Scene from the 2012 devotional concert

The Baha’i House of Worship will host two concerts as concluding events in the Seventh Annual Baha’i Choral Music Festival, Sunday, May 26, 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. The concerts are free and open to the public. No tickets are required.

The soaring dome of the temple’s auditorium provides a beautiful, inspiring space with incredible acoustics for audiences to experience the rich, stirring harmonies of sacred music of the world’s religions.

More than 200 diverse singers from many faiths and backgrounds come from across the United States and from nine countries around the globe to sing in the festival under the direction of Van Gilmer, internationally known performer and composer. Mr. Gilmer assembles a new musical program each year. The a capella musical selections include classical, gospel, and Negro spiritual compositions.

Rehearsals are held over three days at a nearby hotel, culminating in two, back-to-back festival concerts. Participants, many of whom return year after year, sing in four or more parts and learn the music by heart.

Now in its seventh year, the festival has become somewhat of a North Shore institution, drawing large crowds to the auditorium space which seats up to a thousand people.

Brilliant Star children’s magazine, published by the Baha’i National Spiritual Assembly, won two Awards of Excellence this year in the DeRose-Hinkhouse awards program of the Religion Communicators Council. The newest edition of Green Acre on the Piscataqua, a book on the history of the venerable Bahá’í school in Maine, also won an Award of Excellence.

The DeRose-Hinkhouse Memorial Awards are given annually to those who demonstrate excellence in religious communication and public relations. This year’s awards ceremony was held during the annual conference of the Religion Communicators Council, April 4–6 in Indianapolis.

Staff of Brilliant Star won one award for the January/February 2012 issue, “Soaring with Creativity,” and a second for the cover illustration of the September/October 2012 issue, “Life’s Balancing Act.” Team members recognized by this award are Amethel Parel-Sewell, C. Aaron Kreader and Susan Engle.

 
Anne Gordon Perry had submitted the expanded third edition of Green Acre on the Piscataqua for consideration on behalf of a team of authors. It tells the remarkable story of the origins and development of Green Acre Bahá’í School, its founder, Sarah Farmer, and the historic visit of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in 1912. A resort hotel in 1890, this place eventually developed into a Bahá’í school that today attracts visitors from all over the world.

The Religion Communicators Council is an international interfaith association of professionals who work in print and electronic communication, media, marketing and public relations. The April conference included a special focus on the use of social media in religion communication—how to develop multimedia content and broaden inclusiveness in news coverage on religion.

Soo Fouts turns 90 on April 27, 2013

I am of Korean descent and was born in Maui, Hawaii, in 1923. I was the first Korean-American member of the Baha’i Faith.

I am one of six children, and although my family was quite poor, we were well cared for and happy. My father was the only night watchman on a plantation and had come all the way from North Korea to do this work, which paid him $65 a month. He was a quiet but kind man. My father felt privileged to have access to a horse, and on Sunday mornings when he came home from his night shift at work, he gave children in the neighborhood rides on this horse.

When I was six or seven years old, I was invited to some children’s classes where they were teaching the Baha’i Faith. Honestly, at the time I was mostly interested in the lemonade and cookies they served after class, but I kept on with these classes for two or three years.  I learned about Baha’u’llah, (the founder of the Baha’i Faith), and have been a Baha’i ever since—the only one in my family.

I can’t explain why it was that I was drawn to the Faith at such a young age.  I had no understanding of religion, I simply accepted it.  I was entranced by Baha’u’llah’s beauty and station and just accepted Him. Baha’u’llah simply became a part of me.

I attended the best English standard speaking school in Hawaii, which was where all the white children went. My mother put on hat and gloves and took my sister and me, all starched and neat, to see the principal, Miss Rash. In broken English she asked her to take us. Miss Rash just stared and stared at us, but accepted us to this school, where we were the only Oriental children.  They provided an excellent education, including music appreciation, poetry, and art.

