In Memoriam 1992-1997/Beverly W. Kolstoe

BEVERLY W KOLSTOE

1930—1996

Beverly W Kolstoe

C bdu’l—Bahá said, “To be a Bahá’í simply means to love all the world; to love humanity and try to serve it; to work for universal peace and universal brotherhood.”192 That well describes the life of Beverly Kolstoe. Beverly was born on April 18, 1930, and raised among the blue—collar workers of industrial northern Illinois. From her

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earliest days she seemed immune from the rampant race and class prejudice of the area. Her mother said, “I think Beverly was meant to become a Bahá’í. Even when she was a little girl; she would stick up for people whom others looked down on.”

Beverly attended the National College ofEducation in Evanston, Illinois, close to the Wilmette Temple. She wrote, “I was familiar with the House OfWorship with its nine doors always open to those ofall faiths but did not investigate Bahá’í beliefs until John and I went together." Her husbandto—be, John Kolstoe, was in the navy. They married in August 1952 and became Bahá’ís in April 1953 during the First I—Ioly Year and the launching of the Ten Year Crusade. They lived in Portsmouth, Virginia, and later moved to North Dakota, following which they went on to graduate school at the University of Minnesota.

In 1957 the beloved Guardian called for four Continental Conferences to be held the next year. “Beverly and I had talked of pioneering in three or five years after finishing graduate school,” recalled John. “Then, I went to the Conference in Chicago and plans speeded up. Unknown to me, she had expected me to volunteer at the Conference. Upon my return to Minneapolis, she immediately and directly asked where we were going. I told her Alaska. She calmly replied, (Oh, I was hoping for some place warm.’ Warm or not, we went north that summer.”

After selling their mobile home and their car—ali they owned in the world—they moved to Anchorage, arriving in August 1958. Beverly became a speech therapist at a treatment center for disabled children, and John was a counselor at Anchorage High School. During their three years there they fostered one child and adopted two. “It had always been a puzzle to me why God had not seen fit to give us children, when

we wanted them so much,” wrote Beverly. “I had many pregnancies, always with the very best of medical care, yet all ended prematurely. When we adopted Táhirih and Karl, both Athabascan Indians, we had not thought of pioneering to an Athabascan village. Nor had we specified race when we applied for adoption.” The Children enabled many doors to open for them when they pioneered to Fort Yukon, an Indianm village on the Yukon River. The decision to move there had been Beverly’s choice and was made when the Hand of the Cause of God William Sears visited Alaska in 1960 and made a call for pioneers.

“While John was away, I went to Fort Yukon on my investigative trip,” recalled Beverly. “I loved it immediately. It was a picturesque settlement of tiny log cabins clustered along the Yukon River.” Beverly and John both found work as teachers. Their initial greatest difficulty centered around the house they had rented and Which they had spent two weeks Cleaning. They then found out that it had been sold, and they had to move out! They eventually found a small four—roorn log cabin down by the river. Beverly Continued:

Obviously, Baha’u’llah knew what He was doing, but we only realized it in retrospect . . . The good thing about this move was that it was down in the Village among the Indian people. We were village people, not white schoolteachers. The Indians were familiar with the house and comfortable with it, so they came and went, and were our friends. It was there that the first Local Spiritual Assembly of Fort Yukon was formed, on August 1, 1962.

The bad part was that because it was so close to the river, it flooded nearly

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every year and washed away the mud foundation, leaving the floor boards exposed to sub—zero temperatures. That first winter was the coldest on record, with weeks of 50 to 60 [Fahrenheit] below zero temperatures.

Their adopted baby son Karl got pneumonia, and despite penicillin shots, he just was not getting any better. “We had nearly reconciled ourselves that our baby boy would be a sacrifice to our pioneering post, but we wrote to the Hands in the Holy Land and asked for prayers. Suddenly, miraculously, Kari got well! A Few days later we received a letter from the Holy Land: (We prayed for your son at the Shrines today.”

After three memorable years in Fort Yukon, they moved to Fairbanks, and during the summer of1964 they moved to Tanana Valley community, outside Fairbanks, where they spent the next five years.

