (IHSAN’U’LLAH RIDVANI) 1929—1985

Mr. Ihsan’u’llah Riḍváni was born into a Bahá’í family in the Village of Hasanabad, near Tihran, on 27 August 1929. He completed his studies in the town of Rayy and, in 1953, when the Ten Year Crusade of the beloved Guardian was launched, he arose to go pioneering. Unable to settle in an Arabian country as he wished to, he pioneered, on the advice of the National Pioneering Committee, to the town of Nawflahr, in northern Train. The first Local Spiritual Assembly of Nawshahr was formed the same year with Mr. Riḍváni as a member. He became known as an active Bahá’í and met with opposition from fanatics among the townspeople, but he succeeded in opening a food store which served also as his living quarters.

When the Bahá’í community of Nawflahr was sufficiently large and strong, Mr. Riḍváni decided to pioneer abroad, and after correspondence with a Bahá’í friend went to Morocco in 1957, the year in which the National Spiritual Assembly of Morocco was formed. Later, accompanied by the Auxiliary Board member, Mr. ‘Abdu’lláh Misbah, he travelled to the Canary Islands where he settled in Las Palmas. Here, in spite of language difficulty, he did his best to teach the Faith and he met with some success. Later, he pioneered to Portugal where preparations were being made to form the National Spiritual Assembly, one of the goals of the Ten Year Crusade. Moving from one place to another, in response to the needs of the Cause, was not too difficult for Mr. Riḍváni since, in his own words, all his belongings could be carried in one suitcase. Although he had some difficulties in securing a Visa that would permit him to remain in Portugal, his success in the teaching work kept him happy and content. In 1961 he married a Portuguese Bahá’í, Eulalia Albuquerque, and the couple settled in the northern town of Porto.

In 1963, after attending the World Congress in London, Mr. Riḍváni went to Tihran, and at the request of the National Spiritual Assembly of Portugal prepared to return to that country. However, at the airport in Lisbon he was denied entry to Portugal under the ruling of the Salazar Government when all Bahá’í pioneers were deported. Mr. Riḍváni was

[Page 683]IN MEMORIAM

routed through Spain to Tangier, Morocco. From there he made contact with his family, and through a letter to the National Spiritual Assembly of Tran he requested that a pioneering post be assigned to him.

With his family he embarked on the long sea voyage to Bolivia, arriving in La Paz in June 1964. He spent the first week as a travelling teacher in the district of Meguilla, south of La Paz, and then settled with his family, at the request of the National Spiritual Assembly, in the town of Oruro where he immediately became engaged in the teaching work, holding firesides regularly in his home and, accompanied by Bolivian friends, Visiting neighbouring Villages as a ‘ travelling teacher. Some of these trips lasted more than fifteen days and, due to lack of transportation facilities, the participants had to ride on trucks or go on foot.

Later, on the recommendation of the Hand of the Cause Jalal Kházeh, Mr. Riḍváni returned to La Paz, charged with the duty of taking care of the National Bahá’í Centre. The rest of his life was spent in Bolivia, a country to which he was greatly devoted. Once in Germany, where he had gone for medical treatment, he refused to undergo heart surgery lest he should pass away outside the borders of his adopted homeland. His last teaching trip coincided with the launching of the K_hamsiCostas teaching project in February 1985, in the area near the site of Radio Bahá’í. He returned from the trip filled with joy and gratitude to the Blessed Beauty for enabling him to witness the fulfilment of his long-cherished wish, the successful establishment of Radio Bahá’í. He had, from his earliest days in Bolivia, served on the national committee related to Radio Bahá’í.

On 3 March 1985 Mr. Riḍváni suffered a heart attack and was taken to the hospital where he rallied after twelve days. A more severe attack occurred on 24 July and even treatment by specialists was not effective: he passed away on 28 July 1985. Even while lying in hospital, in spite of his weakness, Mr. Riḍváni attempted to convey the message of Baha’u’llah to the doctors and nurses. To one of them he said, ‘The wisdom of my heart attack was that you be given the opportunity to hear about this blessed Cause.’

About one thousand individuals of different religious backgrounds and from all classes of society attended the memorial meeting held in

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Elisanollah Rezvani

the Riḍváni’s home. The meeting, with the beautiful bouquets of flowers and the loving tears of the friends, resembled a unity feast which had brought together in harmony the followers of various religions including Christians, Jews and Muslims. At the funeral, attended by approximately five hundred mourners, prayers were offered in Aymara, Arabic, English, Persian, Quechua and Spanish. Mr. Riḍváni’s body was laid to rest across from the National Bahá’í Centre where a memorial service was held by the National Spiritual Assembly. At this gathering were extolled the devoted services of one who had with distinction served on the National Assembly for many years. Upon instructions from the National Assembly, memorial meetings were held in other towns and Villages of Bolivia, and a number of teaching projects were launched in his memory. Mr. Riḍváni has left four children, all of whom are devoted believers, and who with their mother continue to serve the Cause in Bolivia. The following cable was received from the Universal House of Justice on 30 July 1985:

GRIEVED PASSING DEVOTED STEADFAST PIONEER PROMOTER FAITH EHSANOLLAH REZVANI. HIS GREAT ACHIEVEMENTS TEACHING ADMIN [Page 684]684

ISTRATIVE FIELDS PAST DECADES BOLIVIA UNFORGETTABLE. SUPPLICATING SACRED THRESHOLD PROGRESS SOUL ABHA KINGDOM. EXTEND LOVING SYMPATHY FAMILY FRIENDS. EULALIA RIDVANi

(Translated from the Persian by F U’AD AgRAF)

WILLIAM MITCHELL 1907—1985

William Arthur Wellesley Mitchell was born in Brighton, St. Elizabeth, J amaica on 16 February 1907. His parents were Wilfred and Clementine Mitchell. He received his early education at Clapham Elementary School in Brighton, and later at Kingston Commercial College. He was blessed with a sharp intellect and served as an assistant instructor at Clapham from 1922 to 1925.

His aptitude for figures served him in good stead when he embarked on his career as an accountant. His beloved nephew, Glenford Mitchell, recalls how mesmerized he was as a child while watching his uncle make swift, accurate computations of large figures. Who’s Who in Jamaica: 1941—1946 records that William Mitchell was accountant for the Universal Negro Improvement Association between 1930 and 1932, and secretary to the All-Jamaica Exhibitions in 1932 and 1934. Also mentioned in the profile are his marriage to Olive Lurline (née Lewis) on 5 October 1938, his business address at 48 Church Street in Kingston, and his religion, the Bahá’í Faith.

We do not know, at present, how his romance with Olive blossomed, or precisely when he moved to Kingston. But we do know that the union produced two daughters, and that it was in Kingston that Mr. Mitchell declared his belief in Baha’u’llah. His first daughter died at a tender age and was given the first Bahá’í funeral in J amaioa.

The circumstances of his first introduction to the Faith, which are both informative and amusing, reveal something of his integrity and forthright nature. In 1942 Dr. Malcolm King,1 a

1Knight of Bahá’u’lláh for British Guiana. See ‘In Memoriam’, The Bahá’í World, vol. XIV, p. 316.

THE Bahá’í WORLD

William M itchell

J amaiean who embraced the Faith in the United States, was Visiting Jamaica as a Bahá’í travelling teacher. He loaned a Bahá’í book to J . C. Mitchell, a parson from British Guiana, who was also Visiting J amaioa. The parson, in turn, loaned the book to William Mitchell. When Dr. King went to collect the book from J . C. Mitchell he was told that William Mitchell was in possession of it. Dr. King then called on William Mitchell, only to be told that he could not give it to him as it was not lent to him by Dr. King, but by J.C. Mitchell, and that, in any case, there were some questions he wanted to ask him about the book.

It was arranged that Dr. King should come to William Mitchell’s office every Tuesday to discuss the Faith, and all sixteen employees attended the classes. Mr. Mitchell recalled that Dr. King was very sincere and that on several occasions, when expounding the Bahá’í teachings, tears streamed from his eyes, which affected Mr. Mitchell greatly. Dr. King dealt extensively with various aspects of the teachings, and with Biblical prophecy and its fulfilment by Baha’u’llah. Of the group of sixteen, two became Bahá’ís, William Mitchell and Charles Duff Porter. Mr. Mitchell’s acceptance

[Page 685]IN MEMORIAM

of the Faith was announced but two days after that of Marian Lord Maxwell,1 the first native J amaican to declare her belief in Baha’u’llah in J amaica, who attended classes held by Dr. King at the home of Miss Marie Brownie on Orange Street. This group continued to meet every Wednesday after Dr. King’s departure from J amaica late in 1942. By April of the following year there were eleven members in the group and the first Local Spiritual Assembly of J amaica was formed in Kingston, Mr. Mitchell served as its first chairman. In 1944, he represented Jamaica at the historic Bahá’í Centenary Conference held in the United States.

Mr. Mitchell was a pillar of the Faith in J amaica from the time of his declaration and a pivot of a great deal of the administrative work carried out in the island thereafter. In the words of one of the friends, ‘he was a manifestation of steadfastness’. Another believer recalls that particularly between the 1940s and 1960s ‘he played a very central role in the affairs of the Kingston community and helped keep alive the Faith, especially in an administrative sense’.

This devoted servant of Baha’u’llah worked unremittingly: children’s classes were held in his office; he travelled to virgin areas alone, or with other believers, to teach the Faith, and to areas where the Cause was established to assist in the consolidation work; a veritable stream of letters concerning administrative and other matters flowed from his penwone could go on and on. It is impossible, within the confines of this brief article, to adequately assess the scope of his activities which would fill a book. But it is useful to record the poignant fact that, having been taught by a Jamaican who was named a Knight of Baha’u’llah, Mr. Mitchell was privileged to be instrumental in introducing the Faith to the only other J amaican to be named a Knight of Baha’u’llah, Mr. Julius A. G. Edwards, who was awarded the title by Shoghi Effendi for his service in opening to the Faith the Northern

lMr. Glenford Mitchell in a letter to the author dated 7 March 1987 has written: ‘My uncle said that after reaching his conviction about the Faith, he signed, a declaration card which he held for two days awaiting Dr. King’s visit; upon that visit, Dr. King informed him that Miss Maxwell had just signed her card. Therefore, my uncle always felt, although he may not have said so publicly, that he was actually the first Jamaican to declare his belief in Bahá’u’lláh.’ Miss Maxwell’s ‘In Memoriam’ appears in The Bahá’í World, vol. XVII, p. 429.

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Territories Protectorate of the Gold Coast (now Ghana) in September 1953, and whose ‘In Memoriam’ appears elsewhere in these pages. Mr. Mitchell was responsible for teaching the Faith to scores of other Jamaicans; not the least among them are several members of the illustrious Mitchell family.

