Tending the Garden/Montreal-Guadalajara

[Page 179]

MONTREAL—GUADALAJARA

ROSEMARY and Emeric returned to Montreal in October, 1968. From their apartment in Town of Mount Royal, a small municipality within the city of Montreal, they looked out on buildings, rather than on the Indian Ocean. It was autumn, and a Canadian winter lay ahead. My sister was with the family at the airport to welcome them. As they drove into the city, she recalls Emeric saying, “I will have to get used to driving in this traffic and all the

new roads.” He writes:

Gone were the restful sunny days of Africa with its pure air washed by the Indian Ocean. Now we were to be closed in a metropolis full of stones and windows, surrounded and chased by an unceasing menace of cars and more cars, emitting suffocating gases and causing unending noise and pressure to our unaccustomed nerves....!

... the joy of meeting old friends was sometimes dulled by our inability to communicate and share our new experiences. ... The people seemed less friendly, and we experienced a stronger culture shock in reverse, than when we left at the outset.’

Rosemary reflects on the return to Canada:

| never felt culture shock in Africa. It was too exciting and too fascinating. Something new to learn every day ... | was growing my own vegetables and early in the morning | would go out and walk among my eggplants growing from seed, green peppers from seed. | had never done this in Canada and | could really feel, "Oh God, I’m working with you.’ ...

Coming back ... where the darling Baha’is were preoccupied with whether they needed a second or third television set ... whether they needed a new car, a new carpet, and one remembered the Africans. It was very trying here ... ‘Abdu’l-Baha is reported to [Page 180]180 MONTREAL GUADALAJARA

have said that the time will come when a Baha'i will not be able to sleep or eat if anyone in the remotest corner of the world had no place to lay his head or go to sleep with an empty stomach. How can we gorge ourselves? We haven't arrived at the sensitivity of consciousness...

Not long after arriving in Montreal, Rosemary had a small accident that prevented her from writing. This must have been agony, to be unable to communicate with friends in Africa. Eventually, she was able to resume correspondence.

Dear Friends, dear, dear friends,

How constantly we have thought of you! | longed to write but the accident to my right hand necessitated a splint and stitches, preventing me from writing. | seemed to receive little haunting thoughts from you about our apparent neglect ... But truly, each one of you is so imbedded in my soul or unconscious if you prefer—that snatches of voices | hear or glimpses of faces, or people’s very walk, will make your names and faces and voices bubble up to the surface to give me joy at the vivid memory of you. Don't dismiss this as one of Rosemary's romantic expressions. | feel, with Tennyson, that “lam a part of all | have met” and | rejoice that you are all a part of me, and like it or not, I’m a part of you! ...

We are settled in a pleasant flat (lacking the Indian Ocean, alas!) ina city suburb of Montreal, ... the Town of Mount Royal. The tree-lined streets ramble around crescents which make it confusing for motorists to find their way ... A train two blocks east takes us underground to the center of the best shopping district in Montreal, in eight minutes. ... In fact once one is on the transport, one need not walk outside on the street unless one wishes—which, on a bold or rainy day, can be quite agreeable as the enclosed shopping plazas are very elegant. We were astonished at the increase in the number of these shopping plazas and, in contrast, sadly disappointed when we passed through the slums of fifteen years ago, to find that they still remain — a very sad commentary on this so-called second richest country in the world! ...

I'll be a little sad to say “good bye” to 1968 as it will bring the memory of our sudden and unexpected departure from South Africa close to us. But dates of days, [Page 181]MONTREAL GUADALAJARA 181

months, and years have no reality in the world of the spirit to which world our relationship with each other belongs. Much love and best wishes for happy holidays to all.*

In the following excerpts of letters to Robert Mazibuko in South Africa, and to other friends Rosemary uses words like “lethargy”, “nervous shock”. She refers to homesickness and nostalgia for the past. Today we might call this depression.

February 4, 1969

Though | haven’t written I've thought of you and the other friends all month. It has been difficult for me to adjust to the climate as | have been ill since | arrived, off and on, kept indoors for weeks on end — very strange. And too lethargic to write ...°

September 2, 1969

\'ve been reading the American Newsletter and seeing the faces of the Baha’is of Southern Africa made me weep with longing to be in that part of the world again. .. [had a “nervous shock’, delayed reaction to being torn from Africa and hurled into the speed and noise and polluted air of this great city so | spent two weeks all alone by myself at our cottage on the Lake. There were only the birds, the fish and wild ducks to listen to and talk to, besides my inner communings with Baha'u'llah and His helpers in this world and the next. | felt so refreshed and as though my soul had at last caught up with my body.*

| left all this information at the Beaulac School which is now closed. | am so feather-brained now. Still confused with the speed of life in North America and too many Baha’i activities for my time or energy. (Oh dear — I’m haunted by that phrase, “No capacity is limited when led by the power? spirit? of God.”)’

September 14, 1969 This great city is like a ghost town — so few of the old believers of our day here.*

Emeric would have been busy at work each day; and was not one to [Page 182]182 MONTREAL GUADALAJARA

dwell on his feelings. He enjoyed renewing ties with his family:

We looked forward to the weekends on the farm to meet the family and get reacquainted with our nieces and nephews who had grown up in the meantime.’

‘These nieces and nephews reflected the 1960s. Those of us with curly hair now sported afros; those with straight hair wore it long—outward signs of a reaction to the conservative 1950s in which we had grown up. There were anti-war demonstrations, civil rights protests; experiments with transcendental meditation and with drugs. Montreal had been transformed the year before by Expo 67, a World’s Fair. The “Quiet Revolution” sweeping over Quebec brought about deep changes, loosening the grip of government and church.

I remember those days well. | was happy that my exotic aunt and uncle were back, living nearby. However, we were not as connected as before. My childhood interest in religion, enthralled by Rosemary’s stories, had faded. While discarding the proprieties of “bourgeois” life, I had cast out faith as well, impatient with Bah@is and what appeared to me their lack of involvement in the issues of the day. At the same time, I was proud of Rosemary and Emeric’s years in Africa, and their contributions. I just could not see the long-term impact. I had tumbled into the Sixties counterculture, believing it to be a movement of peace and brotherhood, oblivious of the cracks in the foundation—or the lack of foundation.

Years before, Rosemary wrote to me when they had just returned to South Africa after a visit to Canada. She refers to our time together in the art deco restaurant on the 9th floor of Eaton’s department store.

