Bahá’í World/Volume 28/Obituaries

Bahá’í World/Volume 28 Obituaries

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[Page 303]

Qudsiyyih Amin-Amin Ala’i

On 27 September 1999 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Qudsiyyih Amin-Amin was born on 22 September 1909 in Tehran, Iran. Her father was the second Trustee of Huqúqu’lláh. Early in her youth she declared her belief in the Bahá’í Faith. Defying the traditions that kept women as an underclass in Iran, she was resolute in living according to the teachings of the Bahá’í Faith, despite opposition and scorn from much of the public. She served as a member of the Bahá’í Committee for Education and the Committee for the Advancement of Women in Iran. She married Nemat Ala’i in 1925, and they had six children. In 1945 she and her husband pioneered to Afghanistan, although they were deported a year later. In 1955, they left for Western Samoa, where she helped to establish the first Local Spiritual Assembly of Apia. Three years later, the family left Samoa for New Zealand, eventually returning to Iran in 1963. Her husband died in 1968, and the following year she went back to Western Samoa. From there she went to Malta in 1972 and for the next few years traveled between Malta and Western Samoa until she finally settled in Canada. During the years she lived in Toronto, she visited native reserves on a regular basis, and throughout her life service to the Bahá’í Faith was her first priority. [Page 304]

Peter Boddy

On 2 January 2000 in Escondido, California, United States. Dr. Peter Boddy was born 15 February 1947 in Massachussets, United States. He completed his pre-med education and received bachelor's degrees in anthropology and psychology from the University of California at Davis before establishing a school on San Andrés Island in the Caribbean. After completing a nineteen-month tour of duty as a lab technician in Vietnam, he moved to Peru for the dual purpose of Bahá’i pioneering and attending medical school. After graduating and serving an internship in Peru, he earned a master's degree in public health in California in 1985. Dr. Boddy used his degree to develop community health education programs to help establish a health education and preventive medicine department in California. At the same time he worked in AIDS education in California, Arizona, Hawaii, and New Mexico. In late 1989, he returned to Latin America and worked in the public health field there, in Egypt and in Mozambique. In Bolivia he played a key role in founding the country's first graduate program in public health. Dr. Boddy had set up a national health project for Nicaragua and, at the time of his passing, was in the process of doing the same for other regions. During his adult years, he served on the National Spiritual Assemblies of Honduras, Nicaragua, and Peru.

Josephina Camacho

On 9 September 1999, in Miami, Florida, United States. Josephina Camacho de la Nuez was born 23 March 1908 in San Antonio de los Baños, Havana, Cuba. In addition to earning a doctorate in education from the University of Havana, she worked as an educator for fifty years, and wrote the book Influencia de la Religión en la Filosofia de la Educación. She married Jesus Martinez and had three children with him, although the two later divorced. After becoming a Bahá’í in Cuba she served as a member of that country's National Spiritual Assembly. In 1970 her family moved to Puerto Rico and in 1972 she was elected to the first National Spiritual Assembly of Puerto Rico.

Ted Cardell

On 2 June 1999 in California, United States. Edmund John (Ted) Cardell was born 8 September 1918 in St. Neots, England, and during his life worked as a farmer, a photographer, and a businessman. He became a Bahá’i in 1948 in Canada and three years later became the first Bahá’í to pioneer to Kenya. In 1953, he also became the first to pioneer to Namibia, an act for which he was named a Knight of Bahá’u’lláh. He married Alicia Ward in 1957; they settled in Kenya in 1959. He was elected to the first National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of South West Africa in 1955 and also served [Page 305]on the National Spiritual Assembly of East and Central Africa. The Cardells returned to England in 1963, when they were forced to leave Africa owing to the changing political situation. In 1974 Mr. Cardell was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United Kingdom, on which he served until 1980, when he and his wife settled in the United States.

Isabel Pavón de Calderón

On 30 March 2000, in Ibarra, Imbabura, Ecuador. Isabel Pavón Mejia Leonila was born on 25 October 1929 in the Imbabura province of Ecuador. She declared her belief in the Bahá’í Faith in 1961 and served on many Bahá’í institutions, including the National Spiritual Assembly of Ecuador for thirteen years, beginning in 1964. Before her tenure as a Continental Counsellor for the Americas, she served as a member of the Auxiliary Board and traveled extensively throughout the country teaching the Bahá’í Faith, especially to the indigenous people of Ecuador. She also undertook teaching trips throughout South America and Spain. In 1991 she was again elected to the National Assembly of Ecuador and served on that institution until her passing. She was involved in setting up the first Radio Bahá’í in Otavalo, Ecuador. In 1974, she married Gonzalo Elías Caderón Encalada and was widowed in 1980. Although the two had no children, she was very involved with children's activities, assisting for many years in the development of a Bahá’í children's camp in Cuicocha she also wrote Bahá’í songs in Spanish and Quechua.

