In Memoriam 1992-1997/Vivian Dunlop Wesson

VIVIAN DUNLOP WESSON

Knight of Baha’u’llah 1893—1994

ivian Dunlap Wesson was born on March 12, 1895, in Texarkana, Texas, the daughter of a Baptist minister, James Dunlap, and his wife, Julia Bryant. Vivian attended school in Chicago, Illinois, until her junior year of high school, when she moved back to Texas to help her father with the raising of her younger sisters and brother. She attended Paul Quinn College in Waco, Texas, and later returned to Chicago, where she worked as a stenographer and as a preschool and elementary school teacher. She met Henry Wesson, whom she wed on September 8, 1919, and they had one son, James J. Wesson. Vivian became a Bahá’í in 1921 and was nurtured by Corinne True (later a Hand of the Cause). Vivian wrote:

The first year Of my Bahá’í life was spent in her home as a maid. l was ill with

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Vivian Dunlap Warren

stomach (peptic) ulcers and of very little use to them. I think she kept me on just to teach me the Bahá’í way of life. I’m sure no maid ever had the care and privileges which were give me by the whole family. When I left them I was well and very well grounded in the

Bahá’í Teachings.“

Vivian gave many years of devoted service to the Faith in the Chicago area and was a member of the Chicago Spiritual Assembly before responding to the Guardian’s Ten Year Crusade call for pioneers. The death ofher husband in 1951 strongly influenced her decision. Vivian and Henry had been sweethearts for more than thirty years and had loved each other deeply. Vivian was inconsolable and could not bear to remain in their house alone.

(’4 Letter to the United States Africa Teaching Com mittee, dated June 22, 1961, written by Vivian after hearing the news of Corrine True’s passing.

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French Togoland (presently Togo) was a country to which the Guardian hoped the Message of Bahá’u’lláh would be taken before the end of Riḍván 1954. Vivian wanted to teach reading and writing in West Africa, and she enhanced her prospects for employment before pioneering by taking a twelve—month course to become a medical laboratory technician. She made her application to pioneer, and the United States Africa Teaching Committee partnered her with Mavis Nymon of Fargo, North Dakota. The two did not meet until shortly before their departure in early April. Together, a thirty—three—year—old white woman from the northwest and a much older black woman from the deep south, they boarded a cargo ship in Boston. Vivian was fifty—nine, an age when many people think of slowing down.

We found that the ship was going to sail that evening and that was very good. But our miracles began then—the miracles of being taken over and being taken care of through the will of God. We had no idea of the complications that were going to stand in our way. We had no idea. We’d never traveled that far before, never been out of the United States. So we talked to each other and had wonderful times [on] the ship.(’5

Vivian wrote in her memoirs, “This beginning experience has set the pattern

of my life as a pioneer and as a believer. It

gave me such joy, such a serene unshakable faith that I have never been the same.”

Valerie Wilson, then an American pioneer in Liberia, wrote:

55 From an interview conducted with Vivian Wesson by Gwendolyn Etter—Lewis cited in Light: a_ft/ae Spirit—Historical Portraits of Blade Bahd’z': in North America: 1898—2000, edited by Gwendolyn Etter—Lewis and Richard Thomas, Bahá’í Publishing Trust, Wilmette, 2006, p_ 131.

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On April 27th, Mrs. Vivian Wesson and Miss Mavis Nymon clocked at Monrovia around 5:00 PM. It so happened that this was Feast night (JamalBeauty). We were indeed happy to meet them—from the dock we went straight to the meeting place for the Feast. It impressed the Friends that two women would come from America not knowing if they would get visas to go further than Liberia—let me explain. Mrs. Wesson and Miss Nymon had been waiting for months for visas to the Gold Coast [Ghana] and French Togoland their destination. It seemed that visas weren’t forthcoming, so they decided to get visas for as fat as Liberia, which they did. They felt that the doors would open from there—of course with their faith and prayers, it happened just that way. Mr. Foster and I accompanied them the next day (April 28th) to the American Embassy; from there we went to the French Embassy (We were expecting them to get a two—day visiting visa.), but out of a clear blue sky they were offered a ten—day visa; naturally we were all extremely overjoyed. From there we went to the British Embassy; they were given a visa for traveling through the Gold Coast only—then to the Farrel Lines office as they had to secure passage from Liberia to Fr. Togoland. It must be mentioned that the Captain of the ship also had a hand in helping them by talking to the American Consul. Everything went as smoothly as clock-work. It was a beautiful example of the Spirit of Baha’u’llah and the faith of the pioneers. Around noon the next day, April 29th, the pioneers sailed for their original destination.

