In Memoriam 1992-1997/Virginia Breaks

VIRGINIA BREAKS

Knight of Baha’u’llah 1906—1993

DEEPLY SADDENED PASSING MUCH LOVED KNIGHT BAHA’U’LLAH VIRGINIA BREAKS. HER PROMPT RESPONSE GUARDIAN‘S CALL TEN YEAR WORLD CRUSADE, FORTY YEARS UNINTERRUPTED SERVICE CAROLINE ISLANDS, CONSTANT DEVOTION AND EXEMPLARY SELFABNEGATION HAVE EARNED HER UNIQUE DISTINCTION ANNALS FAITH. ASSURE ARDENT PRAYERS HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS HER NOBLE SOUL DIVINE WORLDS.

Universal House ofjustice December 8, 1993

lrginia Breaks was born on November 9, 1906, in Crawfordsville, Indiana. She attended Western College in Ohio and later worked in hospital bacteriology and serology in Chicago and Crawfordsville. She moved to Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1941

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and worked as a research assistant in the department of parasitology at the university there. Continuing her studies she pursued a master’s degree in public health statistics (MAPH) at the University of California at Berkeley. Upon her graduation in 1944, she worked for the Kern County Health Department for about two years before accepting a position with the California State Department of Health in San Francisco. This is where she was introduced to the Bahá’í Faith and embraced it; the Local Assembly of San Francisco accepted her declaration on August 26, 1947.

Virginia was in her late forties when she attended the dedication of the House of Worship in Wilmette and the International Teaching Conference in Chicago in 1953. She wrote:

Looking back it seems to me that events in my life were preparing me to come to the Caroline Islands, even before I accepted the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. It was there [at the Conference] that the Caroline Islands were mentioned as one of the 131 places where there were no Bahá’ís. That name went right to my heart. I remembered that there had been notice of an opening for a Vital Statistician and Medical Records Librarian [in the Carolines]. I felt qualified for that. On my return to California I applied for the position.

My application was rejected because a young man with experience was needed. I learned that three young men in my section of the Health Department had applied and been turned down because they didn’t have experience.

I wrote to the Director of Public Health of the Trust Territory of the

Pacific Islandsv again and asked if they would consider me if they did not find a young man with experience in this kind of work. There was a long wait. In the meantime I tried without much success to learn about the Caroline Islands, where I was determined to go. I found a book about the Gilbert Islands—that was as Close as I got. I tried to find out how to get to the Caroline Islands in case I didn’t get the job. There was no way.

After about two months, the Director of Public Health sent a Sanitary Engineer, who was returning [to the United States] after two years in the Trust Territory, to interview me. He gave me a good recommendation, and I was offered and accepted the position. You can imagine how happy I was then . . . November 16 (our time)58 [1953] when I could cable our beloved Guardian that I had arrived at my post.

As happy as she was to have pleased the Guardian, she was surprised to learn why it was necessary to have a job to get into the Trust Territory. There were no hotels, and temporary accommodations consisted of Quonset huts left by the US Navy. Transportation was also limited. The outer islands could be reached by boat,

S7 The United Nations Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (Micronesia) was administered by the United States beginning in [947. The trusteeship for Chuuk, Yap, Kosrae. Pohnpei, Mariana Islands, and Marshall Islands districts ended in December 1990.

58 'the announcement by the National Spiritual

Assembly of the Western Caroline Islands of

the passing of Ms. Breaks notes her arrival as

November 15, 1953. A realignment of time zones

and of the international date line went into effect

January I, 1995. The realignment put the Caroline

Islands in [he Hawaii—Aleutian Standard Time

Zone but with a date one day later.

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but as there were only two airstrips in the territory, travel to Guam and other districts was by World War II vintage seaplanes. Her first teaching efforts were to other Americans, and she said that she met only two people who had heard of the Faith. With time she was able to reach out to the islanders. She hosted weekly firesides, and when no seekers attended, she deepened Stem Salle, a new believer from Namoluk, who had learned of the Faith from Mary Elizabeth Hill, the head of the Trust Territory School of Nursing in Koror. She corresponded with the Guardian, and in May 1956 she received a letter written

on his behalf:

Dear Bahá’í Sister:

The beloved Guardian was deeply impressed with your outline of teaching work which you have been able to accomplish during the past two years and the interest which has been developed.