Two weeks ago at this time | had just left you after our happy luncheon. ... When a Baha’i can share what he or she loves so deeply with another, then we have a real meeting on the level of the soul. ... | wish you could have seen your own face while we talked—it glowed like a pearl. You must look like that to God! | am not saying that lightly. Baha'u'llah said that our souls were mostly veiled from each other, otherwise we couldn't bear to see the glory God put in each soul—it would be too strong for us. But ‘Abdu'lBaha told us that God gave us these precious glimpses which were a “real meeting’, and [Page 183]MONTREAL GUADALAJARA 183

that when such a “real meeting” occurred it would last throughout eternity, no matter what physical separation took place.”

In 1968, I was no longer that person and regret that I must have contributed to the culture shock of their return.

Gradually, Rosemary and Emeric developed new interests. One July day in 1969, the first man was about to walk on the moon. My husband Marty and I drove hurriedly to the farm in our Volkswagen Beetle to watch the landing. We found Rosemary and Emeric there, and the television on. It would be some time before the landing would take place. Emeric was tired and went to bed, but Rosemary, caught up in the excitement of this historic event, stayed up with us as we saw those first tentative small steps. It was unbelievable to look up at the moon that clear night, and think that there were human beings on it.

Rosemary was ever interested in the world around her. My sister Renée remembers Rosemary leafing through a copy of The Whole Earth Catalog, a back-to-the-land catalog of that time. She watched as Rosemary came across some photos of nude pregnant women, with new types of cushions to sleep in comfort, wondering how she would react. Rosemary’s unexpected response: “What a great idea”.

We would see Rosemary and Emeric from time to time. Dinners at their apartment were unique. Rosemary prepared delicious salads, rolls of fresh bread, her trademark little dishes of butter, cut in small squares, sprinkled with parsley, all set on a beautifully laid table. Emeric contributed by picking up the main course, a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken. Ever pragmatic, with Rosemary spending less time in the kitchen, yet still maintaining her decorative touches!

Emeric used to join us on cross-country skiing ventures. One such expedition to the mountains of Vermont was memorable for me. We went with a group of friends, and that evening, shared a pot-luck meal. Someone had brought wine. I knew very well the Baha'i law against consumption of alcohol and wondered what Emeric would do as our friend offered him some. After an initial protest, with the greatest courtesy, he allowed a little to be poured in his glass. I watched him take a sip. In this gesture I sensed Emeric’s sacrifice [Page 184]184 MONTREAL GUADALAJARA

to courtesy and felt an upwelling of love for my uncle. Rosemary did not take part in these skiing outings, and I wonder what she would have done. Both were sensitive to the “seeker’—in this case, though I did not realize it, me. I never felt pushed by them to attend Baha’ gatherings. In fact, when I think of it, | was not generally invited by them to talks or firesides! They certainly did

not proselytize. Hye

A highlight for both in those years in Montreal was a trip to the Orient. Emeric’s business trip included an early venture into 1969 China. Rosemary went along and jotted down her perceptions:

Happily our first night in Tokyo coincided with a 19 Day Feast. We were guided to the Baha'i Centre by an American pioneer whom we had first met at Green Acre forty years ago. As always, it was a revelation to listen to the Baha'i prayers read in another language so different from one’s own, yet to recognize the same spirit created when one listens with the heart to words read with devotion. And this happens always in every Feast in every country. ...

Arriving early one morning at a Temple where no bus loads of tourists are permitted, we saw the temple sweepers, men and women, enter to kneel and pray before the day’s work. We knelt also on the spotless floor mat to say a Baha’ prayer, that the renewed spirit of Buddha might find recognition in the hearts. The symmetry of line and form, ... the subtlety of the color tones in wood and stone and nature gives the ... visitor an awareness of how religion has affected the soul of the people.”

In his unpublished manuscript, “Two Worlds”, Emeric gives his impressions of China in the days of Mao Tse-Tung. So much has changed in today’s China.

A business trip took us to Canton for one week in the fall of 1969. It was not very successful since the Communist export executives are hard men to deal with. The impression, however, created by these poor, honest and industrious people was overwhelming.

The first thing that strikes the visitor is cleanliness and order. Coming by train [Page 185]MONTREAL GUADALAJARA 185

from Hong Kong, the contrast was very evident. The fields looked well-tended and neat like gardens. We saw hundreds of field workers bent over their task, none were loafing, though they were all working for the state. Canton, an industrial city of four million people, had hardly any smog. The reason was obvious. There were very few cars on the cleanly swept streets. Transportation was on foot, by bicycle or bus. ...

The people were all poor, dressed alike in grey or blue cotton uniforms, whether it was the boy who brought us tea or the department chief from the Peking head office. Although we were dealing with large amounts, there was no feeling of greed or envy. The average annual income in China was at that time under one hundred dollars per person. The Chinese did not create that depressed, dejected atmosphere we often experience among the very poor. They appeared eager, confident and busy, without that exhausted, tired look we often associate with our competitive, industrial world.

We made friends with several contacts and three interpreters. One evening five of them were in my room, talking for hours comparing their world with the West. They appeared so naive, honest, unsophisticated and, of course, brainwashed, that too much knowledge of the West might only confuse and contaminate them. | spoke to them about our Baha’i objectives to which, at this point in time, they could give only polite attention.

Within twelve years after taking over the country, the Communists built 46 dams, much of it by hand labor, for lack of machinery ... and have had no famine since 1961. This collective effort, for the benefit of all, seems to have given the people a feeling of togetherness, assurance and satisfaction, which to a Baha'i observer was very revealing. Here was a poor country, the most populous in the world, with no apparent greed or corruption, no rich people and no one hungry. It had no inflation nor unemployment, no beggars, no drugs, no vice, nor crimes. ... It could not have been a perfect state, but we could feel and see that some Baha’ principles ... were in operation here. ...

When | left China | felt a deep affection for its people, which was not sentimental and which | cannot describe. | have also felt that they have grasped and applied some of the principles of Baha’u'llah, and if they can continue to progress in peace, they may discover the Source of the Power of the New Age and will then have an unimaginably glorious future.”

It should be pointed out that during this time period in China, the [Page 186]186 MONTREAL GUADALAJARA

“Cultural Revolution” was in full swing, with its attendant injustices and human rights violations. All this would have been hidden from the eyes of foreign visitors. While Emeric did business in China, Rosemary traveled on her own to Cambodia. ‘There was increasing unrest in that small country, a neighbour to Vietnam where war raged. Rosemary was adamant about seeing the ancient

temples of Angkor Wat.