Mr. Mitchell served with distinction on the National Spiritual Assembly of the Greater Antilles and in 1961 was elected to the first National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Jamaica, serving as chairman of that institution for many years. He was the first native believer to be appointed an Auxiliary Board member for Jamaica (from 1956 to 1969) and served under the Hands of the Cause Horace Holley, William Sears and Dr. Ugo Giachery. For many years he was simultaneously a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of Jamaica, the Local Spiritual Assembly of Kingston, and several national and local committees, in addition to travelling very frequently to rural communities to assist in the teaching and consolidation work. Anyone Who had the privilege of serving on administrative institutions with Mr. Mitchell will recall his complete reliability in attending meetings, his unfailing punctuality and his Vigorous advocacy of the need for adherence to the administrative guidelines provided by the beloved Guardian and the Universal House of Justice. The spirit of devotion and steadfastness which animated his life was truly remarkable. One of his most frequently stressed themes at gatherings of the friends was the need to place the Cause of God first, and he never missed an opportunity to underline the need for sacrifice in order to promote the Faith. Indeed, he was himself a living example of sacrifice; his was a life of daily martyrdom. Nothing prevented him from giving his all in the path of service.

He Visited the Holy Land for the first time in 1983 to participate in the international convention and witnessed the re-election of his nephew to the supreme administrative body of the Bahá’í Faith, the Universal House of Justice. In April 1985, on the occasion of the observance of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the establishment of the National Spiritual Assembly of Jamaica, he received the accolade of the entire Jamaican community.

Laden with the fruits of over forty years of sacrificial service to the Cause of God, this great

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soul passed away on 30 July 1985, his efforts crowned by the following tribute cabled by the Universal House of Justice on 31 July, which beautifully summarizes his outstanding achievements:

SHARE YOUR DEEP SORROW PASSING WILLIAM MITCHELL STALWART SERVANT BAHAULLAH. HIS LONG YEARS UNSTINTING IMPERISHABLE SERVICES AS PILLAR FAITH INDELIBLY INSCRIBED BAHAI ANNALS CARIBBEAN AREA. KINDLY CONVEY OUR LOVING SYMPAfHY FAMILY FRIENDS. FERVENTLY PRAYING HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS HIS RADIANT SOUL THROUGHOUT DIVINE WORLDS.

PETER SENIOR

(Reprinted from Bahd’z' News of Jamaica, Nos. 96—97, September/December 1985)

JOSE C. XAVIER RODRIGUES Knight of Baha’u’llah 1931—1985

GRIEVED PASSING KNIGHT OF BAHAULLAH JOSE

XAVIER RODRIGUES. EXTEND LOVING SYMPATHY

RELATIONS ASSURE PRAYERS PROGRESS HIS SOUL ABHA KINGDOM.

Universal House of Justice

23 August 1985

Xavier was born on 17 February 1931 in Lisbon, Portugal. His maternal grandfather was from Pangim, India and his father from Lisbon. After completing his education he joined the Portuguese Merchant Navy as an electrician. At age nineteen he was taken to his first Bahá’í meeting which was held in the home of Mrs. Valeria Nichols (whose ‘In Memoriam’ appears elsewhere in these pages) and Miss Charlotte Stirrat, two Americans who were serving as pioneers in Portugal, and shortly thereafter he embraced the Faith. He married Hilda Summers in 1951 and they had two daughters, Sitarih and Stella, who were born in Portuguese Guinea, and a son, Kim, who was born in Angola.

In July 1953 Xavier was present at the Stockholm Intercontinental Teaching Conference where he caught the flame of pioneering and offered to open Portuguese Guinea to the Faith. In September 1953 he and Hilda arrived in the capital city, Bissau, for which service they were

THE Bahá’í WORLD

named Knights of Baha’u’llah by Shoghi Effendi. They remained in Bissau till March 1955 when they were refused an application for residence and served with a police summons ordering them to leave by the next boat. During his rounds of official departments while trying to obtain residence authorization for Guinea, Xavier spoke of the Faith and was heard by Duarte Vieira who later embraced the Faith in Portugal.

After spending one year in Lisbon with their infant daughters, Xavier and Hilda were able to obtain employment in Africa. They arrived in Luanda, Angola on 6 June 1956. Here they joined Angelica and Rodolfo Duna and the five resident African Bahá’ís to form the first Local Spiritual Assembly. Activities in Luanda were thrilling and after Rodolfo’s departure to his native Mozambique two Visitors, Harry Ford and John Robarts (later appointed a Hand of the Cause), brought encouragement and love. This was badly needed as the activities of the Bahá’ís were again under surveillance by the police. At that time, J oaquim Sampaio arrived from Malange, in the interior, to make his declaration, after having dreamt about the Báb and recognized this Figure when he was given the Message by Antonio Francisco Ebo, the first Angolan Bahá’í.

Xavier and his family left Angola in August 1960 just after a wave of refugees arrived from the then Belgian Congo and just before hostilities broke out in Angola. Back in Portugal, Xavier, Hilda and their three children served the Faith in Amadora where the first National Spiritual Assembly was formed in 1961 with the much-valued help of foreign pioneers. It was discovered at this time that Xavier suffered from mitral stenosis and he underwent openheart surgery for the first time.

The family then moved north, first to Foz do Douro, near Porto. From 1965 until 1982 they resided in Minas da Panasqueira, near Fundao.

In 1973, Xavier responded to a pioneering call from Australia and flew to Dili, Portuguese Timor on 24 April. Throughout his ten-month stay he was under constant police scrutiny. He returned to Portugal through Australia where, in February 1974, he met with the National Spiritual Assembly and received expressions of loving appreciation for his service in Dili. He was much helped by the Bahá’ís and regained some of his lost strength before returning to

[Page 687]IN MEMORIAM

Jose’ C. Xavier Rodrigues

Portugal. Needing constant medical attention, he left his job in Panasqueira where he worked for a wolfram mine, and setttled in Lisbon with his mother who nursed him with loving care. He underwent his second heart surgery at year’s end 1981.

He then spent most of his time serving the Faith by making beautiful translations of Tablets and prayers of the Central F igures, and messages, letters and compilations received from the Universal House of Justice. He had a natural gift for translation and took great pleasure in this service.

He bore stoically the pain he suffered during his last four years. He passed away in hospital as a result of pulmonary emphysema on 10 August 1985. He was buried the next day, accompanied by the radiant presence of many Bahá’ís, family and friends, in the cemetery of Alto de S. Joao in Lisbon. May Baha’u’llah reach for his staunch spirit!

HILDA S. XAVIER RODRIGUES

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GRETA LAKE 1906—1985

Mrs. Greta Lake, a stalwart member of the Australian Bahá’í community since 1945, passed away on 6 September 1985 and was laid to rest at Woronora Cemetery near the restingplace of the Hands of the Cause John Henry Hyde-Dunn and Clara Dunn who brought the Faith to Australia in response to the Tablets of the Divine Plan. It seemed significant that she passed on to the next world while attending a meeting of the United Nations Association in whose ideals of peace and the betterment of humanity she passionate1y believed and for which she tirelessly worked.

Greta Lake’s grandparents and their children came to Australia from Germany about 1884, and settled in Sydney where Greta grew up. She married Aubrey Lake—known to his friends as ‘Aub’—during the difficult years of the Great Depression. Four sons were born to the couple. Greta was a devoted wife and mother. Her hospitality and propensity for succouring anyone who needed help, her smiling friendly face and warm and loving nature, won her numerous friends. She was idealistic, yet practical; her life was geared to service to her family and to humanity.

In 1942 the family moved to Miranda where Greta became very active in local community affairs. She always reached out for new goals, searching for truth, and when she heard of the Bahá’í Faith she embraced it joyfully, wholeheartedly and without reservation. From then until the end of her fife, she worked with all her powers for the establishment of its principles and its administrative order. She became a foundation member of the Spiritual Assembly of the Sutherland District and was later elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of Australia. Over the years she undertook numerous travelling teaching projects in Australia and the islands of the Pacific. Years of devoted service were also given to projects for helping Aboriginals and for the development of the Yerrinbool Bahá’í School. One of her most significant contributions was her major participation in the search for and finding of the site for the Bahá’í House of Worship at Ingleside. She worked unstintingly for its dedication in 1961 and, in the following years, served on committees arranging programmes for services

[Page 688]688

and dealing with other matters relating to the Temple.

In 1968 Greta and Aub pioneered to Western Samoa where they remained for five years working unceasingly for the establishment of strong Bahá’í communities. They bought the old Savoy Hotel and opened its doors to anyone who wished to Visit them. Visitors from all over Samoa were warmly welcomed and a meal shared. Day after day, Bahá’ís from the Villages, and their friends, were to be found at the Lakes’ home, discussing the Faith and also seeking guidance for their problems. They basked and blossomed in the warmth, love and friendship so freely given them. The first South Pacific Youth Conference was held at the Savoy in 1970 with youth from many islands of the Pacific, Australia and New Zealand participating.

Greta and Aub also travelled extensively in the Villages of Western Samoa and were instrumental in establishing the first and strongest Local Assembly on the island of Savai’i. Through their devotion, constant effort and service, the National Office, Teaching Institute and Summer School properties were developed and maintained. In 1970 the National Spiritual Assembly of Samoa was formed and Greta became a member of that body and of several of its committees. Failing health forced their reluctant return to Australia. The memory of their achievements and unconditional service to the Faith burns brightly in the hearts of the Bahá’ís of Samoa.

Although the debilitating after-efiects of the rigorous climate of the tropics had permanently undermined Greta’s health, she and Aub, upon returning to Australia, once again directed their thoughts and energies towards the Mother Temple of the Antipodes. Their battered grey station wagon would quietly appear at the Temple grounds in Ingleside every Thursday. Out would step Greta and Aub, she with her basket of food that would later be shared with everyone, and her large handbag bulging with an interesting book, pamphlets or an article to stimulate conversation among those who were present. After a cup of tea and some pleasant conversation she would start guiding at the Temple and teaching in the information centre. It is difficult to speak of Greta without mentioning Aubrey, because these two very special people were truly like the wings of a single bird, and their flights were flights of service always

THE Bahá’í WORLD

Greta Lake

teaching the essence of the Faith.

‘I learned much from Greta and her interaction with her “wing-mate”,’ one of the friends said. ‘She taught me what optimism, steadfastness and constancy are all about.’

Always the needs of the Faith were of paramount importance to Greta Lake, and until the day she died she never managed to find the time to unpack the few things she had brought back from pioneering in Samoa. She gave us a most beautiful example: a courageous lady who lived life fully to the very end.