Shoghi Ghadimi

On 22 November 1999 in Brussels, Belgium. Mr. Ghadimi was born 1 January 1910 in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, to a Bahá’í family. He married Molouk Khamsi in November, 1940, and they had two children. His service to the Bahá’í Faith included pioneering to Iraq. Tunisia, and Belgium, where he settled in 1958. He served on the Local Assembly of Liège, and for sixteen years was a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of Belgium. As a member of that institution in 1963, he participated in the election of the first Universal House of Justice. He traveled extensively to teach the Faith, including trips to Asia, Canada, the Antilles, Africa, and Europe.

Rose Jones

On 14 February 2000 in London, England. Rose Le Grey, born on 23 January 1906, first heard of the Bahá’í Faith around the age of ten and by her own account believed immediately. She was the first Bahá’í to settle in Cardiff, Wales, where she also served on the first Local Spiritual Assembly. She married Mathew Oswald Jones in 1939. They had two children before he died in 1948. She traveled internationally and visited many Bahá’í communities, [Page 306]including Uganda, Zambia, Botswana, South Africa, Nigeria, India, and the United States.

Lee Cheng Hiong (Mrs. George Lee)

On 24 August 1999, in Singapore. Tan Cheng Hiong was born 2 May 1904 in Singapore, to a wealthy and traditional Chinese family. She married George Lee, and the two had eight children. From 1952 to 1963, she served as president of the Singapore Council for Women, which was responsible for passing the Women's Charter in 1961 in Singapore. She became a Bahá’í in 1958 and traveled to Malaysia many times to share the Bahá’í teachings. Because of her work to advance the status of women in Singapore, she was invited by the China National Women's Federation to inspect various women's activities in China in 1959. In 1964, she became a member of the first National Spiritual Assembly of Malaysia and served in that country for two years. She was also a member of the first National Spiritual Assembly of Singapore, formed in 1972.

Abaineh Merhatsion

On 9 February 2000 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Mr. Merhatsion was born on 12 September 1939 in Arbegona, Sidamo, Ethiopia, and became a Bahá’í in 1959. He occupied various positions, both in the private and the public sector, as a civil engineer, including a post at the Ministry of Urban Development and as Head of the Department of Civil Engineering in Addis Ababa. In 1970 he married Almaz Mitiku, and together they raised three children. He served the Bahá’í Faith throughout his life and was a member of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Addis Ababa and the National Assembly of Ethiopia until he was appointed to the Continental Board of Counsellors for Africa in 1995, on which he served until his passing. In 1996 he was also appointed a Trustee of Huqúqu’lláh. He was well-known for his willingness to host traveling Bahá’ís and opened his home for many Bahá’í events.

‘Abdu’llah Mogharrabi

On 24 September 1999 in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Mr. Mogharrabi was born in Isfahan, Iran, on 15 November 1911 and was raised as a Bahá’í. He served with distinction in the Iranian army and attained the rank of general. After his retirement, he moved to a suburb of Tehran with his wife, Homayoun Firuzmand. He served on the National Pioneering and Communication Committee beginning in 1974. Following the Islamic revolution in 1979, his home was attacked and his belongings confiscated. Realizing that his life was at risk because of his Bahá’í activities and his former position in the army, he left the country and eventually settled with his daughter in England. In 1991, soon after he became a British citizen, he moved to Tajikistan, to fulfil his lifelong dream of pioneering. He served on the Local Spiritual Assembly of [Page 307]Dushanbe, the capital city, and on the Regional Teaching and Administrative Committee. In 1994, he was elected to the first National Spiritual Assembly of Tajikistan. Even at his advanced age, he was still able to travel all over the country, teaching the Bahá’í Faith. On the afternoon of 25 September 1999, Bahá’ís in Tajikistan received word that Mr. Mogharrabi had been murdered some time during the night. He had been shot in the back, and there was evidence of torture on many parts of his body. His hands had been tied behind his back and a piece of cloth stuffed in his mouth. No money or belongings in his home had been touched, and the police concluded touched, and the police concluded that his murder was not the work of thieves. Mr. Mogharrabi’s name had previously been mentioned in a popular Iranian newspaper, which identified him as a Bahá’í and claimed that the Bahá’ís were trying to deceive the people and convert them to their "cult."