When I was 16 I moved to Honolulu to help my older sister who had a baby, and to attend high school. I was in a college preparatory course, but the bombing of Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941, changed my plans for college.

The attack came on a Sunday morning. I had been out dancing with my cousin the night before, and when the phone rang early in the morning, none of us girls wanted to get up to answer. It was my sister on the line. “Soo, come home at once! The Japanese have bombed Pearl Harbor!”

At first I just didn’t understand what she was talking about. I couldn’t comprehend what “to bomb” meant.  When it suddenly dawned on me what was happening I thought of my mother and began to cry.

The war changed my plans for college. I was recruited to work as a clerk typist at Pearl Harbor, for $300 a month. I had never heard of earning that kind of money! So I signed up. I worked there for two years.

It was then that I met my husband, Leroy Fouts. In the Baha’i Faith young people must obtain the permission of their parents to marry. At first, my mother did not give her permission for me to marry Leroy, who was a white man.  She wanted me to marry a Korean.  We waited a while and asked again. She said no a second time, and then a few weeks later changed her mind, giving me permission to marry whomever I wanted. She said that her children were Americans now and that none of them would marry Koreans—and none of them did. My parents didn’t meet my husband in person until a year later, after my son was born.

There were some difficult times for me during the war—there was a lot of racial prejudice. We didn’t go out much, to restaurants and such, during the war.  On more than one occasion my husband had to physically defend me. My comfort and joy throughout was that I was a Baha’i.  I had an understanding of people that went beyond race, color, or creed.

My husband worked in the aeronautical industry and trained young engineers. His business and travels allowed me to visit and live in many places in the United States. We lived in Utah, Michigan, New Jersey, Virginia and Florida.  I served the Baha’i Faith in each place we stayed.

Teaching became the source of my joy. If I could not tell someone about the Faith for a time, my heart and soul felt empty. I was weak and immobilized. I discovered that my strength was in teaching, my happiness was in teaching, my very life was for the purpose of teaching.

My husband was not a Baha’i when we married, but joined the Faith 14 years later. He was always supportive of my involvement, though.  For example, in 1954, the Guardian, (Shoghi Effendi, the leader of the Faith at the time), called for Baha’is to move to certain cities to establish Baha’i communities. My husband said okay, so we moved to Ogden, Utah specifically for that reason.

In 1976 I was elected to serve on the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States, (the national governing body). I served for ten years, until 1986. During this time I had the honor of representing the Faith around the world. I visited Australia, Switzerland, Germany and attended the opening of the Baha’i House of Worship in Apia, Samoa.

Later, after my husband died, I lived for 9 ½ years in Korea. I had heard about Korea from my parents, but this was my first visit. It was a challenge for me because I had to learn the language all over again.  Then, at age 80, I decided to come home to the United States.

I’ll be 90 at the end of this month. One way I still serve the Faith is as a reader at the Baha’i House of Worship. My whole life has been centered around Baha’u’llah.  I serve and I love the Baha’i Faith.

Adapted from video interview conducted by Ruth and Steve Jackson

Ludwig Tuman (photo by Tobin Smith)

By Sally Weeks

Nearly 20 years ago, Ludwig Tuman, composer, pianist, music educator and producer, wrote the book, Mirror of the Divine, which described a new perspective among artists that is beginning to take root in the world–a global approach.

“This phenomenon is neither modern nor postmodern,” said Mr. Tuman. “As the world contracts and becomes more interconnected, you see artists of all kinds becoming more receptive to influences from earlier periods and from cultures beyond the ones in which they were raised.”

His recent composition “Variations for Piano,” which he said is an example of this perspective, has been named one of the winners in the Concorso Counterpoint-Italy, an international competition based in New York. The winners were chosen from some 75 submissions representing composers living on four continents.

A substantial work consisting of 14 pieces, the Variations initially debuted to a rousing reception at the 2011 conference of the Association for Baha’i Studies in San Francisco. In connection with the international award, the work’s premiere for the general public will be this year in New York City and the Tuscany region of Italy.