Informed of her passing the Universal House of Justice on 9 September 1985 cabled:

HEARTS SADDENED LEARN SUDDEN PASSING DEARLY LOVED MAIDSERVANT GRETA LAKE. HER STERLING SERVICES CONNECTION MOTHER TEMPLE ANTIPODES AS MEMBER NATIONAL ASSEMBLY AUSTRALIA AND AS PIONEER SAMOA WELL REMEMBERED. OFFERING SUPPLICATIONS HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS HER SOUL ALL WORLDS GOD. KINDLY CONVEY CONDOLENCES HER DEVOTED HUSBAND AUBREY AND MEMBERS FAMILY. NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF AUSTRALIA

[Page 689]IN MEMORIAM

SHAPOOR ASPANDIAR ROWHANI (s_IiAPUR ISFANDTYAR RAWHANt) 1931-1985 Knight of Baha’u’llah

Born in Bombay, India, on 15 August 1931, flapur was one of a family of seven sisters and two brothers. His father had come to India as a young boy from a Village in Train and, from scratch, had built a successful business in Bombay. In 1953, Shoghi Effendi’s clarion call for pioneers to arise during the Ten Year Crusade was echoed in Bombay. Shapur and another youth, Ardeshir S. Forudi (Ardiflir S. Furudi), volunteered to open to the Faith of Baha’u’llah the Kingdom of Bhutan, in the eastern Himalayas. As fiapur would often recall later, he hadn’t the vaguest idea where Bhutan was; he went home that night and discovered its location from an atlas.

In early 1954, Shapur and Ardishir set out for Calcutta, from whence they proceeded to Kalimpong, and finally to Bhutan. It was not easy for them to enter the country; permission was refused. Then, by fortunate chance, they met the Prime Minister of Bhutan, Jigme Dorji, brother of the Queen, who was intrigued to know why these two young boys had travelled the length of a subcontinent to come to his tiny, and largely unknown, country. He heard of the Bahá’í Faith from them and ultimately granted them permission to enter. As they were being admitted as guests of the Prime Minister, at special pack of mules and provisions were made available to them.

Neither of the young men was prepared for what the journey entailed. They crossed sheer ravines and traversed dense forests, encountering, for the first time in their lives, snakes and blood-sucking leeches. flapur recalled that he clung desperately to his copy of Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era during that terrifying journey.

When they finally entered Bhutan, in June 1954, they found themselves confronted with age-old traditions and orthodoxy that had remained unchanged during centuries of Buddhist practice and belief in that remote Himalayan Kingdom. Shortly after their arrival, Ardifiir received an urgent communication asking him to return to Bombay, and so he had to leave. snapnr was now alone, facing hostile local monks, a suspicious populace and an

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almost insurmountable language barrier. Yet, through the unfailing grace of Baha’u’llah, he was able to earn his laurel ‘Knight of Baha’u’llah’ and open that country to the Faith (see Messages to the Bahá’í World 1950—1957, p. 69.) Simple Villagers, having heard rumours of the purpose of his Visit, would surreptitiously Visit his wooden hut at night to hear more of the Message he had come to convey and to read laboriously the Bahá’í books in Hindi. He was even enabled to present the Faith to the Bhutanese royal family.

The time soon came, however, When he was gently asked to leave. The Prime Minister, now his fast personal friend, explained that the Queen was soon due to deliver a child and her gynaecologist was a European doctor. For years, this doctor had been requesting the Prime Minister to allow a Christian missionary to enter the country, but consent had never been granted. It would now be embarrassing for the Prime Minister if the physician heard of the presence of this Bahá’í youth in Bhutan. Shap1’1r had no option but to prepare to leave.

The rivers bordering Bhutan were in full spate at the time of his departure. All his belongings, food and other provisions were swept away during the dangerous crossing and he nearly lost his life, too. His eventual arrival in Calcutta was greeted with relief by the brothers of the Prime Minister who had received from the Prime Minister himself several enquiries about his safety.

On his return to Bombay, flapur joined his father in business and settled into the city’s Bahá’í activities. Soon after, he was elected to serve on the Local Spiritual Assembly, and was re-elected every year until the time of his death. He was elected chairman of the Spiritual Assembly in each of the last twenty-seven years of his life. He served the Faith in a great many other capacities, too, amongst the last of which was as a member of the National Funds Committee of India.

flapur had a powerful personality and made a deep impression on all who met him. His geniality was infectious and won him a large number of friends, many of whom would do anything for him. The most striking example of these lifelong bonds of friendship he forged was seen in what turned out to be the last service he performed for the Bahá’ís of Bombay—the acquisition of a new cemetery for the com [Page 690]690

Shapoor Aspandiar Rowhani

munity. As destiny would have it, $211911: is the first Bahá’í to be laid to rest there.

His death was smooth and swift. An unexpected cerebral stroke laid him up in hospital where he had the opportunity of meeting—in some instances for the first time in many years his large number of friends, relatives and Bahá’í colleagues. Less than a week later, on 11 November 1985, a sudden cerebral haemorrhage took him away. He was buried on 12 November, the Birthday of Baha’u’llah, which that year coincided with the Hindu festival of Diwali“ the festival of lights—and thus his burial took place amidst joy and light on all sides. Approximately two hundred persons, Bahá’ís and others, were present to pay their last respects to him.

Letters of condolence and news of memorial meetings held for him poured in from such diverse places as far-off Samoa to the Villages of the Dang tribe in India. Informed of his passing, the Universal House of Justice telexed on 14 November:

SADDENED UNTIMELY PASSING SHAPOOR ROWHANI. ASSURE FERVENT PRAYERS PROGRESS

THE Bahá’í WORLD

SOUL CONFIRMATION FAMILY’S CONTINUING SERVICE FAITH.

MRS. MEHRU S. ROWHANI

(MIHRI’J S. RAWHANi)

VALERIA LAMB NICHOLS 1903—1985

Valeria Lamb Nichols was born on 8 June 1903 in Clinton, Iowa, USA. where she lived until 1923, although she spent most winters with her family in Pasadena, California. In her early years she was taught by a private tutor, then later attended the Intercollegiate School in Los Angeles, and Knox School in Tarrytown, New York. In 1923 she went to New York City to study ballet and acrobatic dancing. With her first husband, John W. Thornton, she transferred to Southern California in 1927.

She first heard of the Bahá’í Faith in California from a former classmate and immediately became deeply interested, reading avidly the Bahá’í Writings and attending the study classes of Beulah Storrs Lewis1 with whom she developed an intimate friendship. She entered the Faith officially in 1937 in Los Angeles. Although not a regular ohurchgoer, Valeria had attended Episcopalian Sunday School as a child, and was somewhat drawn to mystical subjects. I remember that often she meditated on ‘infinity’ but would become so disturbed that she would have to stop.

From the moment she embraced the Cause until the end of her earthly life, Valeria devoted all her time to the service of Baha’u’llah. In her early years in the Faith she served on the Local Spiritual Assembly of Los Angeles, was secretary of the Regional Teaching Committee for Nevada and California, and a member of the Inter-American Committee. In 1940 she became a member of the first Spiritual Assembly of Beverly Hills, California. In about 1942 she moved to Salt Lake City, and from there she went as a home front pioneer to Laramie, Wyoming where she helped to form the first

ISee ‘In Memoriam’, The Bahá’í World, V01. XI, p. 503‘

[Page 691]IN MEMORIAM 691

Spiritual Assembly. During the second Seven Year Plan (1946—53) she pioneered in Europe, going first to Holland in September 1947 and remaining there for three months, and then to Portugal where she remained until 1951 and where she assisted in the formation of the first Spiritual Assembly of Lisbon.

In 1953, at the beginning of the Ten Year Crusade (1953—63), Valeria began her pioneering service in Latin America where she stayed until the end of her life. Initially she went to Costa Rica with her husband, Hayden Nichols, then to Mexico, settling first in Mexico City and then, in 1964, in Merida, Yucatan. In Mexico she served for many years on the National Spiritual Assembly and the Regional Teaching Committee of Yucatan.

In Yucatan, Valeria dedicated herself almost entirely to her deepest love, the teaching of the descendants of the Mayans, the major population group in the Yucatan Peninsula. Since her husband was not yet a Bahá’í, Valeria had to make great sacrifices in order to be with him and help him in his work, and yet travel almost daily to the Villages and haciendas where most of the Mayans live. Most nights she had to get along with four or five hours of sleep. This finally brought on a state of complete exhaustion which undoubtedly hastened her demise. However, all who knew Valeria are certain that she would never have exchanged her sacrifices for all the material world has to offer. And, shortly before his own passing, Hayden Nichols formally entered the Faith.

We are told in the Bahá’í Sacred Writings that the soul, after leaving the physical body, will evince tremendous spiritual power. After Valeria’s passing, Mayan Bahá’í communities which had been Visited by her but had become relatively inactive, suddenly and mysteriously came to life, and many of the Bahá’ís admitted that it was due to their remembrance of Valeria’s deep love for Baha’u’llah and for them.

Valeria died on 15 November 1985 in Yucatan. On 18 November the Universal House of Justice sent the following cable to the National Spiritual Assembly of Mexico:

SHARE YOUR GRIEF PASSING COURAGEOUS MAIDSERVANT BAHAULLAH VALERIA NICHOLS. HER LONGTIME SERVICE YOUR NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

Valeria Lamb N ichols

AND ADVANCEMENT CAUSE YUCATAN PENINSULA ADD LUSTRE BAHAI HISTORY MEXICO CROWNING SELFLESS PIONEER ENDEAVOURS HOMEFRONT UNITED STATES. KINDLY CONVEY HER BROTHER COUNSELLOR LAMB ASSURANCE PRAYERS PROGRESS HER PURE SOUL ABHA KINGDOM.

ARTEMUS LAMB

VIRGINIA ORBISON 1902—1985 Knight of Bahá’u’lláh

EXTEND LOVING SYMPATHY GRIEVOUS LOSS VIRGINIA ORBISON KNIGHT BAHAULLAH BALEARIC ISLANDS. RECALL WITH PRIDE ADMIRATION HER OUTSTANDING DEDICATED LIFE CAUSE GOD MORE THAN HALF CENTURY PIONEER TRAVELLING TEACHER LATIN AMERICA FIRST PIONEER IBERIAN PENINSULA SACRIFICIAL SERVICE LUXEMBOURG RETURN SPAIN BECOMING RECOGNIZED MOTHER SPANISH COMMUNITY. HER SINGLEMINDED DEVOTION OFFERS HEARTWARMING EXAMPLE CONFIRMING POWER

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Virginia Orbison

BAHAULLAH TO ANY SOUL WHO ALONE UNAIDED

ARISES SERVE HIM. ADVISE HOLD BEFITTING MEMORIAL SERVICES.

Universal House of J ustice

22 November 1985

‘Dear Friends, If you receive these words, it is to let you know that I have not been feeling well lately, and that my soul has taken flight into the other worlds of God, wherever and whatever they are!

‘I am deeply thankful for so many friendships and privileges while trying, at least, to serve the Cause of God in this Day, so important to the destiny of the Human Race. I pray that every one may be helped and guided on the long journey towards the Best Beloved, Baha’u’llah, and that He will accept any efforts large or small made for the Creator of all the Universe, and the progress of His loved ones.’

With these words the spiritual mother of the Bahá’ís of Spain bade farewell to her muchloved Spanish children and friends near and far. From the hour of her arrival in Madrid in December 1946, except for a nine-year interlude of pioneer support in Luxembourg, she had offered to Baha’u’llah, With utter confidence in

THE Bahá’í WORLD

His sustaining power, her every thought, her uncertain health, her unceasing service and activity to awaken this land of achievement, promise and Vitality to God’s Revelation for this age. One can see in the events of Virginia’s early life her preparation for this mighty task.

