In Memoriam 1992-1997/William R. Foster

WILLIAM R. FOSTER

1912—1995

He was very pleased to have the first pioneer from America go forth under this organized African campaign; he was doubly happy that it should have been an American Negro who went. This is highly appropriate and surely has delighted the heart of

THE BAHA’I’ WORLD

‘Abdu’l-Bahá who watched over the race with particular love, tenderness and understanding.

Written on behalf of the Guardian, Baha'i News, February 1952

William Rositter “Bill” Foster was

born in Chicago, Illinois, on June 6, 1912, the descendant of American slaves. He attended public schools and went on to study tool and die design at the Illinois Institute of Technology. He began his professional career as an architectural draftsman, and at the time of his response to the Guardian’s call for pioneers, he was a partner in a general construction company employing eight tradesmen.

Sometime in 1951 the Hand of the Cause Amelia Collins insisted that Bill write to the Guardian about pioneering, and Shoghi Effendi responded by pointing the way to Africa. With the support of his wife, Ruth, and two children, Tahereh and Badi, aged then thirteen and nine, Bill arrived in Liberia in January 1952. All the doors seemed to have opened For him. A few weeks later he reported to the US Africa Teaching Committee (USATC):

Tonight I am preparing or planning the first “Feast” to be held in the Republic of Liberia, while Benjamin Miller, [40 the first Liberian Bahá’í], is writing his first letter to the Guardian. We started to Function yesterday about 4:30 PM as a Bahá’í nucleus, and we are confident that we will attain group status very soon. Our need at the present is literature, books, a large photo of the Temple in Wilmette suitable for public display.

Mr. William Foster later noted that “Benjamin Miller was an American Negro who had several business enterprises in Cleveland, Ohio.” He moved to Liberia toward the end of 1951, applied for, and was granted Liberian citizenship.

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\Vi/[William R. Foster

This is truly a wonderful country once you catch the spirit of the people. I have placed all my affairs in the hands of Bahá’u’lláh and with the prayers offered in [my] behalf just wonderful things have happened . . . We can publicize the Faith with more impunity than any place I know of including Chicago . . . We live together in a beautiful cottage on the campus at . We have made the necessary contacts with the the University of Liberia . . right people and are socially accepted as Bahá’ís.

Bill had also written that “I’ve been fed free of cost by the Liberian government on the best American food available” and painted a rosy picture of his job prospects. He explained that the US government was installing a sewer and water system in the city of Monrovia, and as there were no professional plumbers in the country, he had offered to train Liberians in the trade. He was hired by the Department of Public

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Works and Utilities and made chairman of the committee drafting the plumbing code for the city. His salary was set by President Tubman, and William wrote, “I plan to send my first pay Check, which is due Friday, to my wife.”

He went on to catalog the tropical diseases prevalent in Liberia and to express his concerns for his family. “I take my medicine religiously to prevent malaria, but so do all my American friends that are suffering from malaria. I don’t know what to say or how to advise my wife and children about coming here under these conditions.”

During the summer months Bill spent much of this time away from Monrovia, near Buchanan in Grand Bassa County. “I’m supposed to survey the site, design, and install water, electricity, plumbing, and sewerage before the president returns [in six weeks].” This enabled him to teach prominent people in Grand Bassa and the fledgling group in Monrovia, which had now grown to eleven members, to become less dependent upon him and to practice the skills of consultation and prepare for the formation of its first Assembly.

The need in Monrovia for administrative experience increased as the group grew, and the arrival of pioneer Valerie Wilson 141 was eagerly anticipated. She arrived in November 1952 and found, as Bill had, that all the doors opened before her. She quickly found accommodation and was also employed by the Liberian government.

In early December President W. V. S. Tubman arrived aboard his yacht in Grand Bassa for the formal dedication of the hospital there, for which Bill’s work had been critical. Bill was a member of the first party given the honor to board the yacht and was well received by the visiting physicians,

1‘“ See Valerie Wilson, pp. 85‘88.

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World Health Organization officials, and the president.

On December II Bill and Valerie were stunned to receive letters of dismissal from the government advising them to leave the country at the first opportunity—a serious blow to the Guardian's Africa Campaign. It seemed that Bill had done something improper, and Valerie had said something indiscreet. Valerie explained to the USATC:

The occasion of the dedication of the hospital in Grand Bassa in which Bill had installed all the plumbing, which was the reason he was absent from Monrovia so much, took place on December 8. The president and most of the dignitaries were up there for the occasion. The superintendent of the county asked Bill to take pictures of the entire proceedings which lasted three days. On one occasion Bill was requested to take some posed pictures of various members of the Grand Lodge F.A.A.M. These persons were using a dump truck for transportation—very few cars—and were in full dress for the occasion (laying of the cornerstone). Some held the positions of top ranking officials of the Liberian government. This was presented to the president as a candid shot that was taken for the sole purpose of belittling the efforts of the Liberian people and that Bill was not in sympathy with their efforts.