Linda Wetherill, founder of the Concorso Counterpoint-Italy and a specialist in world music, described Mr. Tuman’s composition as “extraordinarily beautiful.”

“Its orientation around an ethnic source,” she said, “combined with its variation in historical styles, promotes this versatile international work as a piece to consider in music’s contemporary dialogue.”

The “ethnic source” she refers to is a lullaby from the Middle East, but Mr. Tuman notes that the work doesn’t focus on the lullaby itself. He says the work tells a story, in musical terms, of a child growing through the stages of life into maturity.

The Variations are written in styles that range from the 18th-century Baroque and Classical periods to 19th-century Romanticism, and toward the end suggest some 20th-century music while retaining something of the lullaby’s Middle Eastern flavor.

A follower of the Baha’i Faith, Mr. Tuman says his objective as a composer is to create culturally meaningful and spiritually uplifting music. His creative work is connected with community and revolves around a core of enduring classical concepts and values.

“I don’t feel obliged to look for novelty,” he notes. “Novel solutions may arise as I compose. But if a distinct musical language emerges from the work, it will be a by-product rather than the aim.

“When your priority is to serve humanity’s spiritual and cultural interests, your voice as an artist emerges naturally.”

In terms of drawing inspiration from various cultures and time periods, he says other artists are beginning to do this, too.

“It’s a growing development,” he notes. “More and more, when you see what composers are doing, they are more receptive to cultures they were not raised in. Artists are beginning to ask themselves, ‘Am I going to limit myself just to the influences from the culture I was born in? And what if I identify with more than one culture to begin with?’

“If you can expand the range of cultural sources you draw on, then why not? It opens a vast new range of potential developments in the arts,” he says.

Mr. Tuman has long been an advocate of an emerging artistic vision that sees the earth as a single whole and recognizes the diverse arts and cultures of the world as organically related to one another.

“In my case,” he says, “this involves drawing upon and honoring a variety of musical sources in my creative work, in a way that brings into view both the oneness of the human family and our cultural diversity.”

Mr. Tuman is a graduate of Harvard University and received a Master of Arts in music composition from San Francisco State University. At the Chicago Conservatory College, he designed and taught courses in composition and non-Western music.

The mediums and styles of his writing range from Asian and African-inspired ensembles to classical orchestra, from the European Renaissance to folk songs of South America.

The “Variations for Piano” can be heard here: www.facebook.com/Ludwig.Tuman.Composer

At the end of the sermon a woman hobbled to the stage on crutches and stood before the Preacher. He put both hands on the sides of her face and pulled quickly while shouting something. She fell to the ground. The Preacher stepped back and the woman stood up without her crutches. Then everyone stood up and clapped.

My father turned to me, “You see that, did you? That, son, is the work of the Lord Jesus.” At five years old I didn’t know very much. But after what I had witnessed at the revival, I knew that I was not going to mess with Jesus, whoever he was.

Bill Miller, center, with wife Toyo Miller, left and Aram Ferdowsi, right.

Dr. Susan Isobel Moody, born in 1851 in Amsterdam, New York, knew author Rudyard Kipling’s refrain, “East is East and West is West, and ne’er the twain shall meet,” but lived instead by a philosophy more like that of the mystic poet Rumi; “Neither eastern, nor western: human.”

Dr. Susan Moody brought medicine and education to women and girls in Iran from 1909-1934, at a time when both were virtually unavailable. Though she was more than sixty years old when she arrived, she quickly became fluent in Farsi and adept at sitting on the floor and eating Persian style – although she did say that getting up after eating was a lot harder than sitting down.

Dr. Moody and Baha'is picnic in Tehran, 1911.

Susan may have been a late bloomer, but she definitely bloomed. Reared a Protestant in the Scotch Covenanter sect, she helped raise five young relatives before moving to Chicago. She later spent time in New York and Paris where she studied voice and fine arts.

