In Memoriam 1992-1997/Tove Deleuran
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TOVE DELEURAN Knight of Bahá’u’lláh ?—1996
GRIEVED LEARN OF PASSING OF MRS. TOVE DELEURAN. IMMEDIATE AND WHOLEHEARTED RESPONSE OF MRS. DELEURAN AND HUSBAND, MR. JEAN DELEURAN, TO NEEDS OF TEN YEAR CRUSADE WON THEM IMMORTAL DISTINCTION KNIGHTS OF BAHA’U’LLAH FOR BALEARIC ISLANDS. HER SERVICES TO CAUSE GOD AS ARDENT TEACHER FAITH, DEDICATED OVERSEAS PIONEER, MEMBER OF INSTITUTIONS IN MALLORCA, EAST PAKISTAN, DENMARK AND FRANCE WILL BE LONG REMEMBERED. ASSURED OUR FERVENT PRAYERS IN HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS OF HER SOUL ABHA KINGDOM. KINDLY EXTEND SYMPATHY TO DEAR HUSBAND, JEAN.
Universal House ofjustice December 19, 1996
Tove Lillian Alice Adrian Larsen was the only child of Carl and Thyra Larsen, both Protestants who came from big families on Falster Island in the southern part of Denmark. Tove was born and grew up in Frederiksberg, a quiet residential area in the outskirts of Copenhagen. Her father worked for the Royal Danish Post, and her mother was a loving housewife. They went to church every Sunday, and Tove recalled how happily surprised she was when she discovered that God had chosen her to be a member of the true religion, but she often wondered whether it was not a little unjust to the others. Tove was a good pupil in school, but she spent much of her time drawing. At sixteen years of age, she could not see very well and learned
THE BAHA’I’ WORLD
Tove Deleumn
that she should stop reading because ofa rapidly advancing myopia. She was allowed to paint and to draw, however, and so she entered a small private academy of fine art. After graduation she entered the film industry as the first woman in Denmark to work in animation. Later she went to work for a well—known fashion designer. Tove had a very happy disposition and had many friends. She participated in artistic dancing, in singing, as well as in fencing. She was also a good golfer, tennis player, and swimmer.
Tove married Jean Pierre Louis Deleuran in 1944, a very extraordinary person who, at twenty—three, was poliostricken and was somewhat paralyzed. Jean came from French Huguenot stock living in Copenhagen. He walked with the help of crutches, but the day they decided to marry, Tove threw one crutch into Tivoli Lake and said, “I will be your other crutch.”
Tove and Jean made their home in Hellerup, the commune where the national center is situated. They loved antiques and
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IN MEMORIAM I 992—1 997
frequented many auctions, so when Jean had to work in the other end of Denmark for a year, they decided that they would let out their little flat to “ladies ofa quiet disposition who did not drink alcohol.” They contacted the American Embassy, which just happened to be looking for a flat for two women. This was the coincidence that let Bahá’u’lláh into their lives, so changing their future. The two women were American pioneers, Dagmar Dolenl and Eleanor Hollibaugh.225 After the last of three meetings, when they were supposed to count up the silverware and crystal glasses, Tove and Jean simply left them the key and went to Jutland with books under their arms. Their hearts and minds were taken up with the proclamation of Baha’u’llah.
Eleanor visited them in Malling, where they had rented a farm. Their thoughts and conversations circled round the Bahá’í Faith. Six months after their return to their flat in Hellerup, they declared their allegiance to this new religion. Dagmar and Eleanor had rented a flat in another small villa on the same road, only one house away. Many firesides took place, and many Visitors came from all over the world. In 1949 they participated in the formation of the first Spiritual Assembly in Denmark.
With tremendous faith and enthusiasm, Tove threw herself courageously into all sorts of experiences. In the same year that Tove became a Bahá’í, she started the first Children’s class in Denmark for her daughter, Lillen Bente, some of Lillen’s playmates and two of her cousins, and about five other children of Bahá’í friends. She made a Bahá’í ABC book that has since
222 See “In Memoriam,” 7723 Bzz/Jzi’z’ \Vorld, vol. XlI, pp. 701—2.
225 See “In Memoriam," 7778 Bzz/Jzi’z' \Vorld. vol. XX, pp. 868—71.
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been translated into English and French. Tove had the wonderful knack of making things very real and dramatic, and the children loved these afternoons.
