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JOHN S. MCHENRY II
1907—1994
GRIEVED NEWS PASSING DEVOTED FOLLOWER BAHA‘U’LLAH, coroNEL JOHN s. MCHENRY 11. KINDLY CONVEY LOVING SYMPATHY HIS SON, JOHN MCHENRY 111, AND OTHER MEMBERS HIS FAMILY. PRAYING HOLY SHRINES HIS SOUL ALL WORLDS GOD.
Universal House ofjustice September 21, 1994
ohn S. McHenry served the Faith with Jdevotion and a unique enthusiasm for sixty—five years until his passing on September 17, 1994. His resourcefulness, sense ofhumor, and perseverance in serving Bahá’u’lláh will always be remembered by those who knew him. Born in Virginia, Illinois, on October 12, 1907, he graduated from the University of Illinois, and in 1929 he married Elizabeth Butler, whom he had known since grade school. During the depths of the Depression (around 1931), he
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[0/712 5. M’cHeij II
was guided to the Faith when he purchased the home of the outstanding servant of the Cause Zia Baghdadi108 in Wilmette, Illinois. John often expressed his gratitude for having been blessed with such marvelous souls who taught him and Elizabeth the Faith. Howard Colby Ives (author of Portal: to Freedam) became his first teacher, instructing him downstairs in the house, while Mabel Ives taught the Faith to others upstairs.
His other teachers included the Hand of the Cause Corrine True and her daughters Kathryn, Edna, and Arna; the Hand of the Cause Horace Holley and his wife; and Stanwood Cobb.
While struggling through the Depression, John and Elizabeth had two sons, John (III) in 1932 and Peter in 1937. With the entry of the United States into World War II in 1941, John was taken in the Army Air Corps and served as a pilot
‘08 See “In Memoriam,” 77M Balm? World, vol. VII, PP- 535—39.
until the war’s end in 1945. Although he had gone through ROTC training at the University of Illinois and became commissioned as an officer before he became a Bahá’í, he was always grateful that he was able to maintain a noncombatant role in the military in conformity with the teachings of the Faith.
During most of the war John was assigned to Tinker Air Force Base near Oklahoma City. There he and Elizabeth promoted and taught the Faith during the first Seven Year Plan. Most memorable to them were the times when the Hand of the Cause Louis Gregory stayed in their home and spoke at meetings and firesides. It was during this time that the indomitable traveling teacher Mabel Ives passed away in Oklahoma City.
Returning to civilian life after the war, John and Elizabeth went back to Wilmette where they continued to open their home for firesides as well as oHering accommodation to the believers who visited the Mother Temple from other lands. They also opened their home to a family who needed a home for a year or so.
In 1945 the family moved to Ontario, California, where John established an insurance agency. Firesides continued in their home, and many were attracted to the Faith. Then when the Korean War broke out in 1950, John was taken back into the Air Force; and a new chapter in his life began, taking him to Korea, Japan, and Europe for the next twenty—one years. Even though circumstances during the war did not give him the opportunities to teach the Faith easily, he found indirect ways of promoting the Cause. Once, when serving as the presiding officer at a court—martial, the defense lawyer attempted to ignore a Korean woman who was a key witness by claiming that she was unqualified to testify because she was a Buddhist and
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172 THE BAHA’I’ WORLD
therefore could not swear on the Bible to “tell the truth.” John immediately took the opportunity to validate Buddhism, dismissed the defense lawyer’s objections, and insisted that the woman testify, making sure that the trial proceeded on the merits of the testimony and evidence.
John also helped to form a Boy Scout troop of Korean boys and furnished them with uniforms.
After completing a tour of duty in Korea, he was sent to Tachikawa, Japan, but he continued to fly back and forth to Korea. He took the opportunity of inviting Don Witzel to accompany him, and together they gathered the newly enrolled Korean Bahá’í’s and seekers in small meetings. (Don Witzel, who later served as a Counsellor in South America, had enrolled the first Korean believer in 1951.)