In 1903, after much study and contemplation she re-defined herself further, by becoming a Baha’i, embracing a faith and social order based on the principle that we are all members of one race—the human race.

The Baha’i concept of oneness resonated with her, and she quickly adopted the Baha’i belief that the height of virtue is to serve others. Susan prayed: “I hereby devote, consecrate and sacrifice all that I am, and all that I have and all that I hope to be and to have, to Thee, O Divine Father, to be used in accordance with Thy Purpose.”

She then re-entered medical school. As a young woman she had been interested in medical studies, but abandoned them because she couldn’t stand the dissecting room. Older and steadier, at the age of 52 she got her degree and opened a practice in Chicago.

In 1909, she traveled to Haifa in Palestine, (known today as Israel), to visit Abdu’l-Baha, the son of Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith.

The Baha’i Faith began in Iran. Baha’u'llah’s teachings, including the oneness of humanity and the equality of men and women were quite radical for the times and upset the status quo. He was imprisoned, chained and tortured in His home country before He and His family were exiled to other lands.

The Iranian followers of Baha’u’llah suffered waves of brutal persecution—persecution that continues to this day. Yet they envisioned Iran’s potential greatness and worked to improve life for Iranians, particularly women. Medical care and education were key to the advancement of Iranian women. Abdu’l-Baha urged Dr. Moody to go to Iran.

The journey was quite an adventure. Crossing the border from Azerbaijan, she rode stagecoaches pulled by fast horses through high-altitude passes in the Elburz Mountains. After several galloping days, and nights wrapped in furs in rustic post houses, she stopped in Qazvin, birthplace of the Iranian Baha’i women’s rights martyr, Tahirih (1814-1850).

By the time she arrived in Tehran after a two-day desert journey down from the mountains, her green traveling dress was, she said, reduced to rags, and she barely had time to change into another outfit before attending a welcome dinner held in her honor. It was November 25, so, she said, the banquet was her Thanksgiving.

Women flocked to Susan Moody. “They never had a doctor,” she wrote, they “would rather die than show their faces to a man…” Dr. Moody saw patients from 6:00 a.m. to 11:15 pm, with hardly a minute to eat, treating health problems the likes of which she’d never imagined. And she fell in love with the people. Her welcome from Iranians of all sorts, not just Bahá’ís, amazed and cheered her.

Dr. Moody with Baha'i women in Tehran, 1910. Thse women were some of the first to appear in public without veils.

A month later she leased a house on Aladauleh Street and her physician’s shingle was swinging over the entrance. “Imagine me hanging there in both English and Persian,” she observed.

Soon afterward, with five other (male) doctors, she opened the Unity Hospital. Since hospital rates were expensive, she maintained her home practice to serve the poor. And since many women, rich and poor, stayed indoors because of tradition or affliction, she made countless house calls.

She needed nurses, midwives, and fellow female doctors. She tried to train promising Iranian women, but lack of schooling and hygienic knowledge slowed them down. Some of them were hindered by fears of breaking traditional dress code–nurses enveloped in chadors were limited.

The Baha’is had a boys’ school. Now they decided to open a girls’ school as well, to educate the coming generation. A new constitutional government was giving them hope, despite ongoing persecution.

Dr. Moody added long hours in the Baha’i schools to her medical work. When she returned home exhausted after grueling days, visitors cheered her up. She hired a cook, and with good food and convivial conversation her “material cares” fell away and she felt “rested and refreshed.”

Dr. Moody with Baha'i friends in Tehran, 1920.

Soon a nurse and another female doctor arrived from the United States, along with a teacher to run the girls’ school. Years of growth, hardship, tragedy of loss, and sheer joy of living rolled on. Students grew up, and became efficient teachers and nurses. The hospital and schools endured, precariously, almost miraculously.

