Bahá’í World/Volume 20/Isabelle Stebbins Dodge
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ISABELLE STEBBINS DODGE
1910—1987
Isabelle Stebbins was born 21 June 1910 in Urbana, Illinois, United States of America, to Joel and May P. Stebbins. Her father was a professor of astronomy at the University of Illinois, and her mother was a librarian. As a child Isabelle enjoyed reading and travelling, and she was an excellent student. In 1919 Isabelle’s mother heard about the Bahá’í Faith from Albert Vail, a Bahá’í and a minister in the Unitarian Church in Urbana. Shortly thereafter, Isabelle learned about the Faith from her mother.
When Isabelle was 15 years old, she had the bounty of making a pilgrimage With her mother. En route to Haifa in the winter of
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IN MEMORIAM
1925—1926, Isabelle and her mother stayed in Paris, where she met many distinguished Bahá’ís. On 9 March 1926 Isabelle and her mother arrived in Haifa Where they spent a month. There she and her mother commonly had the noonday meal with Shoghi Effendi. They came to know Bahíyyih Khánum, Munirih ghénum, and other members of the Holy Family. Isabelle was quiet and attentive, and her thoughtful demeanor was remarked upon by several who were in Haifa at the time. Before Isabelle departed from Haifa, Munirih I__{_hanurn gave her the book Memorials Of the Faithful in which she wrote the following in Persian:
Oh God! Nourish this fresh p1ant newly grown in the garden of Thy love with the water of eternal life and protect it from the autumnal winds. Thou art the Powerful and Thou art the Wise. -—Munirih
Isabelle attended Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, and then taught school in New York and St. Louis in 1931 and 1932. She received a master’s degree in history in 1933 from the University of Wisconsin.
On 15 June 1935, Isabelle was married to Theodore Dodge in Madison, Wisconsin, by Albert VaiI—the same man who had introduced Isabelle’s mother to the Faith. They were both 24 years 01d and had known each other since high school. Ted had' just completed his requirements for a PhD. in geology from Harvard University and was about to embark on his first assignment in Peru.
On 1 August 1935 Isabelle and Ted sett1ed in their first home at 14,300 feet in the Andes mountains of Peru. Ted was a geologist for a mining company in Moroeoeha, Iunin. Isabe11e found herself to be the only Bahá’í in Peru. Yet she was determined to be a Bahá’í teacher in that remote land. She received Bahá’í books and teaching materials Via the Amazon River from Leonora Holsapple who lived in Brazil, and she met
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the well-known Ne1lie French on a cruise stop in Lima, Peru. Isabelle organized Bahá’í meetings and distributed literature to those who were interested. When possible she arranged for teaching meetings in Lima.
Isabelle and Ted lived in Morocoeha for three years, then returned to the United States in 1938 living in Pasadena, California, for two years, and Las Cruces, New Mexico, for one year. They lived in Cananea, Sonora, Mexico, from 1942 to 1945, and once again Isabelle found herself the only Bahá’í in the area. It was because of her presence in Cananea that Shoghi Effendi placed a Ione star on his map of northern Mexico to indicate a Bahá’í center. Soon Ted’s mining work took them to the deserts of Arizona.
The Message of Bahá’u’flah had first been taken to Tucson by Loulie Mathews, Who had held a Bahá’í public meeting during her stay in Tucson in the early 1940s. In August 1945, when Isabelle, Ted, and their family moved to Tucson, there were already two Bahá’ís residing there, Frances Lewis and Elizabeth Ashden. On 21 April 1948, the first Local Spiritual Assembly of Tucson was formed.
Ted and Isabelle lived in Tucson from 1945 to 1971, and during that time Isabelle served on the Local Spiritual Assembly for 25 consecutive years. In 1957 her husband, Ted, became a Bahá’í. In 1971, Ted began to work at Christmas, Arizona, and Isabelle resigned from the Tucson Assembly. At the next F east, the Tucson Bahá’í community presented Isabelle with 25 red roses in a short ceremony to express its appreciation for her long and continued years of dedicated service.
Ted and Isabelle continued to travel Widely. Isabelle attended the World Congress in London in 1963, and they both attended the La Paz Conference in Bolivia in 1970. They attended Bahá’í summer schooI in Lima, Peru, and travelled to Europe. In 1977 Isabelle had the bounty of making a second pilgrimage to Haifa, this time with her husband. This second time she was in the
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Isabelle Stebbins Dodge
precincts of the Seat of the Universal House of Justice, and she could reflect on the Bahá’í history that she had witnessed.
Ted and Isabelle retired to Tucson in 1975, and Isabelle continued to serve the community on different committees. Her warmth and wisdom were highly appreciated by the community; few in southern Arizona have been held in such high regard. A story is told about a tourist Visiting an Indian Reservation in Arizona. The tourist was intrigued with the great respect paid to an elder Indian by the community and asked, “How does one get such respect and consideration?” The old man replied “You earn it.” So it was with Isabelle. She had earned the love and admiration of the community.
Isabelle appeared to be in good health during her retirement years but iii 1986 it
became known that she was suffering from ‘
cancer. Soon she became intensely ill, and she died 1 January 1987 in Tucson. Her four children—Janet, Tom, Eleanor and Richardcontinue her legacy of service to the Faith. STEPHEN POWERS
THE BAHA’l WORLD