The visit to Angkor Wat enthralled me: to witness the magnificent ruins kings had built to the glory of Khrishna and Buddha. On the chief gate of the Angkor Thom temple, a monumental head of the ‘future compassionate Buddha’ was carved in relief. Associated with every temple were libraries; every tower and courtyard, even the moat surrounding the Temple had its relation to a concept of Heaven.”

| went on to Cambodia by myself... | couldn't find the Baha’is and it was dangerous to search. | was stranded in Phnom-Penn through some error in the air transport office, but was able to speak of the Faith to about six young Cambodian men of Buddhist, Hindu and Catholic background. | told them | was going to pray to Buddha, Krishna, Christ and Baha'u'llah to assist me out of my difficulties and told them why. They were very sweet and when | left they called out, “Au-revoir, adieu chére grand-mére!”"

Rosemary had petals from the threshold of the Tomb of Baha'u'llah. While seated in a park in Phnom-Penh, she carefully made a dent in the ground and buried the petals in the earth with a prayer.!° She could not have dreamed as she sat there, that years later, in 2012, another city in Cambodia, Battambang, would be designated by the Universal House of Justice as the site of one of the first Baha'i local houses of worship in the world.

Back in Montreal Rosemary writes:

Emeric and | attended the Winter School at the Baha’! property [Beaulac] in the mountains. There were 50 people there, Emeric and | being the oldest.... All the rest were youth, from 23 years to 15 years of age—some Baha'is of only a few days. All long-haired, with a most beautiful spirit. | became Baha'i “grandmother” to many of them. | gave talks on the early days of the Faith in Canada and told stories of the early believers.” [Page 187]MONTREAL GUADALAJARA 187

During these years in Montreal, Rosemary served with a committee of local Bah@is in taking care of the Maxwell family home which was now a Shrine. She worked persistently on albums describing the early days of the Montreal Bahai community. Scribbled on the back of an envelope would be a last minute request: “Dear, do you have any photos of Anne, Elizabeth, or any others? Please send.” Rosemary wrote to a friend whose mother took care of the house in the 1940s, following Mr. Maxwell’s departure for Haifa:

Being on the Shrine committee has been my greatest joy—how | wish you were here to consult about things! Ruhiyyih Khanum was very helpful but she too had to have her memory jogged. She was so shocked at the condition of the house furnishings that she took them to Haifa. This was after your mother left. The friends could never understand your mother’s nervous prostration whenever the friends were careless about cigarettes, ashes, etc...

Lorne MacBean is coming this afternoon to bring me a picture of Martha. Dear, have you any photographs of old time Baha'is and events of Montreal? | must get it all organized before we leave [for Mexico] in eight months—Somehow, | feel | came back to Canada to do this work!”

So many memories we share dear Dorothy, of the Maxwell days. I’m sure we'll relive them in the other world and find their real meaning. How proud May and Sutherland — not to mention ‘Abdu’l-Baha and the beloved Guardian must be of Rihtyyih Khanum! Didn't you thrill at the African Safari stories written up in American Baha'i News? | remember Ruhiyyih Khanum writing me after her marriage saying, “Who am |, little Mary Maxwell, to be so blest?” ... And how blest we all were dear to live in Montreal with the Maxwells, dear Anne, precious Martha and Freddie and Eddie and Elizabeth Cowles—a litany of names ... What wonderful times we'll have dear, on my little pink cloud!"*

In a letter to Robert Mazibuko in Port Elizabeth, Rosemary wrote about praying in ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s room in the Shrine:

Those precious souls—Baha’is and non-Baha’is—I yearn and pray ever so often, whenever | am in our Baha'i Shrine, the only place so designated by the Guardian in all North and South America. |... circle the whole world with prayer while faces and names [Page 188]188 MONTREAL GUADALAJARA

pour from my heart to my mind and are uttered by my lips in that blessed spot. So your name has been uttered and is imbedded in the atmosphere of the room in which the Master slept. ...”

I currently serve as a guide to the Shrine, one evening a month. Friends come, sometimes parents stop here with their newborn, a first visit on their way home from the hospital. Visitors to Canada make special stops in Montreal just to visit the Shrine. For years, Rosemary’s albums had a place in one of the upstairs rooms, where one could sit in a cozy leather chair and quietly leaf through them. They served their purpose and the albums have since been removed.

Russell Kerr, who worked at the National Center in Toronto in the 1970s, describes one of Rosemary’s visits to the national office.

I came into the main building for my coffee break and chatted with Rosemary Sala, who was busy sorting and documenting gifts to the NSA archives (working on a large ping pong table in the main room). She picked up an alabaster box and said, “Isn’t this lovely?” She handed it to me and as | opened it, she said those are rose petals from Shoghi Effendi’s wedding. She said May Maxwell had given it (the box with the roses) to her. | handed it back to her and went on with my coffee break. It wasn’t until later that I learned that the wedding of the Guardian had not been a traditional one, but very private and that these petals were from the Shrine of Baha’u’Ilah and given to May Maxwell by the Guardian.”

‘Those petals in the alabaster box now can be found, along with other precious objects, in the Council Chamber of the National Spiritual Assembly

of the Baha is of Canada. He

Avocado Orchard in Mexico

In November 1971, Rosemary and Emeric, newly retired, left Montreal for their final pioneer post, Guadalajara, Mexico. Rosemary writes about [Page 189]MONTREAL GUADALAJARA 189

the journey, the new house, and their first weeks in that country. Her letters are again filled with exuberance and a sense of adventure.

It is three weeks today that we left Riviére Beaudette to get caught in a blizzard in Toronto. [We] received news of a teaching campaign in Waco, Texas. This we attended for a few hours, meeting all the radiant youth and several oldsters like ourselves dividing themselves into mixed groups of five, armed with literature, to find those precious gems Baha'u'llah speaks of. Five had been found in the morning, and more were hoped for that afternoon. Paul Petitt, the Auxiliary Board Member ... was there to tell us how exciting this process was, all started in America by precious Pouva Murday of Mauritius Island, off Africa! Paul told us that he had set out with a group on a rare snowy day to walk down a street empty of all inhabitants. Then, suddenly, as the friends proceeded down the street, one person and then another would come out on to their porch to greet them. When the story was told, one would say, “| think my neighbour at number 36 would like to see and hear you” and would send a child to ring that neighbour's door. Pamphlets would be given and followed up in a few days or within a week. ...