She was born on 16 F ebruary 1902, in Overbrook, Philadelphia, USA. to a distinguished neuro—psychologist and pioneer in psychiatry, Dr. Thomas J. Orbison, and Virginia Gile Orbison, also educated as a doctor. Thus, by inheritance and her surroundings, Virginia acquired an intelligent and searching mind, unwavering standards of character, dedication of will, and wide cultural interests and appreciation. In 1907 her parents moved to Pasadena, California, where soon, through a patient of her father’s, Claudia Stuart Coles, they first gained an acquaintance with the Bahá’í Faith; it was not pursued, but Virginia never forgot Mrs. Coles nor the name of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.

In 1912 her mother entered Virginia in a school for girls in Paris, but when war came her education was continued at home with a tutor of Latin and then in a Roman Catholic convent in Alhambra. Later her knowledge of French and Latin eased her study of Spanish and Portuguese. It was through her devotion to music, and particularly singing which she studied in California, that she received her first introductions in Spain. In 1932 she again encountered the Revelation of Baha’u’llah, examined and struggled with it for a year, and reached unwavering acceptance in 1933. As a research librarian at Paramount Studios in Hollywood, from 1933 to 1942, she gained financial independence and was disciplined to the care and accuracy required for her remarkable history of the Bahá’í Faith in Spain. In those same years she matured in active service as a Bahá’í, studied deeply its Scripture and the writings of the Guardian, and developed from a timid and apprehensive speaker and teacher to one who was assured and extraordinarily confirmed. Thus Virginia was ready when her heart responded to the call for pioneers in South America during the first Seven Year Plan.

‘Shall we ever be given the cue’, she wrote in December 1940, ‘to become pioneers?’ And in May 1941, ‘Only the will to do it have I but that is not enough.’ She was on the threshold of her role in the Divine Plan launched in 1937 by the ‘champion builders’ of Baha’u’llah’s

[Page 693]IN MEMORIAM

World Order. Already they were on the march in North America, laying the foundation for the advance into Latin America, and Virginia had witnessed their first entry into that field when there ‘came the Guardian’s soul-stirring calls for more pioneers . . ., no matter how inadequately prepared they might be. So I began to supplicate . . . I studied Spanish, worked at my job and did my committee work and Assembly duties . . . Suddenly. . . I found myself appointed to go to Chile . . . What then churned inside of me—spiritually, psychologically and mentally. . . is a whole chronicle . . .’. (‘Pioneer J ourney’, The Bahá’í World, V01. IX, p. 896.) It was ‘a spiritual uprooting, and a detachment from things which I have never before achieved . . . It has to do in reality, not in theory, with being detached from all save God,’ for only with His promised assistance ‘can anything be done by a poor mortal anyway!’ (12 July 1942) Throughout the coming forty-three years of pioneering Virginia served in that spirit, a ‘humble, submissive soul’, (8 April 1985) ‘thankful for every one of the happy or sad things’, (24 April 1945) motivated to strive unceasingly, and thus to earn the good favour of the beloved Guardian who best described her life’s activity as ‘your constancy in the service of the Faith, your zeal in diffusing its spirit, your determination to consolidate its institutions and your self—sacriflce

Place Arrival

Santiago, Chile 17 Sept. 1942

Buenos Aires, Argentina 7 Aug. 1943 Asuncion, Paraguay 23 Aug. 1943 La Paz, Bolivia* 10 Dec. 1943

4 Sept. 1944 Lima, Peru 25 Jan. 1944

28 Oct. 1944 Quito, Ecuador 7 Nov. 1944 Guayaquil 27 Dec. 1944 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 8 Nov. 1945 and S210 Paulo 12 Aug. 1946

• In Bolivia she also served in Sucre and Potosi and visited

Cuzco and Macchu Picchu.

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in promoting its best interests.’ (24 October 1949)

And so for Chile she departed on 24 August 1942 ‘from an Army airport at three in the morning,’ on a 25-day journey stopping in Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, Columbia and Peru. In Chile she was cast into a current of dynamic movement and confirmation. While the Second World War mounted in destructive power in Europe, Asia and the Pacific, Baha’u’llah’s benign Teachings were being swiftly implanted in centres crucial to the re—creation of Latin America. She was rushed from country to country to hasten the harvest in fields already tilled. There were only months in which to do it. It was a saga whose place names and dates alone must be the witness, though the call upon her every resource of mind, body and spirit in the straining to fulfil the Guardian’s hopes for Riḍván cannot even be indicated except to the reader’s imagination. ‘How many times’, she wrote in recollection, did the Guardian’s counsel to ‘exercise patience’ and his promise of prayers for success, ‘[throb] in my heart and [enable] me to persevere and to withstand things which appeared all too formidable. In memory the marvels of obstacles removed are preserved one after the other, removed by the magic Name of the Beloved.’ (‘Pioneer Journey’, ibid., p. 897)

Departure Formation of Local Assembly 7 Aug. 1943 20 Apr. 1943 23 Aug. 1943 9 Dec. 1943 20 Apr. 1944 25 Jan. 1944 1945 28 Oct. 1944 4 Sept. 1944 20 Apr. 1944 6 Nov. 1944 27 Dec. 1944 17 May 1945 21 Apr. 1945 for hospitalisation and rest in Wilmette 15 Dec. 1946 21 Apr. 1946 2 Dec. 1946

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Such is the bare record of her Victorious effort, in partnership with the few pioneers and new believers, ‘not to fail the trust that the Guardian has put in our ability to finish this mighty work.’ (ibid, p. 900) Nor did they fail, for they ‘greatly rejoiced his heart’, while to Virginia he wrote: ‘Assuring you of my profound admiration and abiding gratitude for the splendid services you have rendered, and of my constant, my loving, and fervent prayers for the extension of your activities ...’ (26 July 1946)

It was in the same letter that Shoghi Effendi expressed his hope ‘that you will be able to Visit Spain, and help in the work of the opening of that great country to the Faith ...’ (through his secretary). Already, with his stirring call for American pioneers to hasten to Europe, now that the war had finally ended, Virginia had cabled her wish to do so. His reply came in these words, and the invitation of the European Teaching Committee soon after. By mid December she was in flight to the Iberian Peninsula, spending Christmas Day in Lisbon and reaching her post in Madrid on December 26th. Some seven months later came this news from a Committee member: ‘. . . she is thin and tired but . . what a job she has done in Spainseven declared believers—and under the most difficult, not to say dangerous circumstances!’ (Katherine True, 14 August 1947)

Spain, when Virginia arrived there, had lived under the shadow of despotism since 1939 and in the grip of economic stringency. From the airport, she writes in her history, she entered this beautiful capital through an unattractive district, passing the remains of trenches, destroyed houses, and heaps of rubbish . . . She checked in at the Palace Hotel—sad, cold, without enough light or heating; the food, impeccably served, was nearly invisible because of rationing, as Spain still suffered from the terrible wounds of the Civil War and, with all of Europe, those of the Second World War. She knew no one and was faced with the great problem of introducing a new and unknown religion. Nor would she be able to speak openly of the Faith except to those she could trust, since both Government and the State religion suspected all liberal thought. Mails were censored, both public and private discussion hampered, travel abroad prevented. All citizens suffered, but the intelligent and young most of all. Even five years later Virginia would write:

THE Bahá’í WORLD

‘. .. keeping one’s courage up and faith intact is the big task also communicating these feelings to others if possible—all are hopeless and resigned to the worst—-it is horrible.’ (19 November 1951)

To read Virginia’s account of the incredible events leading to the establishment of Spain’s first Local Spiritual Assembly in the capital city, Madrid, in 1948, and to the second Assembly in the important city of Barcelona in 1949, creates such excitement, wonder and admiration as one cannot describe. Her immediate steps were to present an introduction to a gentleman of high position, then to apprise the US. Consulate of her arrival and mission, and next to meet the master teacher of a musical friend in California. Through these influential contacts, within the first ten days she was welcomed into Spanish families and cultural circles of Madrid and would in future receive protection and assistanCe from American diplomatic friends. Because her credentials from the Consulate gave her purpose as fuller study of the language and customs of Spain, it was not until the police investigation of 1954 that the existence of the Faith was officially known. By then there were Assemblies in Murcia and Tarrasa as well.

Within a month she was studying singing with the celebrated teacher, Carmencita Vivé, whose two brothers, Jose Maria and Manuel Bazo Barea, became Bahá’ís on 23 June 1947—‘Historic day . . . Truly, a day beginning a new era for this suffering and blessed country’— and she herself and her mother dofia Carmen Vivo (Bazo Barea) on July 14th. Two days later, seeing Esslemont’s book in the Vivo home, dofia Juana Ortufio Lopez de Mascarefias felt compelled to cross the city to meet Virginia and then daily for a week, accepting the Faith on J uly 23rd. Meanwhile, Manuel Garcia Vazquez, led to Virginia through an Esperantist contact, and his friend Nicolas Avivar Fazio, became Bahá’ís on July 5th. Here then, in less than seven months, were seven devoted Bahá’ís. They were joined in the spring of 1948 by three more, dofia Teresa de Hernandez and her young daughter Violante on March 11th and Miguel Abajo Hojas on April 18th, assuring the election on April 20th of Madrid’s Spiritual Assembly, including Virginia as corresponding secretary. Then great activity began, committees were formed, and each one served on several.

[Page 695]IN MEMORIAM

In December 1948 the unique pioneer, Marion Little, came for seven months, and it was her financial support which enabled Juana Ortufio, accompanied by Marion and Virginia, to fulfil her impulse to form a Spiritual Assembly in Barcelona. Their ten-day Visit in February, when Juana made contact with several family members and friends, enabling them before departure to speak openly of the Faith, resulted in its acceptance within three weeks by Luis Ortufio Puche. Once more, on April 3rd, Juana was moved to go to Barcelona; she returned with nine declarations. Thus, the first Assembly of Barcelona, all Spanish, came to birth on 20 April 1949; four members were of Juana’s family and its chairman was Luis Ortufio. Among this community’s dedicated members, from 1950, were Sara and Maria Tiffon Ramonet, who were to experience many proofs of Baha’u’llah’s promised aid. Of Virginia they wrote in 1986: She ‘was for us the ideal of a woman, since she did not only bring to our life the spiritual awakening of a New Revelation, but by her example and dedication, she illumined and guided our steps in the new path we had embraced . . . Her culture and deep understanding of the Teachings cemented the foundations for the establishment of our administrative institutions.’ (17 June 1986)

The Ten Year Crusade brought wider horizons to Spain with the opening of the Balearic Islands and Andorra. At the Stockholm International Teaching Conference in July 1953, William Danjon offered for Andorra, Virginia for the Balearic Islands. By August 11th she was at her post in Palma de Mallorca. On December 30th Tove and Jean Deleuran arrived, and in January 1954 Charles Monroe Ioas; all were Knights of Baha’u’llah. ‘It was amazing’, the Deleurans wrote in June 1986, ‘how well she had established herself as a pioneer during these few months . . . Immediately she had joined the association Amigos de Mallorca, a very popular meeting place for Spaniards who wanted to meet foreigners She was well known to many people and had a wonderful ability to make friends and to keep them.’ And Charles Ioas also remembered those early days: ‘Her life was typical of those who have sacrificed themselves completely for the sake of spreading the message of Baha’u’llah . . . But her spirit was ever happy, and as others around her succumbed to the trials and tests which always confront a pioneer,

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she remained a beacon of optimism . . . Unfortunately’, he continued, ‘her stay in Mallorca lasted only one year. In August 1954 she was one of those imprisoned during a police intervention [at an Iberian Teaching Conference] held in Barcelona. After her release she proceeded to Madrid to help with initiating steps for legal recognition of the Faith.’ (30 August 1986) This was the occasion famous in Spanish Bahá’í history When, at this conference of sixty Bahá’ís, a complaint to the police led to the arrest in the early morning hours of ten Who were interrogated and held for eighteen hours. ‘Thanks to the courage and serenity of Virginia, Who asked to speak with her Embassy in Madrid, surprising the police, they freed everyone . . each believer returned to his locality, . . . having experienced the meaning of Bahá’í unity in such difficult moments and the protection given by Virginia to all the friends.’ (Sara and Maria TitTon, op. cit.) It was on the Guardian’s instruction that Virginia returned to Madrid on September 20th. Two years later she was sent to Lisbon as a pioneer.