With the passing of years there have

been differing accounts of their arrival

in Togo. The most reliable recollection is

likely to be the one Vivian posted to the United States Africa Teaching Committee

on August 15, 1954:

Our ship came into the port ofAccra [Ghana] about 4:30 PM May Ist about 5 days ahead of its original schedule; this was most unusual to everyone but us; we, of course, saw only the Will of God. It was too late to go ashore so we docked, while Mavis 86 I leaned over the rail into the night, almost too happy to breathe. Not much sleep for us—too excited—we prayed and prayed some more. We were put ashore about 9:30 AM of May 2nd rowed by the most picturesque boatmen on the coast chanting rhythmically in deep mellow voices (10 of them) and dipping their hand shaped 8C fingered oars in beautiful unison. Customs took about 2 hrs. The young man in charge of customs was kind 8C solicitous of our welfare.

Vivian wrote that this was when “the

real miracle happened,” and in her interview with Gwendolyn Etter-Lewis she adds a critical detail:

And then we asked the customs man if he could tell us where we could find a taxi. And he looked at us and he says, “You haven’t been here before have you?” I said, “No, we haven’t.” He said, “You can’t go anywhere today. Today is Sunday and it’s a holiday. N0 taxis run and there’s no traveling.”

Vivian and Mavis were anxious to arrive in

Togo before sunset so as to meet the Ridva'tn“6

goal and were stunned by this news.

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The celebration of the Festival of Ridvain, commemorating the anniversary of Baha’u’llah’s declaration in 1863, begins on April Zist and ends at sunset on May 2nd.

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IN MEMORIAM I 992—1 997

[\While] I was standing there, and we were pondering what to do, we both closed our eyes and started to pray, not out loud, but to ourselves. We just stood there with our hands folded and started to pray because we couId see this was [a] serious thing for us . . . and we hear people passing . . . and I heard in the speech of the people passing my grandmother, my great-grandmother, who was an African woman. That’s where I got my blood; I heard her voice. I heard her accents.“7

In her account to the teaching commitshe continues:

I found myseIf addressed by a tall handsome young man enquiring in cultured accents if he could be of service, introducing himself as Carl AIIotey. After a few moments of introductory conversation we explained our desire to reach Lomé, French Togo this day; he invited us to wait in his home which was close by, while he and a friend, who had arrived in the meantime to keep an appointment with Carl, went to try to make arrangements for a car to take us this last 120 miles of our journey. His friend was a native of Lorne, knew the city well, was a member of one of its most prominent families, his name Mr. Venance Ayivor, a teacher in Achimoto School in Accra. This has proven to be ofgreat value to us in many many ways.

We left Accra between 3 and 3:30 Sunday afternoon, arrived at the frontier ofLomé 9:15. I was sad because we had not been able to make it before sunset; otherwise both of us were in a daze of joy. Oh yes I forgot to tell you that both Carl and Venance accompanied

Lig/m of the» Spirit, p. 132.

III

us to the city. When we got through customs and into the city, we found the one hotel was full. Then began a round of knocking on doors asking for sleeping accommodations only to be told “sorry we have no room” until one last try by Mr. Ayivor at the home of a cousin who gave us a bed about 1:30 AM. These two men were waiting in Accra to help us; we know now that the best preparation for pioneering is complete reliance on God. He has not failed us once. The next day we found rooms with a brother of the man who gave us the bed, and we have been here since then. Mr. Allotey declared his faith in June.

Both women were given the accolade of Knight of Baha’u’llah for bringing the Bahá’í teachings to these West African shoresf’8

Vivian and Mavis had experienced the frustration of bureaucratic delays in their attempts to apply for visas before they departed the United States. Now, about four months later, they were still unsuccessful in securing visas in spite ofappeaIs to the French and American consulates and repeated visits to the Chefde Sureté. They had verbal assurances from authorities in Togo, but because they lacked properly signed and officiated documents they were expelled from the country. It seemed that French authorities became fearful that Vivian and Mavis were contributing to the general unrest and were encouraging the people to agitate for independence.

(’8 David Tanyi was also named a Knight of

Bahá’u’lláh for French Togoland, having arrived in April. Vivian wrote, “Since we did not know of the presence in Lomé of David Tanyi, we were taking desperate [Treasures to be here before

May 2nd.”

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They were welcomed by Liberia, and the two women began working in the iron—rich mining area of Bomi Hills, forty miles “out in the bush" from Monrovia. Vivian found the miners’ wages extremely low and the illiteracy appalling. Grateful for the efforts of the pioneers to promote literacy there, they were offered land, and the Bahá’í Literacy School was built. Vivian was able to fulfill her wish to teach reading and writing.

In early 1958 she wrote:

[T]here are many things to do here first and this being Africa no one is in a hurry but foolish foreigners. Mavis seems well but she is so over worked. She has worked out a program that uses every day and drives herself mercilessly. Her teaching work both for the Faith and the Literacy School is very demanding. She is in need of a vacation. I’m urging her but she is resisting because her program would be too difficult for me to carry on, and she does not want it dropped or adapted to my strength.