Passing the border and into Mexico, we would cry out to one another “Basutoland’, “Swaziland”, “Zululand”, “Nongoma’, “Transkei’, so you in our beloved South Africa may know how our thoughts were closely tied to you, as we began this new pioneer journey. ...

Prayers have certainly been raised up... for we had the promise of a house on the ninth day after our arrival! And a new house, at such a low rental, furnished! ... Our to-be landlord ... owns an avocado farm of 150 acres, situated at the bottom of a mountain range, and the little house he decided to build “on a whim” because the base of the old, torn-down adobe house was too good to waste. We have pure spring water tapped into the house, beautifully made closets and cabinets .... A Mexican village is nearby. ...7

Wherever Rosemary lived, something was growing. | remember the window boxes at the cottage in Riviére Beaudette overflowing with red and pink geraniums and deep blue lobelia. In the house in St. Lambert I recall a long copper container filled with houseplants — the copper and green colors vividly complementing each other. Some delicate houseplants in Port Elizabeth, Rosemary once laughingly confided, were actually marijuana plants. [Page 190]190 MONTREAL GUADALAJARA

When she learned this, she sadly discarded them. Now in Guadalajara a beautiful rose garden provided the home with fragrant bouquets. Emeric would return from his mountain hikes with wild orchids which he would attach to trees so that they could continue to grow.

Emeric loved the outdoors. In his youth in Romania, he hiked in the Carpathians. In South Africa he regularly went climbing. And after all, was it not the mountain at its center that had attracted him to Montreal? In a report to a local Guadalajara English newspaper, he writes not just of the mountain but of his climbing companions:

Cerro Viejo rises to about 10,000 feet elevation, near the village of El Molino about 20 miles south of Guadalajara...

| am not a young man and there were only two reasons that | could reach the summit. One was the overcast sky, which kept the temperature bearable and the other was our guide, Juan. He is 60 and lame. His foot was injured in an accident many years ago and he still can’t bend his toes. He was told to exercise and took up mountaineering and fell in love with it. He made his way up Orizaba and all the highest peaks of Mexico...

Cerro Viejo, like all our other mountains, has no markers, nor signposts, nor maps to guide the wanderer. There are only cowpaths, often crisscrossing each other...

Juan led us unerringly, mostly by instinct, or was it a sixth sense? His pace was steady and his patient determined limping on and on, and up and up, could not but prevail on most of us to carry on for six and one-half hours to the summit...

By the time we reached the summit the sun had come out and the view was breathtaking. Lake Chapala, between ranges of green mountains, intertwined with other smaller lakes, with an interplay of clouds and shades, delighted the eye...

We had a great day, a satisfying adventure and we knew a growing comradeship with our Mexican hosts which we will not easily lose.”

Rosemary ventured forth in her unique way, by bus: January, 1972

| went exploring this week.... Emeric is really very helpful, and eager to be my chauffeur but our wishes regarding places in which to linger do not always coincide. So | [Page 191]MONTREAL GUADALAJARA 191

took a bus and travelled about 15 miles for the vast sum of three cents to the end of the line and came back again. | took notes of places | wished to visit en route. | plan to explore each quarter of the city in the same way. ... | had successful chatty visits with quite a number of my seat companions, especially when the bus reached the poorer sections and outlying districts. One very sophisticated senorita was quite haughty but one darling old woman gave me her address and invited me to call on her.”

Also unique was Rosemary’s method of practicing Spanish. She watched Mexican soap operas on television in the afternoons.

Rosemary and Emeric continued to travel, to visit Baha'is and attend conferences. Emeric describes two special events in the spring of 1972:

May 15, 1972

[In Mexico City] we attended the National Baha’i Convention which had many touching scenes. A Maya Indian from the Yucatan, a cobbler, had settled as a pioneer more than 1,000 miles from his home to teach the Faith to the Yaquis. Two such Yaqui Indians—whose ancestors were cannibals—were there as delegates, living on bread and tea, until we could supplement their budget. The new National Spiritual Assembly consists of six Mexicans, one Austrian, one Spaniard and one North American, showing great strength and confidence.

Eighteen Baha'is boarded the plane ... and we were joined by others in Guatemala. At the Panama airport we read [a sign with] big lettering “Bienvenida A La Conferencia Baha'i”. A welcome committee whisked us through customs ... and arranged our transport. The next day, local papers reported that 3000 Baha'is arrived from all continents, some on charter planes from Iran, Germany, and many US points. ... It was to inaugurate Latin America’s only House of Worship, symbolizing the uniting point of North and South and the Atlantic and the Pacific. ...

When we visited Panama [in the 1940s] there were only three Baha’is. They had obtained a hall at the University and three column excellent publicity with picture on the front page for a public meeting, to which no one else came. Now there were many thousands at a superbly programmed public meeting in Panama’s largest hall. ...

We met old friends we had not seen for 25 years or more. The available minutes were not enough to bridge the gap of time, but since we were tied by eternal laws, it did [Page 192]192 MONTREAL GUADALAJARA

not detract from our joy of seeing each other. Problems and worry, sickness and sorrow of these 25 years were swept away as inconsequential, and all we saw in each other’s eyes was growth of soul and character. And when we parted with the words: ‘Until we meet again in this world or the next’, we understood with no sadness what Rosemary meant.’

Around the time that Rosemary and Emeric left for Mexico, I set out on a different adventure. When an opportunity arose to travel to Israel, | took it, “to check out my Jewish and Bahai roots”. Eventually I reached Haifa. Here I had the good fortune to meet Mrs. Margaret Ruhe outside the Shrine of the Bab. When she asked me how I had heard of the Faith, I explained the family connection. She remembered Rosemary and Emeric fondly from her youth. In the next days I had the opportunity to join Mrs. Ruhe on a visit to Bahji, the resting place of Bah@’u’llah. Her husband was Dr. David Ruhe, a member of the Universal House of Justice. I sensed vaguely that this was significant. One time, he asked me if there had been a young Sala who had died young. I felt my heart beat. He was referring here, half the world away, to my cousin Norma who had died during childbirth. Perhaps this concept of humanity as one family could actually be true. I was deeply touched.

And so it was, a few months later, that I made the decision to sign a Bah@i declaration card, intending to try the Faith out as an experiment for three months. Three months turned into six, and the six turned into ...

Rosemary sometimes awoke early and, propped up in bed with a cup of tea she would communicate by letter with friends and relatives far away.

