Bahá’í World/Volume 20/Howard Borrah Kavelin
 | The text below this notice was generated by a computer, it still needs to be checked for errors and corrected. If you would like to help, view the original document by clicking the PDF scans along the right side of the page. Click the edit button at the top of this page (notepad and pencil icon) or press Alt+Shift+E to begin making changes. When you are done press "Save changes" at the bottom of the page. |
HOWARD BORRAH KAVELIN
1906—1988
HEARTS LADEN WITH SORROW OVER LOSS TO BAHA’I WORLD OUR DEARLY-LOVED FORMER COLLEAGUE H. BORRAH KAVELIN OUTSTANDING SERVANT CAUSE BAHA’U’LLAH. INDOMITABLE FAITH, RIGOROUS CONSCIENTIOUSNESS, IRREPRESSIBLE OPTIMISM, UNFAILING RELIABILITY, UNBLEMISHED TRUSTWORTHINESS AMONG BRILLIANT QUALITIES WHICH SHONE THROUGH HIS NEARLY HALF CENTURY MONUMENTAL SERVICES TO CAUSE HE CONSTANTLY PROMOTED AND DEFENDED TO LAST DAYS HIS DISTINGUISHED LIFE. HIS EXTENSIVE INVOLVEMENT BAHA’I ADMINISTRATIVE AFFAIRS BEGAN IN 1941 WITH HIS NINE YEARS ON LOCAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY NEW YORK AND INCLUDED 13 YEARS ON NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY UNITED STATES, TWO YEARS ON INTERNATIONAL BAHA’I COUNCIL FOLLOWED BY QUARTER CENTURY MEMBERSHIP ON UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE. HIS MANIFOLD SERVICES ESPECIALLY MARKED BY HIS DILIGENT ENDEAVORS. TO ASSIST DEVELOPMENT EXTERNAL AFFAIRS AGENCIES BAHA’I INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY, HIS DEFTNESS FOR DIGNIFIED PROMOTION FINANCIAL INTERESTS FAITH, HIS LUSTROUS RECORD IN CONNECTION ACQUISITION IMPORTANT PROPERTIES INCLUDING MANSION MAZRA’IH AND HOUSE ‘ABDU’LLAH PASHA.
OFFERING ARDENT SUPPLICATIONS HOLY THRESHOLD THAT HIS NOBLE SOUL MAY BE RICHLY REWARDED ABHA KINGDOM AND THAT BLESSED BEAUTY MAY SURROUND HIS BELOVED WIFE FLORE AND DEAR CHILDREN WITH DIVINE MERCY AND ASSISTANCE. ADVISE HOLD MEMORIAL GATHERINGS IN HIS HONOUR ALL HOUSES WORSHIP AND THROUGHOUT Bahá’í COMMUNITY.
Universal House of Justice
H. Bon‘ah KaVelin was bom in Russia to a distinguished Jewish family on -16 March 1906, the sixth of seven children. They immigrated to the United States when he was three years old and remained in Denver,
[Page 822]
822
Colorado. His father was a greatly beloved Rabbi in Denver, a pillar of the Jewish community and well known as a healer. He lost his life caring for others during an influenza epidemic. His mother was founder of the Beth Israel Hospital and Old Folks’ Home in Denver.
As a young lad, Borrah had obtained a job as an usher at an opera house. His love for music drew him to New York City, and his debut as an operatic tenor occurred on the stage of Carnegie Hall. Through music, he met Martha Hamilton, a pianist studying at the Juilliard School of Music in New York. They were married in 1936.
Those were difficult financial times for everyone during the Great Depression, and a singer’s life could not support a family. So Borrah turned from his musical career to become a secretary to the director of a real estate firm. His diligence and ability were soon recognized, and he became a partner in that original firm, and then served as the executive Vice-president for a number of commercial realty companies in New York.
In 1943, he joined the distinguished firm of Durand Taylor and Company where he was partner and executive Vice-president for 20 years. His company, which bought, sold and managed skyscrapers, was known in financial circles as “the Tiffany’s of the real estate world.” He received two awards during his career, both for the most outstanding transactions of the year.