In 1953, when Shoghi Effendi wrote to the friends in Tokyom to find Sachiro Fujita, who had served in Haifa with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as well as the Guardian and who had been sent back to Japan before WWII for his own safety, John, who spoke only English, and David Earl”),
asking them
who spoke Japanese, set 03 by automobile in the Kansai area to find Fujita—san. They had an incomplete address which even the Japanese postal service could not locate. Undeterred they searched the countryside for days until they found him. While waiting for the processing of passports and Visas, a process that took several months, Fujita lived with John and Elizabeth in Tachikawa. Before Fujita left for Haifa John arranged for his much—needed dental work.
The Japanese translation ofEsslemont’s Balaci’u’llfl'b and [/76 New Em was completed
109 John and Elizabeth MCHCnI‘y were elected to the Local Spiritual Assembly of Tokyo in 1953. They left Japan in September of that year.
“0 See David Earl, pp. 345—46.
about this time, and John found a way to take a sizeable number of copies to the believers in Taiwan, where many could read Japanese. Somehow he arranged to lead the first squadron of United States Air Force F—86 fighter planes being given to the Taiwanese Air Force to Taipei. While the rest of the planes were fully armed, John removed the machine gun ammunition from his plane and filled the space with the new copies of Babd’u 1/5177 and the New Era. When the planes arrived in Taipei, there was much fanfare as they were turned over to the Taiwanese. What was not foreseen was that the Taiwanese wasted no time in repainting and renumbering all of the planes. When John went back to retrieve the books, there was no way ofidentifying the plane he had flown. With perseverance he found them and was able to present them to the Bahá’í friends.
Returning from Japan about 1955 John tried to reestablish his insurance agency. He encountered many difficulties and subsequently decided to finish out his career with the Air Force. He was sent to Chateaureux, France, where he and Elizabeth lived until about 1963. John had been given permission by Shoghi Effendi to make a pilgrimage with his family, but circumstances prevented this. Then came the unexpected passing of the Guardian in 1957, followed by the abortive attempt for leadership and opposition to the Covenant by Joel Marangella and Mason Remey. The National Spiritual Assembly ofFrance was swayed until the Custodians in Haifa sent the Hand of the Cause A. Q. Faizi to France. The marvelous way that Mr. Faizi was able to rescue most of the believers of France led John to renew his application for pilgrimage. In the winter of1960—61 he took most of his family to Haifa and
fulfilled his Cherished hope.
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IN MEMORIAM 1992—1997 173
By now John was a full colonel nearing the end of his career. Although he was scheduled for an assignment in the United States, he managed to be posted again to Korea for his final tour of duty. He was given the responsibilities ofa commander of an organization in Taegu, Korea, in 1964. He and Elizabeth arrived in time for the wedding of their son John to OkSun Pak.
With characteristic resourcefulness and energy John promoted the teaching work For the next seven years in Korea. After his retirement from the Air Force, he and Elizabeth moved to Seoul. He bought a secondhand VW microbus so that the newly enrolled believers and recently formed Spiritual Assemblies in the villages around Seoul could be visited on a more regular basis. With the help ofa number ofyoung Korean Bahá’ís, they were able to visit several villages in one evening. John served on the National Spiritual Assembly of Korea from about 1966 to 1971. He was instrumental, in collaboration with Kim Young—yun and others, in the acquisition of the National Bahá’í Center in Seoul. When others were ready to give up the negotiations for purchasing the Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds because of the complexity of the proceedings, multiple ownerships, and liens on the property, John convinced the others that this was a golden opportunity. Thus it was bought at thousands of dollars below the market value. He then spent months remodeling the third floor of the building so that it could be rented out to provide income to the Fund.
For family and health reasons John returned to the United States in 1971, settling in Placitas, New Mexico. There he continued to serve the Faith and traveled to towns and cities in New Mexico giving talks and firesides. Even during his last days and in failing health, he always found a way
to tell those he met about the Faith—his physician, plumbers, a clerk at a hardware store. His unfulfilled hope was to share the Message of Baha’u’llah with the Pueblo Indians of the Rio Grande Valley. He made attempts to meet with some of the Pueblo leaders—eHorts that, since his passing, are now being continued by the Bahá’ís of Albuquerque.
jo/m McHenry [1/