November 14, 1972

What happiness your letter of Oct. 28 brought us! | read it to Emeric this afternoon in the car, the first letter | opened. There were tears in my eyes when | read that momentous first paragraph. ....

There may be moments when you may feel as though you have been thrust onto a lonely mountain peak, the winds of the world swirling about you, and in the valley people moving about in their cosy familiar traditional worlds. But the adventurers, whether physical or spiritual, break away from familiar patterns only to find that there is a unitary principle that leads like a mounting spiral from the old to the new—so that [Page 193]MONTREAL— GUADALAJARA 193

there is no beginning and no end! A wonderful, wonderful adventure. As long as we cling to that pivotal point of faith in Baha'u'llah as our point of reference, infinite worlds of experience are before each one.

One of my first thoughts on learning of your decision was to say to myself, “Now | have one of the younger generation to whom | can leave my Baha’ treasures!’*

‘The door had re-opened to that little girl who once sat on the swing, enthralled by Rosemary’s stories. “Treasures” started coming almost immediately. Rosemary would send assorted articles, stories, photographs related to the Faith. For example, this fragment of a pilgrim note:

If we make an effort to the best of our ability and apparently fail, it is not a failure in the world of the spirit. It lays a foundation for a second attempt; any act, deed, done in love of Baha'u'llah ... was a “princely deed’.

Emeric’s skills as a speaker were once again put to use. In the summer of 1975, he was invited to give a course at Green Acre. Rosemary’s letters describe this happy time:

Emeric has been asked to give a course at Green Acre this summer so we go there in August for a week, then to Canada for another week. ... I’m so happy Emeric accepted. It will be the first course he has given since we left for Africa over 20 years ago. Do please, please dear Doris say a prayer for him! It rejoices my heart to see him studying to prepare himself and I’m asking for assistance from many sources. | remember the days when Genevieve Coy told me of two Baha'i speakers she would cross the continent to hear: Horace Holley and Emeric Sala as they always had a new approach. Ah, the days of our youth! But each age brings its compensations even though it also brings awareness of one’s imperfections. | daren’t die yet I’ve got so much more to learn and yet at the same time | seem to seek out all the prayers and quotations about the mercy of God.’”

September 16, 1975

“It was wonderful to see Emeric on the Baha'i beam again — his six talks were enthusiastically received and so many came to tell me so. At the last talk, those present made him promise to write a book — a sequel to “This Earth One Country’”...* [Page 194]194 MONTREAL GUADALAJARA

Emeric did work on a book which he called Two Worlds, based in part on the courses he gave at Green Acre and Bosch summer schools. In the book he emphasizes approaching the Faith through social justice. He shows how “the non-Bah@i world, following its uncertain collision course, runs parallel with the Baha'i world which has a chartered course projecting into a distant and certain future.” It remains unpublished.

October 13, 1975

It is 6:15 a.m. and | have just ended my prayers. It is still dark outside but early morning sounds are emerging out of the night-quiet. A lovely feeling—to be bathed in the power of the prayers inwardly and outwardly by the tears which they evoke.

The best way to use up this power is to use it ... some of it immediately, while it is still pure, not yet intermingled with the criss-cross pattern of the “vain imaginings and idle fancies” that come as the day progresses—I usually end with the healing prayer 19 times for ourselves ... others, such as Rahiyyih Khanum, yourself, etc., etc., then ask the scattering angels Baha'u'llah mentions to shower the healing on those He wills! After that long pre-amble, I'll now begin our news.

The summer was wonderful! The joy was to see the “real” Emeric emerge at Green Acre. ... It is amazing—up to a hundred every week, and at times 150. And so many young—the majority from early twenties to late thirties ...

The children were adorable! One morning as | was sitting in the Master’s room, just absorbing the atmosphere and recapturing memories of other days, a class of about eight 4-to-6 year-old children came in with bouquets of wild flowers clutched in their hands. Their teacher directed them to place them in the flower vases in the room and it was so sweet to see them, so earnest and happy, no pushing, no shoving, do so. Then they settled down and each said a line of a prayer or a prayer. | thought of ‘Abdu’l-Baha saying—children’s prayers are always answered! ...

| must confess | went to very few classes ... | used the time in remembering, praying and rejoicing to be there again—thinking of Elizabeth Greenleaf, Harry Randall, Agnes Alexander, Martha Root, May Maxwell, Anne Savage, Harlan and Grace Ober, Genevieve Coy—oh so many of that galaxy who had known ‘Abdu’l-Baha! | was supposed to have spoken on those early days—1927-1933—but got such a mighty cold and cough that | couldn't speak. ... [Page 195]MONTREAL GUADALAJARA 195

Emeric was always being taken off by small groups to discuss points of his talks. His main theme was the stream of political action and thought touching on the increasing influence of the movements of the left, moving horizontally with the spiritual stream of the Baha'i Faith; impelled forward to become worldwide through the impact of the Divine Plan as initiated step by step by the Guardian and the Universal House of Justice. His reference from the teachings of the social implications of the Faith were very powerful and he intimated that the advance of the “movement of the left” the Master spoke of was partly due to the Baha'is not responding more wholly to the Faith. He devoted one whole talk—very powerfully, | was told, on pioneering—and ended with the Seven Valleys! Several young people told him they wanted to prepare themselves to pioneer and to forget the more lucrative professions, as a result of his talks.

Oh my dear... One doddering old dear (whose name | could not recall) came up to me saying that her one summer visit to Green Acre from 100 miles away was purposely made to see me again!! Inside me, | had been feeling just like the Rosemary of almost 50 years past and now here | was thrust against reality—one old dodderer to another. She was so sweet, so deeply a Baha’i! | thought of the words quoted so often by Genevieve Coy, “Patient lives of active service give life to the world”. She remembered a National Convention held there in 1925 when Sutherland helped make salads and to serve the guests at the tables. ...

We visited Stanwood Cobb—94 years of age with a mind more alert, more aware of the changes in the world and the forces of the Cause moving them, than many half his years. The cottage is tumble-down, the chairs on the porch where so often we had wonderful tea-parties with Juliet and May and Grace, were somewhat old with broken springs, but the atmosphere was new as tomorrow. He told us he had dreamed in which he was told he would live to be a hundred if he stood steadfast. | teasingly said that we would all have to pray earnestly for his soul if he died before! He laughed and said his precious wife would protect him as his guardian angel.”