After severe deprivations during World War I, persecution of the Baha’is in Iran escalated. Dr. Moody returned to the United States for a time. She was 74. She spent most of her time on the road mustering support for her projects. At 77, in California, she took her first plane ride.

In a newspaper picture she’s small, white-haired, grinning broadly, standing beside her pilot, a daring young man in his flying machine clad in cap, goggles and aviator jacket. She said that after entering Tehran in a coach and four horses and exiting it 15 years later in “a flivver of doubtful vintage,” she saw no reason why aerial transportation should hold any fears for the modern woman.

In 1927, she returned to Iran and went back to work for as long as she could. In 1934, at the age of 83, cared for by devoted friends, she died in Tehran. Shortly before her death, one of her many visitors asked her to speak about her life, say something to preserve for posterity. She said, “Let it go. Let it pass into the infinite.” Hundreds, including many who had been students over the years, attended the funeral of this selfless woman.

Funeral for Dr. Susan Moody, Tehran, 1934. Hundreds attended, including many of her students.

Photo Gallery

Progress is being made on the Welcome Center at the Baha’i House of Worship. Click to enlarge and browse a gallery of related photos.

Early winter had no power to deter progress on construction of the new House of Worship Welcome Center, as the steel framework of the building on the west side of the Mother Temple of the West began to take shape.

In this gallery you can see not only a series of photos taken in early February, but also architectural renderings of the finished views.

Violet passed away October 4, 2012, in her late-life hometown of Royal Oak, Michigan.

In a letter of tribute, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States wrote, “We … recall Dr. Clark’s services to the cause of humanity, not only through her career as an educator, but also her pioneering and travel-teaching efforts among the nations of the Caribbean — examples of detachment and devotion that will surely have spiritual effect for years to come.”

Born in 1911, Violet was a schoolteacher for many years in Dearborn, Michigan. She was a native German speaker and her horizons expanded internationally from early on. She was the founding president of the area’s chapter of the U.S. Association of Overseas Educators.

She came in contact with Marguerite True, a Baha’i who later moved with her husband to the Canary Islands in service to the Faith. Falling in love with the world-embracing teachings of Baha’u’llah, she became a Baha’i in 1952.

Over the next two decades Violet’s activity for the Faith included service on the Spiritual Assemblies of Detroit and Ann Arbor, facilitating sessions at Baha’i summer schools and institutes, and participation in the Baha’i National Convention as an elected delegate. She was on the committees overseeing the Davison (now Louhelen) Baha’i School and children’s classes in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti.

She also traveled internationally in service to the Faith many times: to Mexico, England, Canada and Iran. She also attended a scholarly gathering in Ghana in the course of conducting her doctoral project on Ghanaian students in the United States.

As a member of Partners of the Alliance (now known as Partners of the Americas), founded to provide grassroots support for the federal Alliance for Progress, she helped establish an exchange program sending Michigan teachers to Belize. She was one of them, and took many service trips to Belize starting in 1968.

So in 1975 when Violet was widowed and retired, doors were open for her to move to Belize full time. She worked vigorously to help the Belizean Baha’is organize and develop their communities. She also stayed involved in recruiting schoolteachers for service in the small Central American country.

She was also called on from time to time to support Baha’i activity in the U.S. Virgin Islands and make presentations at Baha’i summer schools. In 1982 she shifted her home base to the island of St. John, traveling to numerous islands in service to the Faith while continuing to visit Belize.

In 1983 she returned to Michigan full time, settling in Highland Park. She continued to correspond, lecture and travel in support of international development, and encouraged Baha’is to utilize exchange organizations to gain experience that could be valuable in serving the Faith overseas.

As late as 1997 Violet was traveling for the Faith to Europe and the Canary Islands. She was a supporter of Health for Humanity, a Baha’i-inspired international service organization, and was involved in race amity activity in southeastern Michigan.

Rafael Portillo found and enthusiastically served the Baha’i Faith in the United States, then in midlife returned to assist in the development of Baha’i communities in his native El Salvador. He passed away December 14, 2012.