Now that you have become acquainted and well—established and will not have to travel so much, the Guardian sincerely hopes you will be able to devote more time to the teaching of the native people, so that a goodly number may become firm in the Faith. He feels that this vast territory, which has been spiritually asleep for so long is now awakening, and he hopes through your diligent efforts, many may find the light of Divine Guidance.59

Virginia had the great bounty to be the first person to tell many people about Baha’u’llah and His teachings. Notable among them was Betta Majmeto—the first

59 Dated May 6, 1956, and signed by Leroy Ioas, Mesmge: t0 the Antipodexs Communimtiomfiom Shog/ai Effendi t0 the 811/711? Cammunitie: Of

Amtm/(zsia .

Marshallese Bahá’í, the first Marshallese member of the Auxiliary Board, and the first Marshallese Bahá’í Counsellor.

Another was Rose Mackwelung,60 a Gilbertese. Virginia described her acceptance of the Faith:

She was recommended to me as a Kosraen translator. I looked her up, introduced myself as a Bahá’í, and asked her if she would translate a pamphlet about the Faith. She asked me about the Faith and for something to read about it. I gave her a copy ofBa/Jd’u’l/a’la and the New Ems After reading the pamphlet, which was in English, she agreed to translate.

On one visit to Pohnpei, she asked me to come to her house and tell some other friends about the Bahá’í Faith. So the first fireside on Pohnpei was held at her home. One of those present, a Kosraen man, said when he heard the principles of the Faith, “This should be taught in all schools.” At this time, Rose did not think that she would be a Bahá’í. Several years later when she was eonvalescing from eye surgery at the Olsons’ home in Inarajan, Guam, Cynthia Olson61 (Knight of Baha’u’llah to Mariana Islands) read 77aief in t/ae Night to her. At a certain point in the book, Rose said, “Stop, that is enough, I believe.” From that time she was a firm Bahá’í and in the last years of her life served on the first National Spiritual Assembly of the North West Pacific.

Virginia felt the strain ofisolation and the concomitant narrowing of vision. She appreciated the need to maintain an inner

60 See “In Memoriam.” 7776 Bahá’í World, volt XIX, PP~ 672—74‘

6‘ See “In Memoriam,” The Ba/ad’z’ World, vol. XX, PP- 899e903.

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strength and a wider perspective—qualities of character that were fortified by occasional trips outside of the Trust Territory, especially to gatherings of the Friends. She attended the first North East Asia Conference in Nikko, Japan, in 1955; the Second International Teaching Conference in Kampala, Uganda, in 1958; and the AllPhilippine Teaching Conference in Manila about a year later. In 1962 she made her pilgrimage to the Holy Land and was fortunate to attend the First World Congress in London, England, in 1963. Virginia wrote:

At the First World Congress, friends were asking the pioneers what they would do at the end of the Ten Year Crusade. The last address at the World Congress was by the Hand of the Cause Faizi. He made it clear that the wish of the Guardian was that the pioneers would remain at their posts. This talk had a profound effect on me. I wanted to carry out the wishes of the beloved of our hearts, out Guardian, Shoghi

Effendi.

She did. Four days before her passing she noted, “I am able to do this now through the loving-kindness of my friends, David and Gayle Rutstein. I thank Baha’u’llah with all my heart for all his blessings of these past forty years.” The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the Western Caroline Islands shared the news:

Virginia Breaks, Knight of Bahá’u’lláh for the Caroline Islands in Micronesia, passed away today, December 8, 1993, still at her post in Yap . . . She was eighty—seven years old, and we recently noted the fortieth anniversary of her arrival in the Carolines . . . Her death followed a sudden illness of three days duration . . . Despite being afflicted by

THE BAHA’I’ WORLD

a progressively deteriorating physical condition she remained an active and pivotal member OFthe Yap Bahá’í community. She also maintained a phenomenal level ofworldwide correspondence until her passing. Her death brings to a close an illustrious and exemplary earthly life characterized by her singleminded devotion to serving the Cause

Of Bahá’u’lláh.

Adaptedfiam a memoirprepared [9} Virginia Break: and materia/pmvided 5)! Roger thM, US National Archives