This was the close of Virginia’s initial pioneer work for Spain. Although space forbids mention of the many cities she Visited, some as the first Bahá’í, conferences and study gatherings to which she contributed, administrative work she carried, the recurring illnesses she suffered (including a period of five months in 1949 in a sanatorium in Switzerland after total exhaustion), perhaps enough has been said to show both her methods and spirit. In this last decade it had been her joy, not only to attract new souls, but to deepen their knowledge and steadfast commitment and to witness their flowering as cohorts of Baha’u’llah. In Madrid alone she had spoken of the Faith to three hundred and sixty-one persons, and of these fifty-four had accepted His Revelation. ‘Your heart must rejoice—you and those faithful friends who have served with you—to see at last a rich harvest coming in!’ the Guardian assured her, after her pilgrimage in January February 1956 (lengthened to twenty-seven days by her pneumonia). ‘The potentialities of the Faith in the Iberian Peninsula are evidently very high and their future very great.’ (through his secretary, 3 May 1956)

Virginia had first seen Lisbon in 1946, had spent two weeks there with the pioneers in 1948, and in 1952 had Visited Porto on March 29th

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for ten days to support the successful effort to establish a Spiritual Assembly, attended the second Iberian Regional Conference in Lisbon, and exchanged pioneer posts with Charlotte Stirratt for a month in November. Her assignment in 1956 was to replace Charlotte on her departure. ‘I am now among the dear Portuguese since the 15th of July’, she Wrote; they had safely gone through many tests but needed deeper knowledge and experience. They had acquired a Centre—a ‘little house . . . with gaping neighbours .. . wondering just what is going on Well, plenty will go on there as long as the police will allow ...’ (22 October 1956) Riḍván 1957 marked the achievement of a great goal, the election of the first Iberian Regional Spiritual Assembly, to which Angelo Silva Carneiro of Porto and Virginia were elected. But the situation was precarious as the two Assemblies had only nine and twelve members each and the goal for Portugal was eight Assemblies by 1963. When the Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds was bought that October 1957, it was in Virginia’s name for the protection of the Faith. In May 1959 the police ordered her expulsion, giving as reasons her Bahá’í activities, holding property and having a telephone! She left at the end of J une, never permitted to live there again. There had been many problems during those years, but the Guardian felt assured of ‘marked progress’ once they were overcome and hoped that ‘you will come to be as proud of Portugal as you are justifiably proud of Spain.’ (through his secretary, 23 February 1957)

It was to Luxembourg that she was sent by the Committee, where both Bahá’ís and Local Assemblies were lacking for the Ten Year Plan goals. The nine years she spent in Dudelange were probably the most frustrating of her pioneer service, for ‘this stubborn little country . . . wants to stay as it is . . . the slogan of Luxembourg and they seem to be doing just this ...’ (19 December 1961) Despite years of teaching and an ‘invasion of pioneers’ in 1960, at the end of 1961 there were only four Luxembourg Bahá’ís and the Dudelange Assembly had fallen to five, all pioneers. It was not for want of effort, for they ‘are seeing the name Bahá’í in their papers, on their poster kiosks . . . and in public and fireside meetings . . . No wonder we are all worn out . . . But’, she added, ‘there are some real live Luxembourgers who are nibbling . . . May Baha’u’llah confirm them

THE Bahá’í WORLD

quickly!’ (ibid.) In fact, the National Spiritual Assembly of Luxembourg was scheduled for election in just four months. And so it happened, but chiefly with pioneers. Five members, including the first Luxembourg Bahá’í, Suzette Hipp, and Virginia, were in Haifa in 1963 for the election of the first Universal House of Justice. That and the World Congress in London were a welcome respite for Virginia from her small mining town, where the red dust affected so badly her bronchial weakness.

Unhappily, the establishment of the National Spiritual Assembly did not, and could not, alter the tempo of the country. Some time in late 1964 Virginia offered to serve elsewhere, but with three of the four Assemblies below nine she could not be spared. By 1965 she was alone in Dudelange, but still she persevered. ‘There are still miracles in action, and maybe some of them will be confirmations among these dear traditional people I leave all my affairs in His hands.’ (29 December 1965) And so it was that her future was determined by doctors on whose insistence she returned in J anuary 1968 to a more benign climate, back to Spain—to Malaga.

It was no longer the Spain she had left nearly twelve years before. From 1962 the Bahá’í community, by then increased to two hundred and nineteen believers, mostly Spanish, with ten Local Assemblies and Bahá’ís in fourteen other places, received the wise and energetic guidance of its own National Spiritual Assembly. The long-sought legal recognition came on 13 July 1968, with the registration of non-Catholic religious organizations. Public teaching was now possible and the first public meeting in Spain was held in Malaga in 1971, publicized by posters and radio. Spain’s first Bahá’í exhibition, arranged by the youth, followed in 1973, also in Malaga. But their greatest Victory came in May 1976, with a series of four lectures in the University of Malaga, under the patronage of the Director of the Faculty of Philosophy and Literature; given by Virginia, they were the first presentation of the Faith in a Spanish University and attracted outstanding newspaper and radio publicity.

Malaga had attained its Assembly in 1972 and Virginia, although in her 703, continued her varied Bahá’í services including travel teaching as far afield as the Azores, Madeira and

[Page 697]IN MEMORIAM

the Canary Islands, and pioneering in Marbella from January to June 1979. She was also translating many documents for the National Assembly, and in 1972 they requested her to write a history of the Faith in Spain—a prodigious task completed in May 1980 despite increasing fatigue, failing eyesight and eye surgery in New York in 1979, followed by a mild heart attack. In Malaga, where a majority of the Bahá’ís were young, Virginia, looking upon them as her own children, increasingly spent time with them in extending their knowledge of the Faith, its literature and its development in Spain. Her joy was to see them active in public teaching and pioneering, serving on new Assemblies in Cérdoba and Jaén and even on the National Spiritual Assembly. She was thrilled, too, to ‘see so many of the very firsts, still active and so developed and faithful. The Persians are almost all very special too . . .’ (29 May 1978) Ramon Escartin, who had served with Virginia on the first Regional Spiritual Assembly, had described her at this time: ‘When we listened to her impressions of the development of the Faith in Spain, all of us felt very happy. It was easy to see that her very delicate physical condition would be transformed upon seeing all hearts beat in unison, listening to the music of her voice.’ (6 May 1986)

Exhausted by the final stages of her History, by her long struggle with recurrent and serious illness (pneumonia for the eighth time in 1981), and with the nearly complete loss of Vision in one eye, her thoughts turned more and more to her future. Death she had never feared, for it would reunite her with those she loved, nor would she consider leaving her pioneer post. ‘The Guardian sent me here,’ she told Dorothy Behar, ’and here is where I’m going to lay my bones.’ In 1982, unable to live any longer alone in her little flat in Casita Rosa, she moved to the Hotel California, then to Residencia Marymar in Benalmadena for six months but, finding it too isolated, returned to the Hotel until, in need of greater care, she entered the Clinica del Pilar next door in early 1985. In early August she suffered two mild strokes and from that time her ‘light’ was slowly fading, although ‘her mind, thoughts and memory are perfectly sound and alert, and [she] hasn’t lost her subtle sense of humor she is in very good hands and . . . the members of the Malaga community are extremely thoughtful and assist

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her in every possible way. I really have never seen such an expression of love and concern . . .’ (Dorothy Behar, 6 September 1985) When, in the early morning of November 20th, her soul took ‘flight into the other worlds of God’, the Assembly prepared her funeral with utmost delicacy and beauty. She was buried next afternoon in the International Cemetery, her coffin carried by the nine members, With others bearing flowers. It was, they said, despite their sadness, ‘a day of celebration’ for the fulfilment of her heart’s dearest wish.

‘Virginia was, one might almost say, unique’, wrote Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khanum. (1 June 1986) ‘I loved and admired her very much . . . We all know she really established the Faith in Spain and, faithful to her last breath died there still as a pioneer!’

MARION HOFMAN

NOTE: All letters quoted from Virginia and others were addressed to Marion Hofman, except those from Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Cause of God, which were addressed to Virginia.

MELBA WHETUNG LOFT ‘Kinaaj—Kwe’ 1912—1985

GRIEVED PASSING MELBA LOFT SHINING EMBLEM NATIVE PEOPLES NORTH AMERICA. HER LONG TEACHING SERVICE MARKED HARDSHIPS ILLNESS ULTIMATELY EARNING RESPECT RECOGNITION HER BELOVED FAITH AND ENRICHING ANNALS CAUSE FOSTERING CLOSE TIES BETWEEN INDIGENOUS AND OTHER BELIEVERS CANADA. KINDLY CONVEY FAMILY FRIENDS ASSURANCE PRAYERS SHRINBS PROGRESS HER NOBLE SPIRIT ABHA KINGDOM. Universal House of Justice 25 November 1985

Sarah Melba Whetung was born on the Curve Lake Indian Reserve, near Peterborough, Ontario, Canada on 24 December 1912. Curve Lake is an Ojibwa Reserve. Melba was the eldest daughter of Arthur Whetung, a trapper, and his wife, Bella.

Melba finished grade school at twelve years of age and, with her mother’s help and encouragement, completed her high school education

[Page 698]698

in Peterborough. At seventeen years of age she met Alfred J ames (J im) Loft, a Mohawk. They married several years later and lived in Detroit, Michigan, USA. where Jim worked at the Chrysler automobile plant. Their two sons, James Gordon (Sam) and Arthur Edwin were born in Detroit. In 1936, Jim was transferred to the plant in Marysville, Michigan where he bought a home. In 1938 a daughter, Evelyn, was born to Jim and Melba. It was shortly after this that Melba became restless and searching. She missed the Indian way of life. She became close friends with her neighbour, Emma Lenk. Returning from church service one day Melba said, ‘There’s got to be something besides this!’ Shortly after that Melba and Emma learned of the Bahá’í Faith and embraced it.