He had a pristine reputation for trustworthiness and honesty, considered by some to be rather unusual qualities in the realty world. One client Who was Visiting their home said to Mrs. Kavelin, “Your husband has only one flaw. He is too honest.” She replied, “Would you do business with any one else?” He laughed and admitted that he
would not.
Borrah Kavelin’s first exposure to the Teachings of the Faith was through the firesides of Vaffa and Saffa Kinney, a couple dear1y loved by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. While attending gatherings in their large brownstone
THE BAHA’I WORLD
apartment in New York, Borrah found that over the period of several years when he and his wife were studying the Faith, not one question he raised failed to elicit a meaningful, satisfying answer. By 1940, he decided that he must serve a Faith which stood for all the principles in which he deeply believed.
The Kavelins had three children: Linda, Thomas, and John. Over the years the education of the children in the Teachings of the Faith received much emphasis as part of family life. Every summer was spent at Green Acre Bahá’í School in Eliot, Maine. Borrah and Martha Kavelin were instrumental in establishing a very successfial children’s sunday school on Long Island. They also had regular firesides in their home, and youth firesides with standing room only.
From 1941 to 1950, Borrah served on the Local Spiritual Assembly of New York City, for seven years serving as chairman of that body. In 1950, he was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States. His services on the National Assembly continued for 13 years, during which he served for a number of years as treasurer and from 1958 to 1963 as chairman.
In 1955, during a surge of persecutions of the friends in Persia, he was very actively involved and instrumental in gaining recognition of the plight of the believers. Through his efforts and those of others working on this issue, the force of the world—wide Bahá’í community was brought to the attention of the highest dignitaries of the Iranian government. Because he conducted himself with perfect decorum and dignity as well as deep assurance of the support of the Blessed Beauty, he was often called upon to represent the National Assembly in meetings with top level officials.
Borrah served as a trustee for a number of Bahá’í properties, including Green Acre Bahá’í School, and he represented the National Spiritual Assembly on several missions. In 1957, he chaired the first national convention for the formation of the National
IN MEMORIAM
Spiritual Assembly of the Benelux Countries (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg), and the National Spiritual Assembly asked him to represent it at an international conference to be held the following year in Kampala, Uganda.
Shoghi Effendi, to whom Borrah Kavelin was deeply and personally devoted, invited him to come on pilgrimage directly after the Kampala Conference. He had never had the bounty of meeting Shoghi Effendi personally, and he was deeply touched by the opportunity to pay homage to him. However, this meeting was never to occur. The greatest blow of Borrah’s life came when he learned of the beloved Guardian’s untimely death in London, shortly before they were to meet. He grieved openly, as did so many others. After this, he dedicated himself more and more to the service of the Cause for which Shoghi Effendi had given his life.
Following Shoghi Effendi’s passing, the Bahá’í world was in turmoil. The internationa1 Bahá’í community looked to the Hands of the Cause of God for guidance. In 1961 the Hands decided that an International Bahá’í Council should be formed for two years. Borrah Kavelin was among those elected, and he served the Council as member—at-large rather than in residence in Haifa and was given permission to continue serving on the National Spiritual Assembly.
Much of the work with which he was involved was of a very serious nature. In 1961 during the Moroccan crisis, a time of severe persecutions of the believers in that country, he was one of those asked to serve the international community in organizing a campaign to protest against the imprisonments and impending executions of Bahá’ís. Cables poured in from every corner of the world, from Paris, France to Tegucigalpa, Honduras. The Moroccan government was forced to hear the voices of people all over the globe, from places it had never even heard ofl It had a powerful effect and the persecutions abated.
In 1963, the whole Bahá’í world 1ooked
823
Borrah Kavelz'n
forward with great excitement and eager anticipation to the election of the first Universal House of Justice, described by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as that body which is “to be universally elected and established” and would be “under the care and protection of the Abhá Beauty, under the shelter and unerring guidance of His Holiness, the Exalted One.” (Bahá’í World Faith, p. 442)
The election took place in the House of the Master, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, in Haifa, Israel, and the first members of the Universal House of Justice were introduced during the World Congress, held in the Royal Albert Hall in London. As their names were read, the nine men of the House of Justice took their places on the stage. Borrah Kavelin told his family later that he had had tears streaming down his face and felt a profound humility such as he had never experienced before.