A letter of tribute from the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States says in part, “[W]e wish to convey our especial gratitude and admiration for his services to our beloved Faith … as a pioneer in the international field. Without doubt, [his] heartfelt dedication and love were keenly felt by those who knew him and will be fondly remembered.”

Born in 1950 and brought to the United States as a child, Rafael found his calling as a chiropractor and practiced in Burlingame, California, for a number of years. He also coached youth soccer.

A Baha’i since 1971, he taught the Faith enthusiastically. He joined several traveling teaching projects during the 1970s including in the deep South, in Guatemala and in Watsonville, California.

With his family he moved to San Salvador, El Salvador, in 1998. Traveling widely over the years to various locales in Central America, he also helped his family organize regular Baha’i Youth Workshop performances and later was active in developing Baha’i training institutes in the region.

Rafael Jess Portillo’s survivors, all of El Salvador or California, include his wife, Lisa Groger Portillo; two daughters, Joanna and Jessica; and a son, Michael.

Yousef Mostaghim, 88, San Francisco, CA

Yousef Mostaghim was a lifelong teacher of the Faith who arose twice to support development of Baha’i communities in southern Africa. An accountant by occupation, he passed away January 7, 2013.

In a letter of condolence to his wife, Pari Dokht, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States wrote in part, “[W]e note with deep gratitude your husband’s service as a pioneer in the international field. The spiritual fragrance of your husband was certainly imbibed by many who will remember him for many years to come.”

An Iranian native, Yousef was educated at the University of Tehran and worked at various times for the U.S. Agency for International Development and Shahpur Chemical Co. He was a member of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Mahshahr as well as various committees, and conducted deepening classes for youth and children.

He spent a while as a pioneer in Swaziland in 1971–1972, traveling frequently within the country to teach and consolidate Baha’i communities. In 1979 his family moved to San Francisco as Iran was in revolutionary turmoil. It was three years later that Yousef moved for a few months to Gaborone, Botswana, and continued to support Baha’i activities both there and after returning to California.

Yousef Mostaghim’s survivors, all of California, include his wife, Pari Dokht; a daughter, Afrookhteh; and a son, Aref.

Paul H. Stern, 81, Grants, NM

Paul Stern, a psychological counselor, was a pioneer for the Baha’i Faith in Japan for 19 years. In later years he was active for animal rights in his region of New Mexico. Paul passed away October 4, 2012.

Born in 1931 in Wetonka, South Dakota, Paul started out following his father’s path into the ministry, attending Church of the Brethren College in Kansas and seminary in Chicago. He later earned a master’s degree in psychological counseling at the University of Arizona.

Some time after accepting the Baha’i Faith, in the mid-1970s Paul moved to Japan with his second wife, Terri, where he served in various capacities. After moving back to the United States in 1994, he worked as a prison psychologist and AA counselor in Grants.

He was a member of a local animal rights group and was appointed by the mayor to the Grants Animal Board.

Paul was preceded in death by his second wife as well as his third wife, also named Terri, and by all five of his siblings.

Wilford L. Johnson, 78, Asheville, NC

Wilford Johnson’s country-folk singing and songwriting, including such Baha’i-inspired songs as “Wildfire” and “Let’s Try Peace for a While,” leavened many a gathering over the years.

In greater society he was acknowledged as a founding father of the Sourwood Festival, an annual family-oriented, alcohol-free festival of song, dance, arts and crafts in Black Mountain, North Carolina.

Wilford passed away October 22, 2012. Born in 1934 in McDowell County east of Asheville, he lived a number of years in Ohio, including Kent, Akron and Cincinnati.

His survivors include two daughters, Cynthia and Neva; two sons, Joseph and Hugh; two sisters, Sara and Helen; a brother, Bill; 12 grandchildren; and 23 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by a sister, Pauline, and a brother, Earl.