Melba described herself as having been, in the years before Jim became a believer, ‘an armchair Bahá’í’. She read and studied, attended meetings, and sent the children to the Louhelen Bahá’í School at Davison, Michigan. Jim became a Bahá’í in 1948 and was at once moved to write to Shoghi Effendi asking for guidance in the service he might perform. The Guardian’s reply, written by his secretary on his behalf, said, ‘He would greatly welcome your returning to your own tribe, and giving them this great message you and your dear wife have accepted.’

A postscript in the Guardian’s own hand stated, ‘Your most welcome letter rejoiced my heart, and I hasten to assure you of a most hearty welcome into the Bahá’í fold, as well as of my loving and fervent prayers for any and every effort you may exert for the promotion of the Faith and the conversion of your fellow Indians and their acceptance of its verities. May the Beloved bless, protect and sustain you always and aid you to realize your heart’s cherished desire.’

Winter was setting in but arrangements were made immediately to move to the Tyendinaga Reserve in Ontario where the family endured great physical hardships. Their house had no heat or electricity; animals had been living in it when they moved in; and it had only three rooms. Jim and Melba were unable to find any work, and in 1950, at a time when they did not know where the next meal was coming from, J im wrote another letter to Shoghi Effendi. The reply said that the Guardian ‘does not feel it is right for you and your family to impoverish

THE Bahá’í WORLD

Melba Whetung'Loft

yourselves further in order to remain on the Reservation; on the other hand your being there and living amongst the people is undoubtedly the best way to teach them.’

The Guardian’s letter, which included, in his own hand, ‘assurance of my abiding and deepest appreciation of your services to our beloved Faith, of my heartfelt admiration for the spirit that animates you, and of my ardent prayers for the success of every effort you exert for its promotion and consolidation’, and which was signed ‘Your true and grateful brother, Shoghi’, marked yet another turning point in their lives. Jim was able to set up an auto body shop on the Reserve as a means of livelihood, though they still had no running water or indoor plumbing, and almost all of Melba’s good furniture had to be sold to buy equipment for the garage. The Lofts had Visits from many Bahá’ís in those early years, many of them on their way to pioneering posts all over the world. The first people Melba and Jim brought into the Faith were Bert and Elizabeth Curtis, in 1950; and the next year, the first Indian believers in Tyendinaga were May and Russell Hill. The Lofts supported the teaching work in the nearby towns of Kingston and Belleville by olfering encouragement

[Page 699]IN MEMORIAM

and attending meetings. Peggy Ross, who was called by Melba ‘my spiritual mother’, spent much time on the Reserve and was like one of the family.

Jim died suddenly on 22 May 1973.1 Melba continued to live alone for the next eight years. An occasion for rejoicing occurred in November 1976 when Indian Bahá’ís from Ontario to the Maritimes gathered at Tyendinaga Reserve for the first Canadian Native Council. Although the Indian Band Council had been generally unsympathetic towards the Faith over the years, not permitting public meetings to be held and denying the Bahá’ís access to the Village meeting hall, a Victory came in February 1977.

Just prior to attending the Bahá’í International Conference in Mérida, Melba approached the Chief and the Council to ask whether they wished to send a message through her to the Mayan Indians of Mexico and, to her deep joy, the Chief responded by writing a letter. Not only did this message reach the Mayans but it reverberated all through the Caribbean, for Melba was invited, along with other Canadian Indian participants at the conference, to be interviewed on television, and she responded by reading the Chiefs letter, thus enabling the greeting to span the continents. The patience with which she had for so long endured rejection and suspicion won, in the end. At Naw-Rl'lz 134 (21 March 1977) permission was granted by the authorities for the holding on the Tyendinaga Reserve of a public New Year observance which was attended by one hundred and fifty guests.

The remaining years of Melba’s life were highlighted by her participation in many historic Bahá’í events, such as ‘the Gathering’; native councils; a teaching trip in 1978 to Denmark, England, Ireland, Austria and Switzerland, which she Viewed as one of the crowning events of her life; the formation in 1979 of the first Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Tyendinaga, the reward of her long years of steadfastness; and the invitation to be a special guest at the 1981 ‘Vision Quest—Baha’u’llah’, National Native Council, near Rawdon, Quebec. To that gathering she sent a touching message in which she wrote, ‘One must pray every day . . . for we must remember, all we are

]See ‘In Memoriam’, The Bahá’í World, vol. XVI, p. 514.

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going to take with us to the Abhá Kingdom is our spiritual knowledge of God through Baha’u’llah . . . we must go forward, put on our spiritual armour for Baha’u’llah, as He never leaves us alone. I know I never feel alone; I am happy to be living in this Day to see how our Faith has grown over the years and to have the prayers and guidance, and I know I have been fully blessed and I am thankful.’

The news of the formation of the first Spiritual Assembly of Tyendinaga in 1979 brought the Universal House of Justice great happiness. A letter written on behalf of the House of Justice to Evelyn Loft states, ‘The steadfastness of your parents in remaining at their post is indeed exemplary and fully demonstrates the spirit of true pioneering.’

Melba also had a non-speaking role in the music Video film ‘Mona with the Children’ honouring the young martyr, Muna Mahmfidnighad.

Melba’s outstanding contributions as a Bahá’í were given special recognition when the hall of the Yukon Bahá’í House in Whitehorse was named after her, Kinaaj—Kwe—the Indian name meaning ‘good, kind and gracious lady’ bestowed upon her when she was little by her father.

In September 1985, a native council was held but Melba could not attend due to poor health. Two pine trees were planted beside the driveway leading to the Bahá’í Centre next to Emily General’s home on the Six Nations Reserve. The first pine tree was planted for Emily General, and was dedicated ‘To one who devoted all her life to the cultural development of her people.’ On the other side Evelyn Loft planted a tree dedicated ‘To Melba Whetung Loft, the first native Bahá’í of Canada—our spiritual mother.’

Melba and Jim Loft are buried side by side on the Tyendinaga Reserve. The beautiful marker over their grave contains the symbol of the nine-pointed star and the native symbol of the Thunderbird, and reads:

‘Alfred Jim Loft and Melba Whetung Loft The Guardian’s Obedient Servants’ EVELYN LOFT (Adapted from an article in Bahá’í Canada, Vol. 8, No. 2, April 1986)

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Daw Thoung Khin

DAW THOUNG KHIN 1912—1986

The death of Daw Thoung Khin on 10 J anuary 1986, in her seventy-fourth year, was a great loss to the Burmese Bahá’í community to which she was—in the words of her cousin—‘hke the central axis; her dedication and services were unequalled.’

Daw Thoung Khin was born on l‘August 1912 in Mandalay, a third-generation Bahá’í, her grandparents having embraced the Faith about 1879 through the teaching efforts of J amal Effendi and Siyyid Mustafa Rfimi. Her parents, U Ba Tin and Daw Tint, were well educated. They founded an English private school and a printing firm that published the T aing Chit newspaper as well as some Bahá’í books, including the Burmese translation of Esslemont’s Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era; her father also produced films. After his death in 1925, Daw Thoung Khin’s mother carried on her husband’s business and raised her three sons and two daughters; she died in 1966.

Daw Thoung Khin was an active and bright youngster. At an early age she took an interest

THE Bahá’í WORLD

in the Bahá’í Cause and from her pocket money contributed to the fund for the construction of the House of Worship in Wilmette. She attended the American Baptist School where she distinguished herself by standing first or second in every class; she was awarded scholarships from Standard 7 to Standard 10. She had a great love of music and mastered several instruments.

After comp1eting high school Daw Thoung Khin attended Rangoon Teachers’ Training College where she obtained her Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education degrees. She taught in various schools in the towns of Mawlike, Yamethin, Myingyan and Mandalay and took part in Bahá’í community aflairs. A leader of the Girl Guides who achieved the rank of Assistant Commissioner, she established or reactivated groups at each school where she taught and in 1962 was sent by the Government of Burma to the Malaysia Girl Guides’ Conference. During World War 11 she taught Burmese to Japanese traders who could speak English, and despite the risk she did not fail to mention the Faith. After the war, Daw Thoung Khin was promoted to Head Mistress, a post in which she served until she resigned in 1963 to found a boarding house for girls and to tutor in English. By this means she increased her income and the time she had available to serve the Faith. She taught classes for women and children, presented courses at summer and winter schools and at youth conferences, and was Chairman of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Mandalay from 1959 until her death.

At age forty she married U Thoung Nhue. Their union was without issue and tragically her husband died in 1976 as a resu1t of a car accident. In April 1959 when the first National Spiritual Assembly of Burma was elected, Daw Thoung Khin and her aunt, Daw Hla Hla, were its only women members. Daw Thoung Khin took a very active part in the centenary celebrations of the Bahá’í community of Burma in 1978, and those of Mandalay in 1979 which were attended by three hundred guests includin g the Religious Affairs Officer.

Throughout her life Daw Thoung Khin was loved by those who knew her. She was always generous to the poor, she took care of children, she extended assistance to the aged and sheltered the displaced regardless of colour, Class or creed. After the great fire of Mandalay in

[Page 701]IN MEMORIAM

13/

1985 some homeless Baha 1 friends as well as others were placed in her home; she assisted them for a long time until they were able to resettle. She lived the life of a true believer in Baha’u’flah, and in addition to her personal assistance to others she was generous in supporting the Bahá’í Fund. Many Bahá’í institutions benefited under the provisions of her will. Her translations of Bahá’í literature into Burmese include, in addition to a collection of Bahá’í prayers and numerous notes and compilations, excerpts from the Kitdb-i-I'qdn, excerpts from Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Bahá’u’lláh, the King of Glory, and excerpts from Release the Sun, her earlier completed translation of which perished in Mandalay’s great fire. She also provided an improved translation of Paris T alks of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.

In March 1985 her health began to fail. Although her spirit remained very strong, in July her condition worsened. On 1 J anuary 1986 she was admitted to ho’spital and passed away on 10 January. Nearly one thousand people attended her funeral on 12 January including members of her family, Auxiliary Board members, members of the National Spiritual Assembly, other Bahá’í friends and former students. A cortege of seventy-four motor vehicles transported the mourners to the graveside in the Bahá’í cemetery of Mandalay. Memorial meetings were held throughout the country in her honour.

On 13 January 1986 the Universal House of Justice cabled:

GRIEVED PASSING DEVOTED STEADFAST PROMOTER FAITH DAW THOUNG KHIN. HER LIFELONG SERVICES TEACHING ADMINISTRATION FIELDS HER RESOLVE PROTECT ENCOURAGE FELLOW BELIEVERS IN DIFFICULT TIMES AND HER GENEROSITY AND EXEMPLARY CONDUCT IMMORTALIZE HER ANNALS FAITH BURMA. ADVISE HOLD BEFITTING MEMORIAL GATHERING. ASSURE FRIENDS PARTICULARLY IN MANDALAY ARDENT PRAYERS PROGRESS HER NOBLE SOUL ABHA KINGDOM.

