Archive for May, 2009

 

Lyle Ames, right, and Victor Frank, center, make a presentation to a local  government leader in an undated photograph. 

 

 

Lyle Ames

 

It can be said of Lyle Ames that he was a man of few words and many deeds.  He was strong, handsome, and physically fit. Loyalty, reliability, and trustworthiness were essential ingredients of his character.  It was his nature to help people. He was always helping someone, but he never talked much about it.  He accepted people pretty much as he found them. He did not make Judgments, but his appeal was to one’s reason, one’s intelligence, one’s higher nature.

 

Lyle did not have an easy life, but perhaps that’s what gave him his strength of character.  He was born in Tamahawk, Wisconsin on May 14, 1907 of an American/English father and an Indian mother of the Ojibway Tribe, the largest tribe of the Algonquin family.  Lyle was the second of four children born to Beardsley and Emma Ames.  His father was a cook, a rancher and a railroad blacksmith, so the family was always on the move in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Montana.

 

In those days, much of these lands were a wilderness.  They lived in log cabins in the backwoods, a life on the frontier.  Lyle’s education was acquired in a one-room schoolhouse, and one of his classmates was the well-known writer, A.B. Guthrie, who wrote “The Big Sky”.  In that little schoolhouse, Lyle acquired a love of learning and reading which he retained all his life.

 

One winter in Montana, his father left permanently.  His younger brother, Veryl, had just died of T.B. That left Lyle with his older brother Les, his mother, and his little sister, Orma.  They had one bag of flour, and Lyle said that they just barely survived that winter!

 

His mother and the young family began hewing their way in the wilderness.  They grew a little garden in the brush-cleared wilds, and Les and Lyle fished and hunted moose, elk, deer, pheasant, rabbit, and squirrel. Les and Lyle also earned a little by trapping game.  The brothers would leave early in the morning to take their furs to the trading posts and return late at night, with packs of wolves literally howling at their heels.  This love of nature and ability to survive off the land was in their blood, inherited from their Indian mother, and Lyle had said that the happiest years of his life were spent with Les, hunting, fishing and trapping in the wilderness.  At one point, they even did some mining in the mountains of Idaho.

 

Lyle adored his older brother, but Les liked to wander and was often far afield, so it fell to Lyle to be responsible for his mother and younger sister.  Lyle developed into an extremely responsible person, accepting his lot faithfully, and in later years befriending many people in many ways.

 

When.Lyle was still a young teenager his mother moved then to Vashon Island, where they raised chickens, and finally to Tacoma, where he remained.  Lyle knew poverty all his life until the time he started working on the Tacoma waterfront loading and unloading cargo ships.  He was initiated into the Longshoreman’s union in 1929.  This, however, was still not “easy street”,

since it was the year of the stockmarket crash and the beginning of the great depression.  Also, the conditions on the waterfront at that time were those of backbreaking physical labor and brutally long hours.  He participated in the longshoreman’s strikes of the early 1930’s, which were turning points for the improvement of the conditions of waterfront workers.  He spent 43 years on the Tacoma docks and was well respected by his co-workers.

 

Lyle was married for a short time, but lived mostly with his mother, providing and caring for her in her illness.  He has outlived every member of his family – the last, his father and sister, by 25 years.

 

In 1960, Lyle married Elsie Larson and embraced her sons and grandsons as his very own, and these became his family:

Gerald Larson of Tacoma

Paul, of Lake Surprise

Grandsons,

Mark, of Woodenville

Rick, of Pullman, Washington State College

Kirk, of Tacoma

And Great-Grandson,

Breck Roy Larson, II

 

Lyle and Elsie were married 26 years.  When Elsie’s health permitted, they had an active life together, gardening, taking trips, and entertaining family and friends.  Lyle also had a woodshop in his garage and loved to work with wood.

 

In the early 1950’s, he heard about the Bahá’í Faith from his brother Les, and sister-in-law, Helene and in 1956, he became a Bahá’í.  This was a big turning point for Lyle.  He was already in middle-age when he took on this new way of life and it was not an easy task.  But he worked at it steadily. He struggled. He persevered.  And, little by little, he acquired those qualities of character, that vision, that faith, which enabled him to put into perspective the hardships of his past, the difficulties of his present, the uncertainties of his future, and move forward a fundamentally assured and happy man, at peace with his Maker and with himself.

 

For 30 years, Lyle was a pillar of the Tacoma Bahá’í Community and served on the Spiritual Assembly as either chairman, treasurer or librarian for virtually the whole of that time.  He lived the Bahá’í teachings to an exemplary degree: his actions reflected his beliefs and he did not waver.  And that is the highest tribute that we can pay to Lyle or to anyone.  He did not waver.  Through all the ups and downs of life, he was steadfast to the end.