Jamshid Monajem

On 14 June 1999 in Mbabane, Swaziland. Jamshid Monajem was born 29 April 1912 in Tehran, Iran, to a Bahá’í family. He married Zarindokht Modabber, with whom he had four children. Mr. Monajem pioneered briefly to Iraq and then to Ethiopia from 1954 to 1964, during which time he was a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of North Africa and a member of the Auxiliary Board. The family then returned to Iran where they lived until 1966, when they moved to Canada. After the passing of his wife in 1978, Mr. Monajem pioneered to Nigeria and Jamaica and often traveled to the United States. He moved to Swaziland in 1987 and spent most of his time writing, translating, and teaching. He wrote a book, Stories in the Life of Muhammad, several articles, and was popular with youth everywhere he lived, often offering a weekly study class in his home to young Bahá’ís.

Mildred Mottahedeh

On 17 February 2000, in New York City, United States. Mildred Root was born in Seabright, New Jersey, on 7 in 1929 and that same year married August 1908. She became a Bahá’í Rafi Y. Mottahedeh, with whom she had two children. With her husband, she founded Mottahedeh and Co., a prestigious firm specializing in the reproduction of porcelain and other decorative materials. The firm produced work for a variety of individuals and institutions, including several US presidents and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She succeeded her husband as president of the company after his death in 1978 and remained involved even after the company was sold, until she retired in 1998. Mrs. Mottahedeh had representing the Bahá’í Faith at the signing of the United Nations charter, and became the first official Bahá’í representative when the Bahá’í International Community was recognized as an NGO in 1948. She founded the Speakers Research [Page 308]Committee for the United Nations and served the UN in various other capacities for twenty years. In 1958, she founded Mottahedeh Development Services, Inc., a foundation dedicated to advancing social and economic conditions in developing countries. In addition, she and her husband founded and maintained a number of primary and secondary schools in Uganda and started village improvement programs in India that trained people in agriculture, health, and the development of local handicrafts. In 1961, she was elected to the International Bahá’í Council, an administrative body that assisted in preparation for the establishment of the Universal House of Justice. Throughout her life she received various awards, including the Order of Commander of Prince Henry the Navigator, presented by the Portuguese government in 1987, the International Tabletop Award in 1990, the United Nations Woman of Honor award in 1993, and in 1994 the Mildred R. Mottahedeh Humanitarian Award was established in her honor by the International Furnishings and Design Educational Foundation. After her passing, the Universal House of Justice wrote, "With her departure from this earthly life the Bahá’í world community has lost an outstanding figure of the opening epochs of the Formative Age of the Bahá’i Dispensation. Her more than half a century of tireless endeavor in its service involved her in teaching and administrative activities at the local, national, continental and international levels. At the same time she maintained a rigorous schedule as a businesswoman, a contributor to the arts, and a promoter of humanitarian works. To these manifold tasks, she brought the combined resources of a selfless spirit, a compassionate heart, a creative mind, a practical sense, and a leonine will tempered by humility, candor and wit."

Meherangiz Munsiff

On 21 June 1999 in London, England. Meherangiz Irani was born 23 November 1923 in Bombay, India, to Bahá’í parents. At the age of fourteen, she traveled with Martha Root during the latter's travels throughout northern India and Bombay. In this, she followed the example of her mother, who, at the instruction of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, had accompanied Lua Getsinger during her Indian travels. In 1945, she married Eruch Munsiff, and they had one daughter. Mrs. Munsiff worked in broadcasting, often with the BBC. After a meeting with Shoghi Effendi that inspired her to travel to teach the Bahá’í Faith, she visited more than 150 countries, both teaching and assisting in the development of Bahá’í communities. She pioneered for many years to Madagascar and was named as a Knight of Bahá’u’lláh for opening French Cameroon to the Bahá’í Faith. She was known as a lecturer and activist not only among Bahá’ís, but also among the international humanitarian community. She was received by royalty in Thailand and England, [Page 309]

OBITUARIES

was granted special honors by the Red Cross and the Maryland State Legislature, and was a member of the United Kingdom Executive Committee for Human Rights.