While living in Ducor Hall and at dinner I mentioned as light conversation the difficulties the dignitaries had in transportation while in Bassa. One of the ladies at the table became indignant and said that could never have happened. 50 it is believed by many that she reported in a twisted way what I said to the president. Therefore

THE BAHA’I’ WORLD

the president thought that Bill was my informant, but this is not so as I had repeated what had been told me by another party who had participated in this dedication.

Ever since my arrival, and not being Bill’s wife, people have been circulating immoral rumors because of our constant association . . . This is all that we have to go on until we see the president.

Bill appealed to the president in writing and was very direct in explaining his motives.

I came to Liberia eleven months ago

for two reasons, namely:

1. To promulgate the Teachings of Baha’u’llah the Founder of the Bahá’í World Faith.

2. To make my contribution to the progress that is being made here by my race,

Prayers were offered by the friends in the United States, Britain, and the Holy Land. In February they attended the first Intercontinental Teaching Conference in Kampala, Uganda, and consulted with members of the African Teaching Committee. Knight of Bahá’u’lláh Matthew Bullock visited Liberia a few months later and further helped smooth relations with President Tubman. Valerie was reinstated, but Bill’s continuing employment was still in question.

The crisis was also a setback for the development of the Bahá’í community, and the formation of the Assembly was jeopardized as “four of the friends weakened when it looked as if we were going to be expelled from the country.”

Bill had been granted permission by the Guardian to journey from Kampala to the Holy Land to make a pilgrimage. He wrote to his wife that Shoghi Effendi had[Page 227] asked him to return by the twenty-first so as to supervise the election of the first Local Assembly in Monrovia. But he had also been given a special assignment. He wrote:

Been using [William Sutherland] Maxwell’s office to make drawings and sketches, one pertaining to the dome of the Shrine of the Báb. My main work here is to erect two gates at Bahjí, one 12 x 18 ft. and the Collins main gate 36 x 16 IL, also four sets of marble steps adjoining the Holy Precincts Of the Shrine at Bahjí. So far the Guardian is well pleased with my work.

After he returned to Monrovia and after its first Assembly was elected, Bill wrote to the USATC, “I don’t have a job but I’m able to pick up little jobs that will keep me eating . . . The prospects of real work here aren’t too bright at present because of a delay of from six to nine months in the installation of the water and sewer, so in the meantime I’m holding daily teaching and deepening meetings . . . The Guardian also gave me a silver cup to help soothe or assuage the feelings of President Tubman.”

Bill was elected Chairman of the Assembly but had to resign as he was spending more time in Bomi Hills, a mining town north of Monrovia where he guided the formation of the Bomi Hills group.

Despite efforts his relationship with President Tubman was not reconciled. His work prospects continued to be uncertain, and the period of his separation from his family was drawing out. Bill investigated every lead and availed himself of his professional contacts and friends but without success. Toward late summer he was becoming disheartened. “I’m leaving no stone unturned to find steady employment. I even

'43 Vivian Wesson (see pp. 108—13) and Mavis Nymon

pioneered to Bomi Hills in 1954.

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had good jobs during the Depression; this is a real test.” In the meantime his days were filled with work for the Faith. Finally the United States National Assembly approved his request to resettle in Morocco, where it was hoped his prospects would improve and his family could join him. Valerie Wilson was seriously ill with jaundice and malaria at this time, and Bill delayed his departure until her recovery was assured. He arrived in Casablanca in May 1954 and was elected secretary of the Assembly the following April.

Bill secured a permanent civil service job at the US Air Force base, and Ruth and the children joined him. Teaching the Faith was more restricted, and because of curfews meetings were usually held on Sundays. If Liberia was the frying pan, Morocco was the fire. The Fosters’ tests intensified. Ruth wrote:

Badi has a terrible case of homesickness.

He saw a man closed in his car and burned to death during the rioting (we lived a few blocks from the bombed cafe). Badi was Caught out in it on the way home from a scout meeting—when he didn’t arrive home Bill went out to look for him~—thank goodness I didn’t know until the next day they were shooting and beating the Arabs on sight—Bill and the kids are often mistaken for Arabs—even by the Arabs.

As in Liberia Bill’s employment was short—lived.