 

 

Such are the highlights of Lyle’s long and eventful life.  He has been characterized by some as an oak tree.  We thought he would always be there.  We expected him to last forever.  But this physical life is transitory.  It is not our permanent home.  It is only for passing through so the soul can acquire the qualities and virtues that it needs in its everlasting and eternal home.  Lyle did that, and now his soul has winged its way to its celestial nest.  A job well done, Lyle!

 

 

I wish to close with this passage from the Bahá’í writings: 

 

“It is clear and evident that all men shall, after their physical death, estimate the worth of their deeds, and realize all that their hands have wrought….  They that are the followers of the one true God shall, the moment they depart out of this life, experience such joy and gladness as would be impossible to describe….  Death proffereth unto every confident believer the cup that is life indeed.  It bestoweth joy, and is the bearer of gladness.  It conferreth the gift of everlasting life.”

 

 

March 26, 1988

 

This was the eulogy that was composed by Alda Spell.

It was delivered by Bill Spell at Lyle’s funeral.

 

Persian Bahá’ís in Baghdad about 1940 just before going pioneering elsewhere in Iraq and other Arab countries. Courtesy of www.bahai-biblio.org.

 

O My servants! Through the might of God and His power, and out of the treasury of His knowledge and wisdom, I have brought forth and revealed unto you the pearls that lay concealed in the depths of His everlasting ocean. I have summoned the Maids of  Heaven to emerge from behind the veil of concealment, and have clothed them with these words of Mine — words of consummate power and wisdom. I have, moreover, with the hand of divine power, unsealed the choice wine of My Revelation, and have wafted its holy, its hidden, and musk-laden fragrance upon all created things. Who else but yourselves is to be blamed if ye choose to remain unendowed with so great an outpouring of God’s transcendent and all-encompassing grace, with so bright a revelation of His resplendent mercy?…

O My servants! There shineth nothing else in Mine heart except the unfading light of the Morn of Divine guidance, and out of My mouth proceedeth naught but the essence of truth, which the Lord your God hath revealed. Follow not, therefore, your earthly desires, and violate not the Covenant of God, nor break your pledge to Him. With firm determination, with the whole affection of your heart, and with the full force of your words, turn ye unto Him, and walk not in the ways of the foolish. The world is but a show, vain and empty, a mere nothing, bearing the semblance of reality. Set not your affections upon it. Break not the bond that uniteth you with your Creator, and be not of those that have erred and strayed from His ways. Verily I say, the world is like the vapor in a desert, which the thirsty dreameth to be water and striveth after it with all his might, until when he cometh unto it, he findeth it to be mere  illusion. It may, moreover, be likened unto the lifeless image of the beloved whom the lover hath sought and found, in the end, after long search and to his utmost regret, to be such as cannot “fatten nor appease his hunger.”

O My servants! Sorrow not if, in these days and on this earthly plane, things contrary to your wishes have been ordained and manifested by God, for days of blissful joy, of heavenly delight, are assuredly in store for you. Worlds, holy and spiritually glorious, will be unveiled to your eyes. You are destined by Him, in this world and hereafter, to partake of their benefits, to share in their joys, and to obtain a portion of their sustaining grace. To each and every one of them you will, no doubt, attain.

                                                                                                                              Bahá’u’lláh

Shirin Ebadi, the first Muslim woman to win the  Nobel Peace Prize, speaks tonight at Benaroya Hall in Seattle. She is the attorney representing the seven Baha’i leaders in Iran who have suffered through the one-year anniversary of their imprisonment as of May 14th. She has not been permitted by the government to meet them.

She is the first woman to ever serve as a judge in Iran. Forced off of the bench following the 1979 revolution, she later returned to the practice of law as a human rights activist.  Her life has often been threatened because of her work and her courageous pursuit of the human rights of her fellow Iranians.

See her autobiography at this link: http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2003/ebadi-autobio.html

Here is a link with information about tonight’s event: http://www.lectures.org/ebadi.html

 

 

 

The seven Bahá’í leaders who have now been held in Tehran’s Evin Prison for a full year are, seated from left, Behrouz Tavakkoli and Saeid Rezaie, and, standing, Fariba Kamalabadi, Vahid Tizfahm, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, and Mahvash Sabet.

 

 

Courtesy of the Bahá’í World News Service. For more on this story and information about other persecution of the Bahá’ís in Iran, please see http://news.bahai.org/.

Nettie J. Craig Asberry

 

Part 1. Biography

 

          This brief account cannot begin to do justice to the long and accomplished life of Nettie Asberry, a woman who was well educated, intelligent, highly musically gifted, and always socially progressive and active in the pursuit of human rights.