(Adapted from tributes by the NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF BURMA and Auxiliary Board member DAW TIN TIN Y1)

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T e0 Geok Leng

TEO GEOK LENG 1907—1986

On 17 January 1986, news of the passing of Mr. Teo Geok Leng, a dedicated servant of the Faith of Baha’u’llah for over thirty years, was relayed to the World Centre in a telex sent by the National Spiritual Assembly of Singapore:

PASSING OF MR. TEO GEOK LENG FIRST CHINESE BELIEVER SINGAPORE ON 13 JANUARY 1986. HE SERVED ON FIRST LOCAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF SINGAPORE ELECTED IN 1952. WAS MEMBER NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF SINGAPORE FOR NINE YEARS SINCE FORMATION IN 1972 AND SERVED FOR EIGHT YEARS AS TREASURER. HE WAS APPOINTED BY GOVERNMENT TO SOLEMNIZE MARRIAGES AND HAD BEEN OUR SOLEMNIZER OF BAHAI MARRIAGES FOR MORE THAN ELEVEN YEARS SINCE 1973. IN 1978 MR. TEO VISITED HOLY LAND FOR INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION. HE ALSO SERVED ON LOCAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF TANGLIN. ASSEMBLY GREATLY APPRECIATES HIS DEVOTED SERVICES RENDERED TO THE FAITH IN SINGAPORE AND HUMBLY BESEECHES PRAYERS OF BELOVED HOUSE OF

[Page 702]702

JUSTICE AT HOLY SHRINES FOR PROGRESS HIS SOUL ABHA KINGDOM.

In response, the following message, dated 17 J anuary, was received from the Universal House of Justice:

GRIEVED NEWS PASSING TEO GEOK LENG DEVOTED DISTINGUISHED SERVANT BAHAULLAH FIRST CHINESE BELIEVER SINGAPORE. OFFERING ARDENT PRAYERS HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS HIS RADIANT SOUL WORLDS GOD.

Born on 4 April 1907, of parents who were rather influential, he was educated at Raflies Institution, Singapore’s premier secondary school, and obtained his Cambridge School Certificate in 1923. But throughout this period and as he grew more mature, although his family supplied him with all the best that life at that time could offer, he felt that something was missing from his life. Seeking to fill the vacuum, and with the hope of finding an answer, he began an arduous study of religion. He also devoted himself to the study of accountancy, a skill ably manifested when he started a family business dealing in office equipment and no less ably when he was elected treasurer of the National Spiritual Assembly of Singapore.

Although his business prospered his spiritual longings were unsatisfied, and he felt that his study of religion had been fruitless. Nevertheless, in an efibrt to further his search and broaden its scope he joined the Theosophical Society through which, in time, his quest was unexpectedly fulfilled. In 1950, Dr. K. Fozdar and his wife, Shirin, arrived in Singapore, as directed by the Guardian, to teach and propagate the Faith. Dr. Fozdar’s attendance at public gatherings sponsored by the Theosophical Society led to his meeting Mr. Teo. Their friendship deepened and, in early 1952, after attending some Bahá’í functions, Mr. Teo embraced the Faith, the first Chinese to do so in Singapore. It was the end of his search to fill the vacuum and the beginning of his new life under the shelter of the Covenant of Baha’u’llah. Increasingly he grew frustrated in attempting to share his new beliefs with members of the Theosophical Society and gradually severed ties with it in order to devote all his free time to service to the Bahá’í Cause.

For more than thirty years Mr. Teo served the Blessed Beauty, first as a member of the

THE Bahá’í WORLD

Local Spiritual Assembly of Singapore, and later, when the country formed its own National Spiritual Assembly, as chairman of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Queenstown, and in various capacities on the National Spiritual Assembly of Tanglin. To the community, local and national, he was affectionately known as ‘Uncle Teo’ and was noted for the meticulous way he prepared the national accounts, and for his punctuality at meetings and other gatherings, especially Bahá’í weddings where he served as the official solemnizer appointed by the government. Many couples remember the philosophical yet witty advice he offered them as they crossed the threshold of married life.

A highlight of Mr. Teo’s spiritual life, as he would often express it, was the few precious days he spent in the Holy Land for pilgrimage and the 1978 International Convention. With the encouragement of friends he was persuaded to conquer hisinherent distaste for travelling, and especially his deep—seated fear of flying, and make the long journey to Israel. The happy result, Virtually a miracle, caused the entire community of Singapore to rejoice.

Sad to say, in his mid-eighties, with failing health, Mr. Teo was called to make the final journey of his life: he passed to the Abhá Kingdom on 13 January 1986. He was laid to rest in the Bahá’í cemetery at Choa Chu Kang on 17 January in the presence of a large gathering of relatives, and Bahá’í and other friends, with the added bounty of having the Hand of the Cause of God Collis Featherstone recite the Prayer for the Dead.

FREDDY TAN

ARNOLD WELLS ?—1986

On 15 February 1986 Arnold Wells ascended to the Abhá Kingdom. He was born some time between 1900 and 1905 at Dead Man’s Cay, Long Island, the Bahamas, the son of Mary and Dody Wells. He had the distinction of being the second Bahamian Bahá’í, having embraced the Faith but two weeks after it was accepted by the first indigenous believer, Molly Newbold, in the early 19503, as a result of meeting Gerald and Gail Curwin, Knights of Baha’u’llah for the Bahamas.

[Page 703]IN MEMORIAM

Arnold Wells

Arnold attended school in Haiti and trained as a plumber and tinsmith. For more than twenty years he was employed in the main' tenance department of the Nassau International Airport. He spoke French, Spanish and English. In 1956 he married Winnifred Paul. Although no children were born to them, in the words of Karin Leonard, ‘every child close at hand became “their grandchild”, especially Beryl McSweeney’s. And although Winnie never announced officially her belief in Baha’u’llah, she treasured the prayers and took delight in the many Bahá’í meetings held in their humble home.’ Arnold became well known for his steadfast devotion to the Faith of Baha’u’llah. He served on the first Local Spiritual Assembly of Nassau, formed at Riḍván 1955, and took pride in witnessing the coming into being of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahamas in 1978.

Beryl Quamie McSweeney, another early believer of the Bahamas, recalls: ‘For about five years, Arnold and I met every Sunday and said prayers and read from his cherished copy of Bahá’í World Faith. We were soon found by Ellsworth Blackwell who was Visiting for a week. He introduced us to the Leonard family and we became a Bahá’í group. Arnold was

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never ashamed to stand up and speak about Baha’u’llah and he always traveled with his copy of Bahá’í World Faith.’

Karin and Robert Leonard who pioneered in the Bahamas from August 1967 until July 1976, had enlisted the aid of Ellsworth Blackwell in making contact with the Bahá’í community of Nassau, where houses are not numbered, eager to meet those Who had learned of the Faith through the first pioneers, the Curwins, and Mr. Andrew F. Matthisen and his wife, Nina. Mrs. Leonard wrote that Beryl and Arnold ‘had “kept the Faith” during the years after the pioneers of the Ten Year Crusade had to leave,’ and commented that ‘The dinner party held to celebrate our meeting was joyous. We could have eaten oatmeal that night and it would still remain the most outstanding dinner party of my life. As for Arnold Wells, the adjectives with which we would describe him are “steadfast”, “dedicated”, “stalwart”, “generous” and “loving”. Happily, he lived to see one of his cherished dreams come true. How many times we heard him say, “The Bahá’ís must have a place! Then the people will listen.” Maybe that’s why we were given the opportunity to purchase the property on one of the two main thoroughfares of the city for the national Haziratu’LQuds.’

In the March 1986 issue of Bahá’í Sunshine, published by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the Bahamas, tribute was paid to Arnold Wells, and recognition accorded the place of honour he holds in the annals of the Faith in the Bahamas. A beautiful and uplifting service was held at the National Centre on 22 February 1986 to honour the memory of one who loved his Lord and held fast to the cord of His Covenant.

ANGUS WELDON COWAN 1914—1986

The Bahá’í World was saddened by the passing of Angus Cowan on 9 March 1986 in Invermere, British Columbia, Canada, after a long struggle with cancer. Angus was particularly loved by the native peoples of North America to whom he devoted a large part of his time teaching the Faith.

[Page 704]704

Angus, who was born on 12 September 1914, received his primary school education in Bishopton and West Bolton, Quebec. He then attended high school in Knowlton, Quebec, following which he attended Macdonald College in St. Anne de Bellevue. From 1938 to 1942 he sold life insurance, a field to which he returned from 1956 to 1960. In 1946, he was released from the Air Force where he had served for two and a half years as an air frame mechanic, and after taking classes at the University of Toronto for a few months, he was hired by IBM for whom he worked in sales first in Toronto and later in Winnipeg (1950 to 1955) where he managed the Electric Typewriter Division. He took an active interest in sports, serving as captain of hockey and baseball teams, and was at various times a member of the Big Brothers association, president of the John Howard Society, and Saskatchewan representative of the national committee of the Canadian Corrections Association.

Asked about the circumstances of his becoming a Bahá’í, Angus stated that in 1946 when he had returned to university he was selling books in a book store to earn a little money. ‘A customer by the name of John Robarts came in twice while I was on duty. I became his babysitter. I met his daughter, Nina, aged about four, who taught me my first Bahá’í lesson. John and Audrey Robarts became friends to me and had lots of patience for three years Then Bobbie and I were ready to turn to Baha’u’llah. The happy day was 30 March 1949.’

Angus was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada in a by—election in December 1953 after a vacancy had been created when John Robarts, whom Angus called his spiritual guide and Bahá’í father, and who was in October 1957 appointed a Hand of the Cause, had pioneered with his family to Africa. After serving on the National Spiritual Assembly for a period of fourteen years, Angus was appointed Auxiliary Board member for Saskatchewan, Manitoba, North Dakota and Montana. Always an extremely humble man, he liked to tell the story of how he became a member of the Auxiliary Board. ‘One of my greatest tests’, he said, ‘was that I couldn’t consult, I always felt like a fifth wheel on the National Spiritual Assembly because I wanted to be out in the front lines of the Faith teaching, not consulting.’

THE Bahá’í WORLD

So, in 1968, when the Counsellors asked the National Spiritual Assembly to recommend members of the Bahá’í community to serve on the Auxiliary Board, adding that the National Assembly should not overlook its own membership, Angus enthusiastically volunteered.

The following six years were described by Angus as the most exciting period of his Bahá’í life. Although he was given direction by Counsellor Lloyd Gardner, he said he was able to go about teaching largely in his own way and at his own speed and was never slowed down by the need for consultation. ‘Lloyd probably wanted to consult with me at times,’ he would chuckle when relating the story, ‘but, you see, I always tried to keep a few steps ahead of him so he couldn’t catch up to me.’