Stanwood Cobb died, as it turned out, at the age of 101. Many years before, he had been on pilgrimage in the time of ‘Abdu’l-Baha. He wrote:

‘Abdu’l-Baha spoke of the need for loving patience in the face of aggravating behavior on the part of others. One might say, “Well, I will endure such-and[Page 196]196 MONTREAL GUADALAJARA

such a person so long as he is endurable.” But Baha’is must endure people even when they are unendurable. Three extraordinary qualities which characterized all of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s utterances were to be found in these... conversations: His supreme logic; His delightful sense of humor; and the inspiring buoyancy with which He gave forth solemn pronouncements.

For instance, when He said, “But Baha'is must endure people even when they are unendurable”, He did not look at us solemnly as if appointing us to an arduous and difficult task. Rather, He beamed upon us delightfully, as if to suggest what a joy to us it would be to act in this way!°

Emeric was asked by the International Goals Committee, responsible for arranging Bahd’i speakers, to travel to Spain and Portugal. On his month long trip, in the spring of 1976, he gave 25 talks and held many informal meetings with the friends. Unfortunately, health problems prevented Rosemary from going. Emeric’s thoughts on the social and humanitarian teachings in the Faith are outlined in this report:

On May Ist and 2nd, | attended the National Convention [of Portugal]. | had the privilege to meet many of the devoted and hard working believers. Most of them were young. The proceedings were as usual in other countries. The emphasis was on what was to be accomplished. Little time was spent on how to do it. Through a delegate | asked for permission to address the floor for five to ten minutes on the subject of a suggested new method for teaching the Faith. Since there was no response | assumed that the request was rejected, until ... the second day, when the chairman announced that the Convention closes at 5:30... and that at 6:00 p.m. | will propose some suggestions to those who can remain. ...

As | found my audience interested, they encouraged me to continue for about 25 minutes. Then they refused to go home. They all stayed and kept on asking me questions until after 8 p.m. A synopsis of what | said would be something like this:

Our teachings have two parts—the personal or spiritual teachings and the social or administrative and humanitarian teachings. Although Shoghi Effendi told us that to separate the two is a mutilation of our Faith, we have done so for the last seventy years. Three reasons were given. [Page 197]MONTREAL GUADALAJARA 197

First, the early believers’ Christian background attracted them only to the personal or spiritual teachings, with no understanding or appreciation of the social.

Second, the audience they spoke to were of the same background and inclination.

Third, the implications of our social teachings were unwelcome, and in some cases, intolerable, in the political environment in which we lived. This was especially true in Portugal until two years ago. [The “Carnation Revolution” of 1974 put an end to five decades of dictatorship. ] That many of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s and Shoghi Effendi’s published statements are in sympathy, and in many cases in accordance with the aspirations and stated objectives of the leftist and socialist movements, we have, in the past, for the above reason, either forgotten or ignored, or hidden in our subconscious.

The suggestion was made that perhaps our traditional, unbalanced presentation of the Faith produced unrooted believers, which could be one reason why so many left or are “inactive”. Since the majority of Portugal’s population is left-oriented, especially the new generation, the suggestion was made, not only to give a balanced presentation, but to approach the public first with the social teachings of Baha'u'llah, and only after having gained their confidence, and in some cases their friendship, to present them the personal or spiritual teachings. The suggestion is to reverse our method, giving ultimately equal emphasis to both aspects.

If this idea has any merit, we have to study the historical background, ideals and method of the leftist movements; especially where they coincide with our own, just as we did study [Christianity], Islam and Judaism, if we wanted to teach their followers.

The response of the attendance, which included about two-third of the National Spiritual Assembly ... was as far as | could see and hear, much more favorable than | expected. Architect Imani, the Auxiliary Board Member, supported the idea and stated that in Italy many ex-Communists are now believers, and some of them are among the most active European Baha'is. It was also noted that more than half of this earth’s population is now left-oriented, while our teaching method and emphasis is out of alignment in respect to this important sector, which will continue to increase in importance during this century.”

From the report on Spain: [Page 198]198 MONTREAL GUADALAJARA

Here in Madrid the Youth Committee told me that the youth of Spain do not want to listen to religious talks. After a phone call from La Coruna, [a city in northern Spain] they were anxious to hear my social approach, and arranged a meeting .... | had an ... audience of about 30, some of whom complained why they did not know about my visit, why | was not used in Madrid and Barcelona, and that they could have used me for their University contacts.”

Such travels take their toll. On his return to Mexico, Emeric wrote the

family:

Back three days and | am still recovering. It was an exciting but tiring six weeks. The Committee wanted me to go on to Luxembourg, France and Corsica for another ten weeks, but | had to say no. ...

Mildred [Mottahedeh] wants me to make more trips like the above, and that we should settle in Portugal, or somewhere in Southern Europe. | have no such desire. No place like Mexico.

Both Rosemary and Emeric kept up their visits at home. These were a beautiful illustration of guidance that would come from the Universal House of Justice many years later:

As they call on one another in their homes and pay visits to families, friends and acquaintances, they enter into purposeful discussion on themes of spiritual import ...and welcome increasing numbers to join them in a mighty spiritual enterprise.**

Last week Emeric and | with a Mexican friend went to visit a new community and LSA at a pueblo (town) four hours drive from here, near the sea. ... We arrived about 11 am and went around to homes and places of work to invite the believers to meet with us in the evening at 5 p.m. We arrived at a house up a steep road, partly cobbled with stones, partly rough trenches cut away by the rains. The house had dirt floors; the room where we met, one double bed, four stools, two chairs and one long table where the great-grandfather of 75 stood mixing dough ... He apologized for working but said he couldn't afford to waste the wood-heated stove. The grandmother (his daughter) apolo[Page 199]MONTREAL— GUADALAJARA 199

gized as she had to go to the weekly cinema to try to sell the cakes that had been baked. But the great-grandmother, the grandson (a man of 50) and the great-granddaughter (21) and two others were present. One neighbour—Baha’i—refused to come as she said she was warned someone always died after Baha’is met! So we have superstitions here too.

But the spirit was beautiful. When the young secretary said that they weren't going to elect a delegate as the community—had no money to send anyone to the convention, Emeric gave a beautiful little talk. He said for the first time in religious history, the people, humble folk from a tiny village or learned ones from a great city could participate in a great spiritual movement, going up step by step to create an infallible body; to be part of this through electing first their Local Spiritual Assembly, then their delegate who represented them in electing the National body, and that National body, this year, acting still as representatives of every tiny village, town and city, every single believer, illiterate or learned, in electing the Universal House of Justice. So that every believer through their representatives and through their prayers would be present in spirit in the Holy Land at the great moment of electing the Universal House of Justice!

| wish | could express it as clearly as he did! My dear husband loves the Spanish language and speaks it so well.