Anselm W. Schurgast, 91, Meriden, CT

Anselm Schurgast, a psychiatrist and a Baha’i virtually all his life, traveled many times in retirement to support Baha’i communities abroad. He passed away October 24, 2012.

Born in Berlin, Germany, in 1921, Anselm was brought to the United States at age 4. He was educated in Cincinnati, Ohio, and served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps in the wake of World War II. In addition to private practice, he served at numerous hospitals in Providence, Rhode Island; New York City; and finally for many years in Meriden. One of his duties was as chief of psychiatry at a veterans hospital.

Enthusiastic in promoting the teachings of the Faith, Anselm served on several regional and area teaching committees in New England in the 1940s through 1960s, and also was a member of the Spiritual Assembly of Meriden for many years. He represented Rhode Island and later Connecticut three times as a delegate to the Baha’i National Convention.

After the passing of his wife, AnnJane Schurgast, in 2002, he began a series of trips of several weeks each to support teaching of the Faith, most often in Bermuda but also in Alaska, South Africa and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Ezzatullah Varjavandi, 79, Columbia County, OR

Ezzatullah George Varjavandi had an eventful Baha’i life that included wholehearted service to the Faith since his childhood in the Yazd region of Iran, and continuing in the Pacific Northwest including Alaska. He passed away September 15, 2012.

Born to parents who converted to the Faith from Zoroastrianism, Ezzatullah told stories from his childhood of “going door to door on a borrowed donkey” in his hometown of Maryam Abad, Iran, gathering rugs from homes of Baha’is to use in the local Baha’i Center for Feast gatherings, according to his family.

Despite witnessing persecutions against the Baha’is, he continued to be active in the Faith and traveled as a youth to promote Baha’i teachings in other areas of Iran.

In his early 20s he came to Chicago in 1958 to learn English, then attended Millsaps Methodist College in Jackson, Mississippi, where he met and married Bobbie Jean Potts. Threats related to their mixed-nationality marriage led to their leaving the area, family members say.

The couple moved to Sitka, Alaska, supported teaching there, and served on the Local Spiritual Assembly. This experience reportedly “opened his eyes” to the idea that Baha’is whose lifestyle differed from his traditional upbringing could be sincere and dedicated to the Faith.

Ezzatullah brought up a family mainly in Cowlitz County, Washington, and Columbia County, Oregon. In both places they supported every aspect of community life and hosted regular potluck fireside gatherings, even though he was plagued with infirmities much of his adult life.

Ezzatullah Varjavandi was preceded in death by his wife, Bobbie, in 1998. His survivors include three daughters, Diane Varjavandi and Nancy Graves of Washington and Linda Zahl of Oregon; five grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

Ford E. Otey, 92, Nashville, Tennessee

Ford Essex Otey was patriarch of a four-generation Baha’i family and a well-loved pillar of Nashville’s Baha’i community. He was a believer more than 70 years, having been taught the Faith in 1938 by the Hand of the Cause Louis G. Gregory and by his future brother-in-law, Albert James, Tennessee’s first Bahá’í youth. Ford passed away December 30, 2012.

Born in 1920, Ford lived in Nashville virtually his entire life except for his Army service in Japan and Korea during World War II. He married Elnora James in 1942 and they brought up three children, including a nephew they raised as a son after Elnora’s sister-in-law died in childbirth.

His loving spirit and willingness to help others was well-known among Bahá’ís and friends as well as those Ford knew from his work in funeral homes, the family grocery stores, and his salvage yard. Over the decades the family hosted innumerable Baha’i meetings and housed visitors of many cultural and religious backgrounds despite the prevalence of segregation.

Ford was preceded in death by his wife, Elnora; a daughter, Julia; a granddaughter; and six siblings. His survivors include sons Ford R. (Ron) Otey and Robert James; seven grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.