Before he moved to the World Centre in Haifa, a luncheon was given in a distinguished private club in New York so that many of his business associates could pay their respects and say goodbye. They were one and all moved by the choice he was
824
making and profoundly respectful of the path he had chosen. Unfortunately, his marriage did not survive the transition, and Martha did not accompany him to the Holy Land.
He served the Universal House of Justice for a full quarter of a century, from 1963 to 1988. He was beloved at the World Centre for his diligence and the powerful energy and professionalism he brought to his tasks, particularly in the acquisition of properties for the Faith. Two of the crowning achievements which highlighted his service to the Universal House of Justice were the purchases of the Mansion of Mazra‘ih and the House of ‘Abdu’lláh Pasha in ‘Akká.
Mr. Kavelin represented the Universal House of Justice on four significant missions to Train to consult with the friends there about the financial needs of the Faith. His first trip was in 1965, the second in 1970 to consult about Huququ’lláh, the third in 1975 to consult about the raising of the Seat of the Universal House of Justice on Mount Carmel, and the fourth in 1978.
In 1970 he met and married a beautiful, devoted, and distinguished believer from Tihran, Manijeh Flore Taheri [Manizhih Flore Tahiri]. She was his helprnate for the next 20 years and often served as his translator on those missions to Train.
After the revolution in Train in 1979, he again represented the Universal House of Justice at a time when the Bahá’í world was grieving for its losses in the birthplace of the Cause. During a ten—week mission, he traveled throughout Europe, Canada, and the United States meeting with thousands of Bahá’ís who thronged to hear him. His mission was to explain the state of the Persian friends, and the impact on the Bahá’í world community of the persecutions.
In 1987, after nearly 25 years 0? service,
at 81 years of age, Borrah Kavelin asked to '
be excused from serving any longer as a member of the Universal House of Justice. Within two weeks from the time his retirement was announced he was hospitalized for cancer surgery, after which he recovered
THE BAHA’t WORLD
well and felt ready to begin a life of retirement in the United States.
The National Spiritual Assembly asked Mr. Kavelin to serve as a keynote speaker at six regional “Vision to Victory” conferences throughout the United States, and he was delighted. This became the driving force of his day-to-day life. When the cancer recurred, and his health began to fail rapidly, he was even more driven to fulfill his commitment to these conferences.
He was able to address the first conference in Boston, Massachusetts: his frail voice did not diminish the ardor with which he spoke to the friends of the imperative necessity to raise the Are on Mount Carmel. However, by the time his plane arrived at the second conference site, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, he was so ill that he had to be rushed to the hospital in acute distress. His undeviating concern about making a presentation as he had promised was creatively solved by a doctor who asked if the Bahá’ís could Videotape his talk there, in the hospital room. Mr. Kavelin agreed and arrangements were swiftly made to tape his talk.
Shortly after the talk, Mr. Kavelin lapsed into a coma. However, he recovered to the extent that two minor “miracles” were to occur. One was to give a Thanksgiving dinner to thank the doctor and all the many Bahá’í friends in Chattanooga who had been so kind to him. The other was to return home to Albuquerque. He lived another three weeks in his home in Albuquerque, then on 18 December 1988, he passed away.
“You wander all your life in search of meaning and then you find at the end, at the core, there is only the Covenant.” These were among the last words of Borrah Kavelin, a man who lived to his last breath the commitment he had made to Baha’u’llah. One of his favorite passages read at his funeral, attended by hundreds of friends, was “As ye have faith, so shall your powers and blessings be.” He was laid to rest in the Fanyiew Memorial Park in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His epitaph reads simply:
[Page 825]
IN MEMORIAM
“Howard Borrah Kavelin, 1906—1988, Charter Member of the Universal House of Justice.”
LINDA KAVELIN POPOV