When the meeting ended (I spoke on the power of Faith) the precious greatgrandfather took both my hands in his and said, “Every word spoken here went right up to the Divine Kingdom.” He cannot read or write, but he has the wisdom, the language of the heart, a force greater than all book learning. It was a rich experience.®

Rosemary would follow the advice of ‘Abdu’l-Baha who wrote:

We should all visit the sick. When they are in sorrow and suffering, it is a real help and benefit to have a friend come. Happiness is a great healer to those who are ill... This has greater effect than the remedy itself. You must always have this thought of love and affection when you visit the ailing and afflicted.*°

When friends were ill, Rosemary called on them regularly. The few weeks spent each summer in Montreal would always include visiting her longtime friend Hedda Rakovsky, afflicted with Parkinson's disease. I would be enlisted to drive her the long distance to the east end of Sherbrooke Street, [Page 200]200 MONTREAL GUADALAJARA

to see Hedda. Hedda could not talk clearly; she communicated through the light in her eyes, the beauty of her smile. Rosemary wrote about the days of her youth, and how she learned from Martha MacBean, an early Montreal Baha’i.

Martha was the epitome of gentleness though she had many difficulties in her private life with a brilliant but erratic husband living on a very limited income. She was the one who obeyed the Master's injunction to visit the ill, the unhappy and despondent. | went with her once to visit a believer who lived in the slum district of Montreal. Though dirt and noise existed on the streets, Martha passed through them undisturbed into the tiny spotless room where the Baha'i sat weeping. She was going through an experience of such unhappiness and almost degradation which | had never known, but Martha spread such loving comfort around that soul. She had brought a few flowers, tea and cookies out of her own meager substance. | had felt at first an intruder but Martha’s gentle spirit drew me into the magic circle of her compassion. She was a true example of the Master’s words in regard to visiting to bring comfort to the sick.”

Rosemary writes of personal difficulties with ego, backbiting—seeing them as “soul-purifying”.

.l think she felt that Emeric and | were not as good pioneers as they were, as she kept telling about all they did for the Cause. ... each one works differently. | do admit, my halo slipped; | grew defensive and began to use too many ‘I's in trying to counter with what ‘we’ did. But | am always embarrassed remembering how ‘Abdu'l-Baha said, “I, me, my, mine are the swear words of the future!”

You spoke of “levels of meeting’—Oh, there are so many levels—one is childish, mature, babyish and wise all in one hour!**

We left ... exhausted by our dear hostess! She is so devoted but is a compulsive talker poor dear. Emeric could escape at times with ... but | was left to listen. | can understand she suffers isolation from the stream of Baha’ activity ... Forgive my criticism —I can understand the patterns of talk ... but | was too weak to blank out my mind! As Emeric said we did not in any way show any discourtesy so we get one pale gold star.” [Page 201]MONTREAL GUADALAJARA 201

| have thought of you so much since Panama, for through you | have gone through a soul purifying purgatory! Now | can write for | can truly say | have gone through over six months of having no desire to say “one unkind word about another’. Did you ever hear Genevieve say that a soul can only be cured when it shocks itself into a realization of its illness? So it was with me: | thought | had cured myself, but the spirit of Panama probed and dug—I hope, | hope!—the very roots of backbiting. And your re-action was soul-healthy but made me weep for weeks. It was such a shock to me to find | could make such a snide remark about one of my most devoted friends. | have defended her against so many for whom her honest directness was a strain—and then to ... fail because my little ego was hurt!*°

In a letter to John Robarts, Rosemary expands on Emeric’s perceptions of ritual in the Faith and how he disliked the custom of audiences rising to their feet for a Hand of the Cause or Counsellor:

John, you are one of the few who listen to Emeric patiently, attentively and lovingly as he exposes those edges which to so many seem rough, uncouth and worse, unBaha'i! He used to be able to talk freely with Glen Shook, Kenneth Christian, Genevieve Coy and Horace Holley—there seems no one now of his generation—and | am so grateful for this true detachment, pure humility of yours that permits you to listen! ... One of the questions Emeric (and those like him, a Persian doctor of architecture to whom he spoke) asks is what form apart from a ritual, should this respect take? When we saw Stanwood Cobb, 94 years of age attending Marziah Gail’s talk on “Baha'i Memories” Emeric asked “Is he expected to stand up for a Hand or Counsellor?” At breakfast Emeric asked Jamshid and two other Persians about this question of ritual or respect. Jamshid said something interesting, that when a well-mannered Persian child even enters and greets an older person (a guest) politely, the guest rises to return the greeting! It is a question of culture. Emeric still fights the rigidity of Austrian-Hungarian manners! Can you see him clicking his heels and bending over a lady’s hand now? Yet this is what he used to do when he first arrived in Canada! He was delighted to learn that this was not necessary in Canada!

In all the times I have attended talks given by Hands of the Cause, the audience has always risen on their arrival. What I have observed is that not [Page 202]202 MONTREAL GUADALAJARA

once did a member of that institution seem to revel or delight in the acknowledgement. Often, with downcast eyes, they would quickly motion for everyone to sit down. Their body language told the story of their humility.

Bae

Amine DeMille, her husband John, and family were longtime friends of the Salas from the early days in Montreal. (Amine was the lady who had donated that much sought-after book on George Washington Carver while Rosemary was working on the library project in South Africa.) Following John’s death, Amine returned to Little Rock, Arkansas, her hometown. It is interesting that in the early days in Montreal, one of the difficulties Amine had with the Faith had to do with the concept of mankind as one, racial equality. From her upbringing, she had trouble accepting blacks as equals.” She obviously overcame this test. Rosemary describes Amine’s struggles when she moved to Little Rock:

Alas, her influential relatives (one of whom had assisted in establishing the town library), refused to give any except very minor assistance when they learned she was mixing with the Negro Baha'is! It was the time of the uprisings and the graduating class in the Negro high school were refused help with schooling. Daisy Bates, the remarkable Negro organizer appealed for volunteer teachers to help the students to graduate and go on to college. Amine offered (though she had a very small salary as an assistant librarian) to teach in her spare time. Because of this, Mrs. Bates was so grateful that she procured a scholarship for Joyce, Amine’s daughter, (together with the same for Negro students) to enter college to prepare for medicine!*

Some years later, Amine, with her daughter Joyce, moved to Panama. In a letter to mutual friends, Rosemary described her visit to Panama early in 1977, months before Amine’s death:

| had been planning to keep my promise to visit Amine. We arranged dates for last fall; Amine’s operation prevented a visit. Then the urge came that | must go in January—so off | went. Joyce met me at the airport—Amine was not well enough to come. So [Page 203]MONTREAL GUADALAJARA 203

we had a chat in private together. Joyce told me then that the doctor had said her span would be six months to a year! ... Joyce has certainly been raised up by Baha'u'llah to be the support and treasure her mother needed at this time ...

