In Memoriam 1992-1997/Margaret Chamberlin Chance
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IN MEMORIAM 1992—1997 323
MARGARET CHAMBERLIN CHANCE 1912—1996
DEEPLY SYMPATHIZE IN YOUR LOSS DEARLY LOVED MARGARET. HER CONSTANT DEVOTION CAUSE BAHA’U’LLAH; HER SACRIFICIAL SERVICES WORLD CENTRE OVER LONG PERIOD PARTICULARLY AS UNSTINTING SUPPORTER YOUR EFFORTS FULFILL WEIGHTY RESPONSIBILITIES MEMBERSHIP HOUSE JUSTICE, AS GUIDE HOLY SHRINES AND As TEACHER BAHA’l CHILDREN’S CLASSES; HER HIGH PRINCIPLES, CHEERFUL DISPOSITION, GENTLE HUMOR REMEMBERED WITH GRATI'IUDE AND AFFECTION. REST ASSURED OUR ARDENT PRAYERS SACRED THRESHOLD THAT HER NOBLE SOUL MAY PROGRESS THROUGHOUT DIVINE WORLDS AND THAT YOU AND YOUR DEAR DAUGHTER MAY BE SURROUNDED BY STRENGTHENING GRACE BLESSED BEAUTY.
Universal House of Justice to Hugh E. Chance June 27, 1996
argaret Chamberlin Chance was
born June 6, 1912, in St. Paul, Minnesota, the daughter ofAllen and Olive (Pratt) Chamberlin. Margaret’s family moved several times from the time of her birth to her teenage years, living at times in South Dakota and Ohio.
When Margaret was a teenager, her family moved to Muscatine, Iowa, where her father bought and operated a photography studio; he was the only photographer in town. Margaret graduated from high school in 1929 and went on to attend Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa,
graduating with a bachelor's degree in education in 1933. She had met Hugh Chance at the college the year earlier. They courted and were married in 1934.
Margaret taught school in the rural community of Castana, Iowa, in the fall of1933, while Mr. Chance went on to complete a Juris Doctor program at the State University of Iowa in Iowa City. Mr. Chance passed the bar exam in 1935, and they moved to Muscatine. With the exception of the war years, when he served in the US Navy, Mr. Chance practiced law in Muscatine until 1948. During this time Margaret gave private piano lessons. They were members of the Methodist Church where Margaret taught Sunday School. She was also the chairman of the Ladies Aid Society.
Margaret and Mr. Chance had two children. Mary Ann was born in 1937, and a son, Robert William, in 1942. Robert did not live to see his first birthday.
The Chances moved to Davenport, Iowa, in 1948 where, a few years later, Margaret taught fourth grade at Washington Elementary School.
Margaret learned of the Bahá’í Faith in 1954 when Drs. Stanley and Mariette Bolton, war—time colleagues of Mr. Chance, visited them. Margaret declared right away after hearing the Message of Baha’u’llah; Mr. Chance waited two or three months. Mary Ann also declared. Thereafter they gave firesides in their home every Thursday night for the students of the Palmer College of Chiropractic. Two years later the first Local Spiritual Assembly of Davenport formed.
In 1960 Mr. Chance was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly. A year later he was elected its secretary, and they moved to Wilmette, Illinois, to be close to the National Center.
Mr. Chance was elected to the Universal House of Justice in 1963, and he and
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324 THE BAHA’I’ WORLD
Margin?! C/mmber/in Chance
Margaret moved to Haifa. Margaret served as a guide at the Shrines, a position she took up the day after arriving. During this time their daughter had settled in Australia, and so Margaret and Mr. Chance had the opportunity of making several trips to the South Pacific. As well as Australia, they visited the friends in New Zealand, Hawaii, Samoa, Fiji, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore. Having contributed thirty years ofservice to the Bahá’í World Centre they retired to Winfield, Kansas, in 1993.
Margaret had a passion For playing the piano, and when they moved to Haifa, they were unable to bring their piano. Margaret missed it so much that she had Mr. Chance buy her a new one and have it transported from England. She was proud of it and often told the story of it.
Another of her passions was letter writing. Margaret received mail from all over the world because she wrote to people all over the world. Faithful and diligent, she would sit down at her typewriter after dinner every evening and compose at least
one letter, sometimes more. This was but one aspect of her daily routine.
Margaret suffered a double stroke in September of1995, and she was unable to continue with her correspondence. Every so often she would sit down and try and would realize that she could not. She passed away on June 26, 1996.
From articles by ju/ie Warren and Mary Ann Chance