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MANUEL GARCIA VAZQUEZ
1923—1990
Manuel Garcia Vazquez was born to Maria and Juan Garcia in Cabreiros, Orense Province, Spain, on 20 August 1923. He lived in that locality until he was 20 months old; then he lived in Chipiona, Cadiz, where his father had moved as a teacher of primary school.
In 1939, Manuel moved with his family to Madrid, where he began to work for the Hispano—American Bank, becoming secretary to the regional director of the central office of that banking corporation.
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His restlessness and advanced ideas led him to study Esperanto and to correspond in that language with 72 people around the world. One of his correspondents was a Bahá’í Esperantist in the United States, who gave his address to Virginia Orbison When she decided to pioneer to Spain in December 1946, thereby opening that country to the Faith. Mrs. Orbison was responding to the call of the Guardian who had asked the American Bahá’í community to send nine pioneers to Europe during the second Seven Year Plan undertaken by the American believers.
From the moment Manuel heard of the Faith, he felt captivated by it and lived dedicated to its service. He accepted it formally on 5 July 1947, becoming the third believer to embrace the Faith in Spain. He was then 24 years old.
His family rejected him for his decision, and he began a new life in connection with the Faith. He participated actively in all the teaching plans that Shoghi Effendi transmitted to the community in the Iberian Peninsula, and he represented the Spanish community on various occasions at many international Bahá’í events. He was a member of the first National Spiritual Assembly of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal), elected on 24 April 1957.
Later in 1957, Manuel married Emilia Garro Bermejo, and the couple pioneered to the Dominican Republic, where Manuel became the secretary of the first Local Spiritual Assembly of Santiago de los Caba11eros. They set up a school for native radio announcers in their home, and their first daughter, Zoraida, was born there.
After the National Convention of the following year, he and his family left for Ciudad Trujillo as pioneers.
Manuel served as secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Dominican Republic and as a member of the first National Radio Teaching Committee. The programmes about the Faith he created for radio were broadcast on many stations. In 1962 he was
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appointed to the Auxiliary Board.
In 1965, he, his wife and their four children——Zoraida, Juan Manuel, Alberto, and Kasirnmwere forced to leave the country due to the revolution, and to leave their publicity business which had a staff of 32 people. They returned to Spain, settling first in Madrid, and later in Zaragoza where Manuel served as Secretary of the Local Spiritual Assembly.
Responding to the need for pioneers in the Basque area of the country, he settled with his family in Algorta, Vizcaya, in 1969, where they remained for nine years. At that time, he was a member of the National Radio Committee, to which he devoted much time and energy. He created programmes for radio and attended all the Bahá’í schools held in Liria so that he could tape the sessions for broadcast afterwards for those who were unable to attend, or for the believers in general. He carried out this activity for 14 years.
While living in Algorta, he travelled each week to one of the capitals of the northern
THE Bahá’í WORLD
provinces of Spain, from the border with France to that of Portugal, to teach and open those provinces to the Faith.
In 1980, the family moved again to Saragossa, where Manuel served as secretary of the Local Assembly until 1989. In that city, he created the Sisfor Institute, a centre which conducted personal development courses for groups of professionals.
The course of Manuel Garcia Vazquez’s Bahá’í life was truly exemplary. He was an untiring, sincere, dedicated, and enthusiastic soldier for the Faith from the time, at 23 years of age, when he read, in only one night, Dr. Esslemont’s book Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era.
Responding to the news of his death on 9 F ebruaiy 1990, after an illness, the Universal House of Justice sent the fo110wing message on 16 February to the National Spiritual Assembly of Spain:
SADDENED NEWS PASSING STALWART SERVANT BAHA’U’LLAH MANUEL GARCIA VAZQUEZ, ONE OF THE FIRST TO EMBRACE THE CAUSE IN SPAIN. HIS RECORD DEVOTED SERVICES SPANNING OVER FOUR DECADES UNFORGETTABLE. HIS MEMBERSHIP PHSTORIC FIRST LOCAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY MADRID, SECRETARY FIRST NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY IBERIAN PENINSULA, HIS PIONEERING DOMINICAN REPUBLIC AND SEVERAL HOMEFRONT GOAL TOWNS, HIS UNTIRING EFFORTS TEACHING, DEEPENING FIELDS ARE WARMLY REMEMBERED. PRAYING HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS HIS RADIANT SOUL ABHA KINGDOM. CONVEY LOVING CONDOLENCE MEMBERS HIS FAMILY. ZORAIDA GARCIA GARRO AND EMILIA GARRO BERMEJO