During those years Angus intensified his teaching activity among the indigenous peoples. The deep love that he had borne for them all his life began to bear fruit in 1958 in the native communities of Saskatchewan. He came to be so loved and respected by the native people of Canada and the United States that the Tlingit tribe adopted him into the Eagle band and bestowed upon him the name Yik-Gah (Great Greatgrandfather) during a ceremony which took place at the 1978 Alaskan national convention and which was described in the Alaska Bahd 1' News as the ‘most unifying event of the convention’ .

On a previous occasion Angus had been entrusted with the most treasured possessions of a native Elder, Ed Poorman, of the Poorman Reserve in Saskatchewan. Following his first meeting with Ed Poorman, the Elder gave him a sacred medicine pipe and a Queen Victoria treaty, written on parchment and dated 1885. Angus had the treaty document framed and returned it to Ed, but it was not until years later that he fully realized the significance of the rare honour that had been bestowed upon him when the sacred pipe was entrusted to his care.

Angus’s personal good-humoured and informal style of teaching endeared him to many. He constantly praised the efforts of others, and he would tell amusing stories about his own ‘blunders’ in order to demonstrate the principles of the Faith. He said that when Baha’u’llah presents us with a test, and we fail, we are not punished but are simply given the test again. As an example, he told how he had been tested

[Page 705]IN MEMORIAM

Angus Weldon Cowan

in the fire of consultation during the fourteen years he served on the National Spiritual Assembly, but because he had still not learned to consult after all that time, he was appointed a Counsellor in October 1976, after having been given some years of freedom on the Auxiliary Board. He served as a Counsellor for the next decade. The true test of his consultative skills came when, at the first meeting he attended of the Continental Board of Counsellors, while he was still stunned by his appointment, he was called upon to chair the meeting in the presence of the Hand of the Cause of God William Sears. Angus’s humility, combined with the reverence in which he held the Hands of the Cause and his deep respect for the Counsellors, made this a real test.

Angus’s enthusiasm to serve the Faith sometimes led him to make hasty decisions. At an international conference in 1968, after listening to a plea expressed by Amatu’l—Baha Rúḥíyyih Khánum for pioneers to arise to fill goals, Angus was so inspired he pledged to pioneer to Venezuela, and only on his way home did the sobering thought occur that he had not consulted with his family! He did not act upon that offer, which he felt to have been a solemn commitment, and for some years carried a burden

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of guilt until it was good-naturedly dispelled by Amatu’l—Baha Rúḥíyyih Khanum and Mr. Amoz Gibson. It was Canada’s good fortune that Angus did not pioneer to Venezuela at that time; however, he enjoyed telling this story as an illustration of the need to balance audacity of initiative with realistic expectations of ourselves and our loved ones.

Angus demonstrated what it meant to comply with Baha’u’llah’s exhortation to be generous in prosperity and thankful z'n adversity. At the last major conference he attended, he told the friends that in a way he was thankful for all the tests that he had been given, even the cancer that was destroying his body. He had often spoken over the years of ‘reliance on God’, he said, but it was only through the pain and suffering he was enduring that he felt he came to a clear understanding of What that phrase meant.

When Angus Cowan died on 9 March 1986 tributes came from every quarter. PROFOUNDLY GRIEVED TO ANNOUNCE PASSING OUR BELOVED COUNSELLOR ANGUS COWAN, the Canadian National Spiritual Assembly telexed the World Centre, HIS REMARKABLE EXAMPLE OF SPIRITUALITY SERVICE DETACHMENT HUMILITY HIS PASSIONATE LOVE FOR THE ORIGINAL PEOPLES OF CANADA AND ELSEWHERE COMBINED WITH HIS TIRELESS TEACHING EFFORTS AND YEARS OF ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICE WILL BE DEARLY REMEMBERED IN THE ANNALS OF THE CAUSE OF GOD The February/March 1986 issue of Bahá’í Canada carried a supplement entitled ‘A Special Measure of Love: A tribute to the native teaching work of Angus Cowan’.

Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum cabled KINDLY CONVEY DEAR BOBBIE COWAN MY HEARTFELT LOVING SYMPATHY LOSS MUCH LOVED ADMIRED DEVOTED ANGUS WHOSE LONG OUTSTANDING SERVICES CANADIAN Bahá’í COMMUNITY UNFORGETTABLE . . . Rúḥíyyih Khánum participated in the memorial services held for Angus Cowan and Melba Loft during her visit to Canada in July 1986.

Describing Angus as LOVED and MUCH ADMIRED, the Continental Board of Counsellors in their message stated HIS DEDICATION NATIVE PEOPLE IMMENSE LOVE FOR ALL UNFORGETTABLE.

Counsellor Donald Rogers wrote of Angus, ‘He has always epitomized service in all aspects of his life. For example, I remember that travelling in winter, Angus would invariably be the

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one to jump out and scrape the snow and ice 011 the car even though he was the passenger. His kindness, his non-judgmental approach towards other people and his ability to treat everybody as equals serve as an example and encouragement to many of us and have shown us what it really means to be a Bahá’í.

Dorothy Francis, a well-known native Bahá’í, said of him, ‘The native people love Angus, not only because he taught us the Bahá’í Faith, but because he is one of us. He learned about the native people, took part in our ceremonies and has the greatest respect for our traditions.’

Another long-time Bahá’í, Alice Dusty Horn, recalling Angus’s teaching work on the Poorman Reserve, tells how he had the habit of bringing candy and other treats to the children on special occasions. She remembered how one of her children reacted to Angus’s gift‘I’ll never eat this,’ he said, ‘Angus gave it to me.’

On her cassette recording Ordinary Girl, released subsequent to Angus’s death, Carolina Mackay dedicated to his memory her setting of a Bahá’í prayer.

From the Universal House of Justice, on 12 March 1986, came the final and crowning honour—a message encapsulating the life and service of this humble, gentle and sweet-natured man:

HEARTS GRIEFSTRICKEN PASSING OUTSTANDING

PROMOTER CAUSE ANGUS COWAN. HIS SERVICES

AS PREEMINENT Bahá’í TEACHER OF INDIAN

PEOPLES HIS UNCEASING LABOURS THROUGH OUT LONG YEARS DEVOTION RANGED FROM

LOCAL AND NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLIES

TO AUXILIARY BOARD AND BOARD COUN SELLORS. HIS COMPASSION COURTESY HUMILITY

MAGNANIMITY UNFORGETTABLE. Bahá’í COM MUNITY CANADA ROBBED OF A DEDICATED

NOBLE WORKER WHO BORE HIS SUFFERINGS TO

THE VERY END WITH EXEMPLARY FORTITUDE.

CONVEY LOVING CONDOLENCES HIS BELOVED

WIFE AND FAMILY AND ASSURANCES ARDENT

PRAYERS HIS RADIANT SOUL’S PROGRESS

THROUGHOUT WORLDS GOD.

(Adapted from an article by GORDON MCFARLANE)

THE Bahá’í WORLD

Georgine A. Maul

GEORGINE A. MOUL 1924~1986

The Hawaii Bahá’í community has been missing a dear and devoted believer since the passing of Georgine Arnold Moul on 21 March 1986 in Honolulu, following a long illness. Georgine was born on 17 January 1924 in Peru, Indiana, U. S.A. She attended Purdue University and graduated from the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts where she soon became a faculty member while also working as artist in residence for the Maurice L. Rothschilds apparel store in Chicago, concentrating on fashion illustration. She became a Bahá’í in 1949 while still in school and apprenticed to Mrs. Betty de Araujo (then Schefller), after attending firesides at the home of Ruth and Ellsworth Blackwell. For the next thirty-seven years the Bahá’í Faith was always her first priority. Georgine married Robert ‘Pat’ Moul, a devoted Bahá’í, in 1952 in Evanston, Illinois. They responded to the Guardian’s Ten Year Spiritual Crusade call for pioneers to Alaska during the first year of their marriage, moving to a new post only after the previous one was secured by new believers: Anchorage in 1953,

[Page 707]IN MEMORIAM

and the virgin goal Cities of Ketchikan in 1954, and Douglas in 1957. During their seventeen years in Alaska, three children were born to them: Vicki, Doug and Larry.

In 1970, Georgine and Pat became the first pioneers to fill a foreign goal for the National Spiritual Assembly of the Hawaiian Islands by relocating the entire family to American Samoa. Here they operated a print shop and stationery and printing supply store, with Georgine as graphic artist, Pat as manager and printer, Vicki as clerk, Doug as cameraman, and Larry as binder. They remained in Samoa for four years, until Pat’s deteriorating health forced them to sell the shop and move to Guam where they remained for a further period of almost four years.

In 1978—Vicki having married and Doug being on his own—Georgine and Pat and Larry moved to Hawaii where Georgine and Pat served on the Local Spiritual Assembly of Honolulu until Georgine’s illness prompted their resignations in the summer of 1985. Hawaii benefited from the Mouls’ masterful teamwork in many respects and also from their individual contributions, notably through Georgine’s many art projects for the Faith such as Aloha Week Parade floats, designs for the national Bahá’í calendar, book jacket designs including two solicited by the Hand of the Cause William Sears, television program backdrops and a variety of posters. Georgine’s business acumen transformed the National Bahá’í library into a successful enterprise, offering a multinational clientele a stock of books and other Bahá’í material Virtually unrivalled elsewhere in the world for volume and variety.

Georgine was that rare combination—an artist who was also an efficient organizer. Although marvelously creative, she never overlooked a detail, never forsook a responsibility.

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Perhaps because she took to heart the Guardian’s instructions about setting goals and making plans, Georgine (an inveterate maker of lists!) could be counted on to remember the tasks left undone—from dripping taps needing repair, to writing thank-you letters—«often assuming these responsibilities herself. She sought guidance through prayer and research of the Writings before beginning any project and her work reflected that inspiration and wisdom. Her children also demonstrate her commitment to Bahá’í idealsmeach is a firm believer, educated as a Bahá’í from birth. She was also a thoughtful friend, generously providing hospitality to a continual flow of international Bahá’í travelers as houseguests, and remembering each Assembly member’s birthday with a homebaked cake and candles.

The body of our talented, hardworking friend was laid to rest in the Bahá’í ‘Garden of Light’ at Hawaiian Memorial Park on 24 March 1986, following a brief service of prayers and devotions which concluded with the reading of the following cable received that day from the Universal House of Justice:

HEARTS SADDENED NEWS PASSING DEARLY LOVED GEORGINE MOUL. HER DEVOTED SERVICES AS PIONEER ALASKA SAMOA GUAM AND HER CONTRIBUTIONS TO WORK HAWAIIAN BAHAI COMMUNITY ADD LUSTRE HER LONG AND DEVOTED RECORD SERVICE FAITH. OFFERING LOVING PRAYERS HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS HER IMMORTAL SOUL. KINDLY CONVEY PAT MOUL AND OTHER MEMBERS FAMILY HEARTFELT CONDOLENCES.

ELIZABETH D. HOLLINGER

LYNNE ELLEN HOLLINGER

(Reprinted from Light of the Pacific, No. 188, March/April 1986)