A few months later Mavis had to return to the United States, and while Vivian attempted to maintain the school’s schedule by taking on Mavis’s responsibilities, her health, which had held her back in earlier years, began to deteriorate more rapidly. She prayed and appealed for another pioneer to come to assist her, but none was found. She was appointed to the Regional Teaching Committee in July, and toward the end of that year she undertook an arduous 2,700-mile traveling teaching trip with Valerie Wilson“ through Guinea to Sierra Leone. A “grumpy old” Vivian wrote, “Nothing but dedication to the goals of the Ten Year Crusade could induce me to leave my lovely country. Now that I have

(’9 Sec Valerie Wilson, pp. 85—88.

done so, I am prepared to view all else as unimportant inconveniences, just things to complain to your friends about, giving yourselfa little false virtue.”

Vivian continued to appeal for a pioneer to join her. She felt that a man could be much more effective with a community that had grown to sixteen members. All but two were men, most under thirty with limited capacity to serve the Cause. “Our believers work a 10 and 12 hour shift [for the mining company] and have no time to go out. Most of the teaching work must be carried out by the pioneer." “I am eager to work with any person who is able to see a future for the Faith out here . I am not the Greta Garbo type; I love companionship and do get very lonely sometimes. Be assured of my desire and determination to remain out here as long as necessary.” “If I could feel well I could have fun doing this job. When I sound discouraged please know that it's only my physical protest because my spirit soars with happiness that I can be here and do anything however small that will advance the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh.” “There are literally thousands of believers in West Africa and perhaps some may be found for Bomi Hills before I am too too tired out.”70 After five years of teaching Vivian had to discontinue the literacy Classes.

Because of the continuing decline ofher health and the mounting concern of the United States Africa Teaching Committee, the Hand of the Cause Enoch Olinga encouraged her to leave Bomi Hills in 1961 and to visit him in the Cameroons. Vivian later wrote, “My body seems to be trying to keep up with the spirit; since I spent those

7“ From letters Vivian wrote to the United States Africa Teaching Committee, August 20, 1960, April 2, 1959, August 10, 1960, and August 7.3,

1960.

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few magic months in the Cameroons there has been a renewal of: vitality that is truly remarkable. Dear Enoch cautioned me to husband my strength by keeping to a less ambitious work program.”

In January 1963 Vivian began to contemplate the end of the Ten Year Crusade and the implications its termination held For her obligations:

After long and prayerful consideration of the Message sent out by the Hands of the Cause in the Holy Land and the followup letters from the NSAs of the United States and North West Africa, I have decided to remain at my post. I have first hand knowledge that the NSA of North West Africa needs every pioneer in this particular part of its vast territory, especially the ones who work outside of Monrovia. Liberian Bahá’í communities are in need of literate believers Who are able to carry the administrative end without supervision. 'Ihis is not the right time to leave this post permanently without a pioneer. I must come home [to the United States] this year to apply for old age benefits; I will be 68 in March. I would not care to stay several years longer without these benefits.

In March 1970, having reached the age of seventy—five and finding village living in Liberia more challenging than her health permitted, “Mama \X’esson,” as she was known to her African friends, moved to Sierra Leone. She served there for seven years before returning to the United States in a wheelchair in June 1977, having suffered several heart attacks. Vivian had given twenty—three years of her life to Africa.

Vivian moved to the Lytton Gardens seniors’ community in Palo Alto, California, where she lived for another thirteen years; she was elected president of the Residents’ Council there in 1980. Her health improved

through prayer, proper diet, and daily walks, and she enrolled in Classes at Foothill College with the intention of completing her degree.

Maintaining the flame of an unfulfilled desire to return to her beloved Africa till the end of her life, Vivian made her last trip abroad in 1992. She attended the Holy Year celebrations in Haifa, Israel, where she was reunited with the other Knights of Bahá’u’lláh for French Togoland, Mavis Nymon and David Tanyi.

Vivian “Mama” Wesson left this earthly life on January 13, 1994. Learning of her passing the Universal House of Justice cabled the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States on January 17:

DEPLORE NEWS PASSING DEARLY LOVED GREATLY ADMIRED KNIGHT BAHA’U’LLAH VIVIAN WESSON. HER HISTORIC TEACHING AND PIONEERING SERVICES PARTICULARLY IN TOGO AND LIBERIA HAVE LEFT GLEAMING EXAMPLE UNWAVERING DEVOTION CAUSE GOD. FERVENTLY PRAYING HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS HER ILLUMINED SOUL ABHA REALM

Adapted in partfiom an article

by Deborah Skafii’r andfiom infirmalion pravided [7y Rager Dal?! and Gwendolyn Etter—Lewz's