Leo Niederreiter

On 17 September 1999 in Tyrol, Austria. Leo Niederreiter was born 22 September 1920 in Austria. In 1944 he married Waltraud Beeg. From 1948 to 1953 he worked as a doctor at the general hospital in Vienna. In 1953, Dr. Niederreiter and his wife set sail from Italy in a homemade boat for the Seychelles with the intention of studying tropical diseases. When his boat broke down off the coast of what is now Eritrea, Dr. Niederreiter was invited by Haile Sellasie, Emperor of Ethiopia, to practice medicine in that country. He and his wife eventually settled in Asmara. In 1956, the couple met two Bahá’ís who introduced them to their Faith. Soon after declaring his belief, Dr. Niederreiter was elected to the Local Spiritual Assembly of Asmara. He was a member of that institution and the National Spiritual Assembly of Northeast Africa and Ethiopia until 1978, when bandits seriously wounded him and his wife in a nighttime raid. Feeling compelled to return to Europe, the Niederreiters moved to Austria, after which Dr. Niederreiter was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly. He served on this body until he was appointed a member of the Continental Board of Counsellors for Europe, from 1980 to 1990.

Peggy Ross

On 24 January 2000, in Toronto, Canada. Margaret (Peggy) MacGregor was born 9 January 1909, in Dundee, Scotland. She graduated from Morgan Academy in Dundee and soon moved to Canada. She married John Ross and the two had three children. Mrs. Ross became a Bahá’í in 1948, along with her husband. She was widowed in 1973. She served on several Local Spiritual Assemblies in Canada and in 1953 was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada, of which she was a member for fourteen years. During her time on the National Assembly, she represented that body at various national Bahá’í conventions, including Singapore, Finland, and the United States. She was appointed as an Auxiliary Board member in 1957 and served in that capacity until 1986. Her greatest love was the teaching work among the native peoples of Canada and Greenland. For several years in the 1970s, she and her husband served as the custodians for the Fort Qu'Appelle Bahá’í Institute in Saskatchewan. She also traveled to Australia, Europe, and Southeast Asia and attended the dedications of the Houses of Worship in the United States, Samoa, and India.

Abbas Rushdy

On 10 June 1999, in Reading, England. Abbas Abdel-Rahman Rushdy was born in Cairo, Egypt, [Page 310]on 22 January 1922, into a Bahá’í family. Mr. Rushdy was a certified public accountant and worked as a civil servant for various government offices throughout his life. His service on Bahá’í institutions began in his early twenties, when he was elected to the Local Spiritual Assembly of Alexandria and later to the National Spiritual Assembly in Egypt. In 1950 he married Mariam Hussein-Ruhy, and together they had four children. He and his family moved to Kuwait in 1958, and during their time there he served on that National Assembly as well. Between 1966 and 1969, in the United Kingdom, he served on the Local Assembly of Reading. The family returned first to Kuwait and from there went to Oman, where once again Mr. Rushdy served on the national Bahá’í governing body. He also pioneered for one year to Libya and for another to Burundi. In its message after his passing, the Universal House of Justice wrote, "HIS DEDICATED LABORS IN EGYPT, KUWAIT AND OMAN WERE CHARACTERIZED BY COURAGE, WISDOM AND PERSEVERANCE."

Shapoor Saced

On 23 July 1999, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Roohollah Shapoor Saeed was born into a Bahá’í family in Tehran, Iran, on 21 June 1923. In 1951 he married Parvin Namdar. He left Iran in 1953 to pioneer to Argentina, as part of the Ten Year Crusade. He remained in Argentina for the rest of his life, serving on the Regional Spiritual Assembly of Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, and Bolivia, and then later on the Spiritual Assembly of Argentina for nearly thirty years. In addition to his work on these institutions, Mr. Saeed also carried out public relations duties for the Bahá’ís. He worked at the Iranian embassy in Argentina for twelve years, under five different ambassadors, before he was fired because he was identified as an active Bahá’í in his community. He and his wife had four children.