Amine met me at the door of the apartment looking so beautiful, all softly aglow to greet me ... It was as though the years had been swept away, and two old ladies had become again the young women they were when first they met! ...

The next morning, Sunday, Joyce drove us to the Temple. It looks so beautiful, on the top of the hill, standing there alone with a view of the surrounding valley, another hilltop on one side and the ocean circling around a distance away on the other ... The service that Sunday was to commemorate World Religion Day, and much to Amine’s delight, Joyce had been asked to read and had consented to do so. Amine and | sat close together on a bench. It was a beautiful experience to renew our bond in such a place! After the service, so many friends clustered around Amine as it was her first appearance since her operation. ... It was such a joy—to see Amine in full bloom one might say, relaxed and happy as a flower in the sun, accepting the bounty of the love of the friends as a flower accepts the sun. ...

It was a wrench to leave Amine and Panama, knowing well that the stream of letters flowing between Mexico and Panama would cease soon, but | set my face resolutely towards the Merida Conference where | was to meet Emeric. During this whole visit, we never spoke of “last times” just let each day slip by as though it would continue so forever. We'll be picking up the threads again sometime in the Kingdom.”

‘This letter from Guadalajara was written by Rosemary to Amine, just around the time that Amine died.

April 17, 1977

| was awakened early this morning by a touch on my shoulder from someone standing behind me so | couldn't see who it was. | fell asleep again and awoke saying the Healing Prayer for us both, and as usual, in that lovely blue-white translucent light that at times comes with prayer when | “hit the target”. You seemed to stand in the center and | on the fringes of the circle. It seemed to me quite natural that this should be so with all your spiritual gifts and capacity so much greater than mine. So here am | writing you to let you know. But I’m not sure whether you touched my shoulder or not! Let me know! [Page 204]204 MONTREAL GUADALAJARA

During that same visit to Amine before her death, Rosemary said prayers for many at the House of Worship in Panama. This response came from a young friend in northern Canada.

Rosemary—| feel compelled to write. For 3 years Andy and | have been inactive—several weeks ago we developed an inexplicable spiritual yearning—and turned towards the Faith. Then came your postcard—you had been busily intoning our names in the Temple in Panama. Your prayers were effective and | want to thank you for your patient abiding love and conviction, and hope!”

In the years since that time, Andy and Susanne ‘Tamas have served, and continue to serve in countless ways, nationally and internationally.

Rosemary and Emeric would travel from Mexico to Canada every summer and visit family and friends. Rosemary describes one of the family

gatherings held at Lake St. Francis Farm, home of my parents, Paul and Ida Sala.

... Lillian spent the night and worked so quickly and efficiently next morning with your mother and me—I did the “plebeian’” jobs cutting up tomatoes and cucumbers and making salad dressing. Everyone came—all forty guests ...

The farmhouse glowed with that special warmth, everyone mingling together, if not affinities at least accepting each other. | told Sheila what a tremendous experience it has been for me from a Scottish-Presbyterian background to be hurled into such a living vortex for which the Faith prepared me of course ...

There just has to be a replica of the spirit of this farmhouse in one of the other worlds of God for it has meant so much to so many people that the waves of warm feelings which have touched so many lives will go on as immutable and eternal as energy itself.”

Rosemary loved children and they responded. She would peer into their little faces with complete attention, or tease them, or play games. Rosemary and Emeric did not have children of their own, but they maintained warm relations with so many scattered far and wide. [Page 205]MONTREAL GUADALAJARA 205

Hurry up and send a photo of the new baby Renée! | have just framed a photo of ‘Abdu’l-Baha. Below this photo are mounted your infants, Bill’s Norsola, plus others, mounted on colored photos of flowers, and above these words that He wrote:**

“These children are neither oriental nor occidental, neither Asiatic nor American, neither European or African, but they are of the Kingdom. Their Native Land is Heaven and their home the Kingdom of Abha.’”

A letter to a great-niece — age 5

Dear, very dear Leida,

Your Opa sent us a photograph of you at the farm.. You were smiling so happily that | wished that my arms were long enough to stretch all the way from Mexico to Newfoundland to give you a tight squeeze! Remember the beautiful messes | made in our bedroom at the farm? And how | was always saying: Where are my glasses? Where are my earrings? Where is my pencil? And you told how clever Jennifer is at finding things.

Do you look up at the stars at night? | blow a kiss at the stars | have named Leida, Elin, Jennifer and send a loving thought (a prayer) for each of you.*°

Rosemary’s loving attention was scattered far and wide through her letters. When Angus Cowan was appointed to the Continental Board of Counsellors, Rosemary sent her congratulations.

Years ago, after a Convention in Vancouver in the fifties, you were kind enough to write me a loving appreciative letter about a talk | gave. | have never forgotten this and at moments when | feel that my efforts for the Cause of God have been written in water, your loving gesture has been among the memories Baha'u'llah has given me to refresh my soul!

So now it is my turn: When the Canadian Baha'i News arrived with your photo as a newly appointed Counsellor, | felt as though my own personal hidden thoughts had been realized.”

Rosemary would share bits of news that inspired or touched her— such as this letter conveying news from the Bahai World Centre: [Page 206]206 MONTREAL GUADALAJARA

Then another letter from Haifa from a worker there (secretary) who was with us in South Africa. ... She wrote that the architect of the proposed temple for India was in Haifa with a model. It is a representation of a lotus flower and, she wrote, will look as though it was made of cemented moonbeams!

And in an added postscript to that same letter:

Oh Doris [the friend in Haifa] said that the Baha'is working there had been given a tour of the Seat of the Universal House of Justice—the outer shell as yet, but that the view will be magnificent. Imagine seeing the “Ark” Baha'u'llah mentions, sailing on Mount Carmel! My heart leaps at the thought.”

Rosemary would have loved to visit the Lotus Temple of India and the Seat of the House of Justice. This was not to be.

By \&