Parvaneh Kanani Adlparvar, 75, Lake Forest, California

Parvaneh Adlparvar worked for 37 years alongside her husband to strengthen the national Baha’i community of Lebanon, a country where the Baha’i Faith has not been recognized. They braved several wars and hardships, including a 1997 fire at the nation’s principal Baha’i center. She passed to the next world November 11, 2012, after contracting pancreatic cancer.

In a letter of condolence to her children, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States wrote, “Your mother’s indefatigable labors on behalf of the Cause of God and loving obedience to its institutions, as evidenced in her remarkable record of service as a stalwart pioneer under formidable conditions, will forever illumine the annals of Baha’i history. This exemplary maidservant of Baha’u’llah will surely be heralded by the Concourse on High for her heroic efforts on this earthly plane.”

A native of Tehran, Parvaneh moved with her husband, Zia Adlparvar, at the call of the Guardian to support the small national Baha’i community of Kuwait. “There she hosted Hands of the Cause of God, Arab dignitaries, and many Persian friends who traveled there, as well as the local seekers and believers,” according to her son Payam Adlparvar.

In 1964, on the instruction of the Universal House of Justice, the family settled in Lebanon. Zia and Parvaneh stayed there until 2002, when they moved to Louisville, Kentucky, for access to advanced medical care. Parvaneh returned to Lebanon following Zia’s passing in 2004, but was evacuated during the 2006 war and moved near family members in California.

Ruth Borah, 64, Voorschoten, Netherlands

Ruth Borah transplanted herself to the Netherlands as a Baha’i pioneer only two years after committing herself to the Faith as a college student. She co-founded and for many years helped maintain a Local Spiritual Assembly in Voorschoten, a suburb in The Hague/Leiden area, despite decades of debilitating illness. She passed away December 25, 2012.

The National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States, in a letter of tribute addressed to its sister Assembly serving the Netherlands, wrote, “We join you in mourning her loss, yet rejoice in remembrance of Ruth’s devoted services to the Cause of God, particularly in her role as a pioneer to the Netherlands for a period of forty years. Now freed from the infirmities of this mortal world, we pray that this beloved bird of the Kingdom may soar forevermore in the heavenly realms.”

Brought up in Berkeley, California, the daughter of a professor, Ruth embraced the Faith in 1970 while attending Radcliffe College in Cambridge, Massachusetts. On graduation she spent a year in Wayne County, North Carolina, where she served on a fledgling Local Spiritual Assembly and worked to consolidate Baha’i communities in the wake of rapid growth in numbers.

She moved to the Netherlands in 1972 and, on gaining increased command of Dutch, put her musical and speaking talents to work in presenting the Baha’i message locally, helping establish and maintain an Assembly in Voorschoten. She built up the local Baha’i library to contain several hundred volumes in about 20 languages.

Ruth worked in the editing and publications field for a number of years until chronic Sjögren’s syndrome disabled her. She survived a bout with cancer in the late 1990s.

Gerald F. Sen, 76, Alejuela, Costa Rica

Gerald Sen, a Hawaiian-born believer who lived at times in the United States and Canada, was a Baha’i pioneer in Costa Rica for 17 years. He passed away October 13, 2012.

A letter of tribute from the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States to the National Assembly of Costa Rica, says, “Mr. Sen was known as a good friend to others and an admirable co-worker of the Cause, whose service included a number of years on a Local Spiritual Assembly in your country. Surely, such signs of service will influence the hearts of many for years to come.”

A longtime Baha’i and teacher of the Faith who was a member in the 1990s of the Baha’i Regional American Indian Teaching Committee serving the Central States, he passed away November 30, 2012, in Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin. He was 70.

A letter of tribute from the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States says, “Nick’s years of endeavor to foster greater appreciation in the larger community for Ojibwe language and culture, his advocacy of the oneness of the human family and efforts to render practical service to its neediest members, and his faithful exertions in appointed service to this institution are all warmly and gratefully remembered. He is certain to be missed by the many whose lives he touched.”

Please click here for a complete obituary in the Vilas County (Wisconsin) News-Review.