Mercedes Sánchez

On 1 August 1999, in Lima, Peru. Mercedes Sánchez was born in Lima, Peru, on 11 September 1912. Despite being stricken with poliomyelitis while very young, she began her career as a dressmaker at age twelve. She declared her belief in the Bahá’í Faith in 1948 and shortly afterward traveled to Chile as a delegate to the Second South American Bahá’í Congress. She served on the National Spiritual Assembly of South America and the Regional Assembly of Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela. In 1961, she was elected to the newly-established National Assembly of Peru, until she was appointed to the Auxiliary Board in 1964, an institution she continued to serve until 1999. She traveled extensively throughout Peru to teach the Bahá’í Faith, was the first Bahá’í in the towns of Arequipa and Chiclayo, and worked to establish and consolidate Bahá’í communities throughout the country. Her heart [Page 311]

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condition did not lessen her Bahá’í activities, in spite of many hospital stays. In its message after her passing, the Universal House of Justice said, "Present and future generations of Peruvian believers will warmly remember her kindness, her love, and her nurturing spirit."

Harvansh Singh

On November 6 1999 in Malhausi, Uttar Pradesh, India. Harvansh Singh was born October 1938 in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Popularly known as Rajah Saheb of Malhausi, he became a Bahá’í in 1962 and welcomed hundreds of others to the Bahá’í community throughout his life. As a rajah, he was the first member of the Indian nobility to accept the Bahá’í Faith and subsequently took its message to several others of his social rank in India and Nepal. Mr. Singh was a professional manager of schools, poultry farms, and other agricultural and educational projects. He served on the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of India for seven years, was an Auxiliary Board member for eighteen years, and a member of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Malhousi. Mr. Singh was also a member of several committees for teaching, Bahá’í schools, training programs, and agricultural development projects, and was an active supporter of many Bahá’í projects throughout India. He was the host of Amatu’l-Bahá Rúhíyyih Khánum during her visit to Malhausi in 1967, where she inaugurated the first Bahá’í center in rural India. Mr. Singh established more than one hundred tutorial schools in Uttar Pradesh, directed Bahá’í training institute programs, wrote on the subject of agricultural development, and initiated and organized many Bahá’í activities in the region. He married Shanta Singh in 1958, and they had five children.

Adib Taherzadeh

On 26 January 2000 in Haifa, Israel. Adib Taherzadeh was born 29 April 1921 in Yazd, Iran, to Tahir and Legha’iyyih Malmiri and was raised as a Bahá’í. During his youth in Yazd, he was subjected to persecution and ridicule because of his religion, even to the point of being pelted with stones. Mr. Taherzadeh studied electrical engineering at the University of Tehran and pursued postgraduate studies in Coventry, England, before pioneering to Ireland, where in 1950 he was hired by an electrical firm, Messrs Hughes and Coyle, Ltd. He eventually became chief engineer and stayed with the company until his retirement in 1984. Mr. Taherzadeh served on the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the British Isles from 1960 to 1971 and was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of Ireland upon its formation in 1972. That same year he married fellow Assembly member Lesley Gibson, with whom he had two children, in addition to his two children from a previous marriage. He served as a member of the Continental Board of Counsellors of Europe from 1976 until his election to the Universal [Page 312]House of Justice in 1988. Mr. Taherzadeh wrote several Bahá’í works: Trustees of the Merciful, The Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh, and a four-volume study of the history of the writings of Bahá’u’lláh entitled The Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh. He had just completed a seventh book at the time of his passing. The Universal House of Justice wrote of its sorrow at the passing of a "dearly loved co-worker," recalling "with admiration his devoted and unremitting services to the Cause of God for over half a century. His exemplary enthusiasm for the teaching work and his capacity to inspire the believers endeared him to all that knew him...he evinced complete consecration, unshakeable faith, and unyielding resolve."

Richard Harding Walters

12 May 1999 in Arkansas, United States. Richard Walters was born 7 September 1913 in Meriden, Connecticut, United States. He married Evelyn Bohl, and together they raised two children. In March 1954, during the Ten Year Plan, the Walters family left their home in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to pioneer to French Morocco, an act which earned them the title Knights of Bahá’u’lláh. They arrived in Tangiers after fourteen days of travel and soon moved to Casablanca to help form that country's first Local Spiritual Assembly. Mr. Walters supported his family by working as a carpenter for the American government. The tense political situation made speaking about religion very difficult, but, through his knowledge of and respect for the Prophet Muhammad and the Qur'an, Mr. Walters was able to establish lasting friendships with his Muslim coworkers. The first native Casablancan declared his faith in Bahá’u’lláh two years later. In 1961 the family pioneered to Portugal. After his passing, the Universal House of Justice eulogized his "WHOLEHEARTED DEVOTION, SACRIFICIAL, HISTORIC SERVICE" to the Bahá’í Faith.