Tove and Jean’s parents were very sad that they had left the faith of their upbringing, though Jean’s mother was to become a Bahá’í herself some years later. When, at the Intercontinental Conference in Stockholm in 1953, Tove and Jean offered to go anywhere as pioneers, the disappointment of their parents knew no limits.
Tove was such a strong person; she had so great a faith. She had a very handicapped husband and a daughter to educate. Jean had just obtained a wonderful position as an architect with a promising future, and yet Tove Chose to say yes to service on a far—off island with an unknown language.
They left Denmark in a snowstorm and
724
arrived at Mallorca‘ in December 1953
where they were met by Virginia Orbison,225 a pioneer from the United States. Three years later the first Assemblyz26
after many difficulties; Spain was still a very
was formed
closed country, and authorities maintained vigilant religious control. Tove was among the first Auxiliaty Board members appointed in Europezz'7 and traveled throughout Spain and Portugal, either alone or with the Hand of the Cause Ugo Giachery.
Jean was unable to work as an architect in Spain, and in 1957 the European
w [\J A
Mallorca is the largest of the Spanish administered Balearic Islands. Tove and Jean arrived there on December 30th. Virginia Orbison had been there since August 11th, and Charles Monroe Ioas arrived in January of1954. All were named Knights of Bahá’u’lláht
225 See “In Memoriam," 7716 311/14"! World, vol. XIX, PP- 691-97.
The Assembly was formed in the capital city of Palma.
127 She was among the first contingent of Auxiliary Board members appointed in 1956.
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Teaching Committee was worried that he would lose his career. Three countries were interesting from a Bahá’í point of View—Uganda, Mexico, and Bangladesh (then East Pakistan). jean’s first oflfer came from Bangladesh, and the beloved Guardian cabled his acceptance of their move to the capital city of Dacca (Dhaka).
Tove courageously sold her belongings and crossed two continents to settle in Bangladesh. In Dacca she quickly made many friends and started an active career as a painter, mural designer, decorator, and art teacher. She sold many paintings to the United States, and a large painting was bought by the late President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan. With Jean she designed the first fountain ever built in the City. She also took part in welfare projects. Every two months she crossed the Indian subcontinent with Jean to attend meetings of the National Spiritual Assembly; she was the first woman elected to that institution.228
After representing Pakistanzzg at the first election of the Universal House ofjustice in 1963 and participating in the First World Congress in London, they settled again in Denmark230 as Jean needed a solid job. The following years were spent in service on the National Spiritual Assembly and on its different committees. Tove started adult evening courses in comparative religion in schools and in libraries, and she moved around the country following the needs of Local Assemblies or isolated groups. Eighteen times Tove packed up home
228 The National Spiritual Assembly of Pakistan formed in 1957‘ Formerly it had been part of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of India, Pakistan and Burma which was formed in 1923.
229 Bangladesh, the eastern wing of Pakistan after
1947, established its independence in 1971.
The Delaurans returned to Denmark in 1964 after
six years of service in Bangladesh.
THE BAHA’I' WORLD
and reinstalled it elsewhere for her love of Bahá’u’lláh—a love that knew no bounds.
Jean’s health worsened, and he needed the use of a wheelchair. Eventually he had to retire, and they decided to move to the Ce’vennes in the south of France. They helped form the first Local Assembly of Ales, and here Tove started another children’s Class with six children from Bahá’í families. Her ABC book was translated into French, and she started writing a book on how to educate children to become world citizens.
Because of age and health they moved to Le Mousteiret, near Digne, in Alpes—deHaute—Provence. Tove suffered a serious heart attack and underwent several eye operations, and From 1990 Jean suffered from hemiplegia. Despite all of these handicaps a Bahá’í Association was formed, and Tove arranged for three Bahá’í books to be sent to each of about twenty libraries in the region. Undeterred by her failing eyesight she kept up an active correspondence, sustaining many isolated believers around the world.
The Guardian had assured Tove of his “loving prayers for your success in the service of our beloved Faith,” and at dawn on December 16, 1996, Tove “plunged into the sea of the light in the world of mysteries” in the luminous southern Alps of France, thus terminating at physical life after a little more than forty—seven years Ofcourageous service. Even in the afterlife Tove is a pioneer—the first Bahá’í to be buried in the Hautes Alpes in Mongardin, a small Village on a hill surrounded by snow—peaked mountains.
jean and Bente Delezmm