In Memoriam 1992-1997/Agnes Elisabeth “Lisbeth” Andersen

In Memoriam 1992-1997 Agnes Elisabeth “Lisbeth” Andersen

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AGNES ELISABETH "LISBETH" ANDERSEN 1916-1996

The Universal House of Justice shares your sadness on learning of the passing of Mrs. Lisbeth Andersen, whose notable contributions to the upbuilding of the Cause in Scandinavia, from the early days of its establishment in that region, are gratefully recalled. Kindly extend to her relatives and friends the loving sympathy of the House of Justice at their loss and assure them of its prayers in the Holy Shrines for the progress of her radiant soul through all the worlds of God.

Department of the Secretariat April 4, 1996

Lisbeth Andersen was born in Copenhagen on March 2, 1916. Her father was an engineer with the navy and her mother a housewife. Lisbeth and her older sister, Gudrun, were not brought up in a very religious atmosphere, but as a child Lisbeth felt close to God through the Christianity taught to her at school. In 1943 she married Asser Nygaard, the son of Frederik Nygaard, a writer of some reputation within the inner circle of artists in Copenhagen. Asser and Lisbeth had two children, Gerd Lisa and Tue Martin.

From an early age Lisbeth was gifted with a talent for drawing. Among her belongings are some drawings she made when she was eight or nine years of age—drawings that clearly show her talent and her interest in the world about her. As she and her family lived in the center of Copenhagen, Lisbeth would, during her youth, spend her free time at the Royal Theatre watching the dress rehearsals and

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Agnes Elisabeth “Lisbeth” Andersen

sketching the actors and actresses, some of whom became well known later.

Lisbeth's interest in art and drawing led her to join the Royal Academy for Fine Arts. She attended seminars at the Academy with student architects who were interested in the relationship between architecture and color design. This field of work later led her to the beloved Faith. Her education as an artist resulted in a number of commissions over the years. Among them were the planning of color schemes for educational institutions, housing estates, and Danish village churches, the latter commissioned by the National Museum. She also displayed her work in exhibitions. In her later years, although Lisbeth was ill and unable to venture outdoors, she would still find energy to express herself through her paintings.

In the early 1950s the Copenhagen County started building a military hospital in connection with a large hospital in the center of Copenhagen. The new building was chosen as an experiment in cooperation among architects, designers of nurses' uniforms, and color coordinators. Lisbeth was invited to participate in the project that was carried out over three years. It was during this time that she encountered the Bahá’í Faith.

Two of the earliest Bahá’ís in Denmark were Jean Deleuran and his wife Tove. Jean was an architect working on the hospital project, and it was he who told Lisbeth about the Faith. She later explained that she borrowed a book about the Faith, but that what she really wanted was to read the words of Bahá’u’lláh. From His words she felt it would be possible to determine whether the claims of the Faith were true or not. The records show that the Local Spiritual Assembly of Copenhagen invited Lisbeth to enroll at the Feast of Asma’, August 19, 1952.

Lisbeth was soon involved in Bahá’í activities. Eight months after her declaration, she was elected to the Local Spiritual Assembly of Copenhagen, which was then the only Assembly in Denmark. When the first National Spiritual Assembly of Scandinavia and Finland was formed in 1957, Lisbeth was elected to it. And in 1962, she was elected onto the first National Spiritual Assembly of Denmark. A year later she attended the first election of the Universal House of Justice in the Holy Land.

Lisbeth served on the National Spiritual Assembly and on the National Teaching Committee until the late 1980s when her health began to suffer. At the time of the publication by the Universal House of Justice of The Promise of World Peace, she was engaged in contacting people of prominence throughout the country. She also continued to be an active member of the Local Assembly. [Page 286]Lisbeth was an ardent teacher of the Faith, and she would often find time to invite friends to her apartment for afternoon tea and for discussions on art, psychology, pedagogy, philosophy, and other themes that were of interest to her. Her teaching efforts brought quite a number of people into the Faith, including her son and daughter.

As well as having a gift for art, Lisbeth had a facility for languages. Early in her life as a Bahá’í, she was involved in the translation of Sacred Writings from English into Danish. The earliest book published in Denmark, translated by her, is probably the Kitáb-i-Íqán. Her other translations include Bahá’u’lláh’s "Tablets to the Kings and Rulers and a portion of Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh. Probably the most challenging task given her was the retranslation of the English prayer book. This was a valuable gift to the Danish Bahá’í community; its language is beautiful and poetic. Over the years Lisbeth was also busy with translations of teaching materials and messages from the Universal House of Justice and the Hands of the Cause.

Among her many contributions was the teaching of children's classes. A result of her love for educating a new generation of Bahá’ís is a series of six booklets that she wrote during the years 1975-78, collectively called A Stroll Through the History of the Bahá’í Faith and Its Holy Writings. Using simple words, it presented significant events from the history of the Faith.

At several summer schools she staged plays with the children and taught them the history of the Faith through drama. One of the last tasks she performed for the Bahá’í community was a drawing of women of different races that was to appear as the cover of a booklet written by the much-loved late Miss Lami Khodadoost.

Not only did Lisbeth manage to be a wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, and working artist (a job which often demanded her absence from home) but also a Bahá’í, constantly engaged in service to the Faith she loved so much.

Lisbeth, though physically ill, was in her later years spiritually alert, and during her last few months she approached the next world through dreams. She would dream that all the questions about the universe had been explained to her. Her last three or four paintings were, as she said, "souls of people floating in the universe," one of which was her own. She passed away peacefully on February 3, 1996.

Adapted from an article provided by The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Denmark