“In 1969, during the Nine Year Plan, there was a great need for homefront pioneers in Alaska and so we moved again, this time to Palmer in nearby Matanuska Valley,” recalled Beverly. “John’s company had no objection to moving his office to Palmer, and so, in September, just before school started, we moved the family down. We found a large house on the main street, which we purchased and lived in for sixteen years. The Local Spiritual Assembly of Palmer was formed in April 1970.”

After twenty—seven years of service in Alaska, it was time for me to get my original wish, a chance to pioneer in a warm place. John was finishing his twentieth year with his insurance company and was eligible for a pension. The children were pretty much raised. We began looking forward to this new arena of service. Our grandchild, Terianne,

THE BAHA’I’ WORLD

had been living with us for several years. We approached her mother, Táhirih, for permission to adopt Terianne. So our first grandchild became our fifth adopted Child. And we set our faces toward a goal for Alaskan pioneers, in St. Lucia. At last, a warm place!

In 1985 Alaska was given two international goals: St. Lucia and Iceland. Beverly was serving on the Bahá’í International Goals Committee, and she chose St. Lucia before anyone else had a chance at it. The family stayed there for five years, and she loved every minute of it. But then, she loved every minute ofiife.

She poured out her love generously and bonded deeply. Once, on a long trip she said, “The thing I miss most about Alaska is the women from our community.” Service was her constant joy: children’s Classes, Nineteen Day Feasts, entertaining, and teaching the Faith. Beverly served on numerous local and national committees including the Child Education Committee, National Teaching Committee, and her dearest love, the Bahá’í International Goals Committee; the “Big C” she called it. She was a fixture as secretary of the Alaska National Convention for six years in a row, and she served on the National Spiritual Assemblies of both Alaska and St. Lucia.

Beverly loved children. In addition to five adopted children of various races, there always seemed to be one or two others living with them.

While pioneering in St. Lucia she found that in many villages there were Bahá’ís eager to teach Children’s classes, but they had little material or training. So she wrote a simple yet thorough and systematic curriculum that could be used by people who had no other resources, experience, and training—materials that have been used

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effectively in many countries and for which plans were made for publication.

Her greatest joy came in 1987, while her mother was living with them in St. Lucia. At the age of eighty—three, she accepted Baha’u’llah, thirty—six years after her daughter had. Tears flowed for two days.

Beverly’s energy and enthusiasm for life made her seem like the emblem of health, and she thought of herself as a healthy person. Yet she had been plagued by serious medical problems all ofher life, having been told at sixteen that she only had five more years to live. She actually lived fifty more. One week after returning from the Bahá’í World Congress in New York, she suffered a severe heart attack. Though her energy was limited, she did what she could and would radiantly explain, “My days are as good as anyone else’s. They are just shorter.”

She had had quadruple bypass surgery in 1975. Twenty—one years later, on Monday, June 10, 1996, she had additional heart surgery. Complications set in, and she had no reserve energy left. About 10 AM on Tuesday, June 18, she peacefully slipped away.

A few months before her passing, she learned that John had purchased a burial shroud for her. She was delighted but felt the white shroud was too plain. So, she bought some lace trim with little pink hearts. She said she wanted “to go out in style.” Before her surgery she calmly sewed on the trim, “Just in case.”

Her life was full, and she described it best in her own words. During a sleepless night three years before her death, she wrote a thirty—eight stanza poem in free verse that she called “I have had the most AMAZING LIFE.” In it she recounts the extraordinary things she had done and concluded with, “Thank you, God. I have been most blessed! Your humble servant . . . Beverly.”

Learning ofher passing, the Department of the Secretariat sent the following message

to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís ofAlaska on June 19, 1996:

The Universal House ofjustice was grieved to learn of the passing of dear Beverly Kolstoe. Her steadfastness in the Covenant, long and devoted services as an international and homefront pioneer, membership on the National Spiritual Assembly, special love and relationship with children, and dedicated endeavours as a teacher of the Faith are remembered with particular warmth and admiration. The House of justice will offer prayers in the Holy Shrines for the progress of her radiant soul in all the worlds of God, and for the comfort of her dear family.

ja/m Kolstoe