He was called into the security office and told he was considered a poor security risk for the top position he held . . . The FBI questioned him off and on for three hours but of course would not give him any exact charge to protest against other than they objected to his international connections and that

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some one in Chicago said they had seen his name on a communist membership list.‘43 They asked such questions as “Are you a representative for an international organization?” “Have you received traveling funds from it?” “How did you, a Negro, get to stop over in Kenya?” “Why were you in Haifa?” “What were you doing in Liberia?” “Is your wife white?” —on and on. Of course they had all the answers, and there would have been no use for Bill to use the old dodges of travel for education, writing, research, etc., especially since the letters from the NSA vouching for us were handed in with our applications for passports. The Liberian government knew Bill was teaching the Faith from the beginning; in fact they had given him written permission to do so—a photostat copy of which was given to the FBI along with a Bahá’í pamphlet on the aims and purposes of the Faith, also his passport—all of which were photostated and returned. There was a record in Liberia of the money sent by National for the expenses to Kampala. The FBI . . . knew the National had helped support his family. Bill signed a sworn statement that he had never been a communist or belonged to a front organization and said he was willing to take a lie detector test . . . Nevertheless the Air Force dropped him, and he was advised that since he had been hired from tourist status on a temporary basis for the first year he would have to go back to the States and hire a lawyer there to fight it . . . Bill felt he should not rock the boat . . . and jeopardize

This was during the postwar period of intense anticommunist paranoia known as McCarthyism or the “Second Red Scare.”

THE BAHA’I’ WORLD

the status of the other Bahá’ís working on the base (five at the time).

There followed a period of pre—independence political and economic instability. Bill and Ruth were in the process of selling their house in Chicago, and Ruth was pregnant with their third child, Zarrin. While their situation did not improve, the Fosters remained in Casablanca, hoping to please the Guardian. Eventually the US African Teaching Committee intervened on their behalf and appealed to the US National Assembly in early 1958:

Ruth and Tahirih are the only wage earners . . . Ruth’s mention of the water having been turned off, the electricity having been off for more than a month, their having to borrow from LSA and Bahá’í friends . . .was what led us to ask for the cabling of $200 to meet the emergency . . . The situation which Bill faces there is far from promising so far as jobs are concerned.

Bill eventually secured a clearance and taught English as a second language for USIS (the United States Information Service). The Fosters remained in Casablanca until 1963 before returning to Liberia where he and Ruth lived until 1967, when they settled in the United States. Bill made travel teaching trips throughout Western Africa and the Turks and Caicos among other places. The Fosters lived in the Princeton, New Jersey, area in the 1970s, and later Bill went to the Hawaiian Islands and served on the National Assembly there for a total of twelve years. He also was a member of its National Education and Properties committees. Bill Foster died of cancer on May 18, 1995. On May 22 the Universal House of Justice cabled:

[Page 229]IN MEMORIAM 1992—1997

DEPLORE LOSS WILLIAM R. FOSTER, LONG—STANDING SERVANT BAHA‘U’LLAH. TIRELESS PROMOTER BAHA’I‘ TEACHINGS, RADIANT CHAMPION ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER. APART FROM HIS EXTENSIVE INVOLVEMENT VITAL ACTIVITIES COMMUNITIES UNITED STATES AND HAWAIIAN ISLANDS, HIS VALIANT. SACRIFICIAL ENDEAVOURS AFRICA BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER TEN YEAR CRUSADE ENSURE INDELIBLE RECORD ANNALS FAITH, ESPECIALLY REGARDING MOROCCO AND LIBERIA. FLAME HIS LOVE SHOGHI EFFENDI, INTENSIFIED BY HIS DIRECT CONTACT WITH HIM WHILE ASSISTING WITH DEVELOPMENT Bahá’í WORLD CENTRE PROPERTIES DURING BRIEF PERIOD 1950. HAS LEFT ENDURING TRACES IN HEARTS MANY STUDENTS HIS CLASSES ON GUARDIAN‘S WRITINGS. EXTEND LOVING SYMPATHY MEMBERS HIS DEAR FAMILY. ASSURE ARDENT PRAYERS HOLY SHRINES FOR PROGRESS THROUGHOUT DIVINE WORLDS THIS NOBLE SOUL WHOSE ASSOCIATION CAUSE BLESSED BEAUTY EXTENDED BEYOND 51x DECADES.

In 1985 the Foster Bahá’í School was established in Princeton. While Bill and Ruth were living in the area, they hosted as many as six study classes a week and trained many of the friends to become teachers of the Cause. Bill’s love for the Guardian inspired him to a profound study of the Writings, and the school noted that “He constantly exhorted the friends to study the Writings, to build their faith on these precious Words of God. It is this spirit

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that permeates those Bahá’ís who had the opportunity to study with him. And it is in this spirit that this school is dedicated to Bill and Ruth Foster.”

Paul Vredrmd with gratitude

for the assistance of Roger Dab, US National Archives