 

Nettie Asberry was born July 15, 1865, in Leavenworth, Kansas, where she went to a segregated school, but later attended the state university, which was free to all races. She began studying the piano where she was eight, showed remarkable ability and took her doctor’s degree in music from the Kansas State Conservatory of music.

 

During her childhood she remembers seeing Susan B. Anthony when Mrs. Anthony came to visit her brother, D. R. Anthony, editor of the Leavenworth Times.  At thirteen years of age, Nettie was secretary of an adult Susan B. Anthony Club. Before coming to the Northwest, Mrs. Asberry taught music in Kansas City and in Denver and gave much time to playing for churches and directing choirs.

Her family moved to Seattle in 1890, becoming interested in the area after reading news of the Seattle fire of 1889. After three years in Seattle’s music world, she came to Tacoma and married Henry J. Asberry, proprietor of a barbershop. He died in 1939. In 1909, residing in Tacoma, she was described as a music teacher of rare ability who always had a large number of pupils, and was regarded as one of Tacoma’s expert pianists and a woman of great accomplishment, speaking French and German fluently. She taught piano to students of all races for more than 50 years. Very socially active and progressive, she helped found the Tacoma Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said to be the first chapter west of Kansas City.

 

Nettie Asberry died at the age of 103, spending her last few years in a nursing home in Tacoma. Tacoma Mayor A.L. Rasmussen declared May 11, 1968 Nettie Asberry Day and a memorial was planned for her.

 

Source of Part 1: Who We Are, An informal history of Tacoma’s Black Community before World War I; written and edited by Gary Fuller Reese, Tacoma Public Library, February 1992. Its main source is The (Tacoma) News Tribune and earlier Tacoma newspapers.

Part 2.  Nettie Asberry as a Bahá’í

 

            Most 79 year-olds are fairly well set in their ways. Their mental and physical powers are diminished. They no longer have the curiosity or ambition or vitality that they once enjoyed. Whatever course they have taken in life is the course that they are on and will remain on, content or not, as they glide toward life’s nearing horizon. One’s values and practices have long since been solidified, especially for fundamentals such as religion and worship. At 79 years of age, Nettie Asberry did a remarkable thing: she changed her religion and resigned from her church. She found Bahá’u’lláh and became one of His followers. This happened in 1944 or ’45 through the friendship of two new Bahá’ís in town, Harry and Marjorie Taylor, who were members of the first Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Tacoma, which was founded in November 1943.

           She immediately became an active member of the Faith, attending meetings and writing letters to the editor of the local newspaper. In April 1945 the local Bahá’ís sponsored a public symposium on “The Oneness of Mankind” that featured Mrs. Ernest Tanner of the Interracial Council and Nettie Asberry, who was then Treasurer of the local N.A.A.C.P. With an eye on the Resurrection of Christ and the Easter Holy Day, she wrote a letter to the editor in April 1946 that boldly compared the martyrdom of the Báb with the crucifixion of Christ, detailing the circumstances of the Báb’s martyrdom. Underlying her lifelong battle against racism, her letter began with this pointed statement: “On the eve of Passion week, came today the announcement from an Eastern weekly that the Federal Council of Churches has backed an anti-segregation plan. This pronouncement of the Federal Council, though coming several centuries late, is nevertheless welcome news.”  Her letters to the editor promoted the Faith by easily relating its principles to like-minded causes and events. Her February 1947 letter drew attention to Race Relations Week and Brotherhood Week. First, she commented that similar principles were found in all religions – naming Confucius, Buddha, Moses, Jesus, Mohammad, and Bahá’u’lláh. Next, she referred to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s visit to America in 1912 and quoted His statement that “Religion is an attitude toward God reflected in life by mankind” and finishing with words from His prayer for America.

 

            Between 1945 and 1959 she was elected to the Assembly on ten occasions, sometimes serving as Secretary or Recording Secretary. Elizabeth Johnson was one of her good friends, and would often pick her up and drive her to Feast, Holy Days, and other meetings.

 

            Nettie Asberry was, naturally, less active as she became older. At the age of 97 she suffered a stroke and was admitted to a nursing home. A bedridden condition, however, did not prevent her from seizing upon opportunities to promote the Faith. Her 100th birthday was celebrated with an article and photograph in the local newspaper, and the Faith was mentioned. A newspaper photograph showed her, in bed, posing with Eulalia Bobo (the sister of heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis) in 1967 while Ms. Bobo was visiting Tacoma as part of a nationwide speaking tour for the Faith.

 

            Nettie Asberry did not become acquainted with the Faith until 1944, at an advance age, but she is connected to the first glimmering mention of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in North America.  Gladys Clark, a member of the Tacoma Spiritual Assembly, wrote a biographical sketch about her shortly after her death. Her notes record the remarkable statement that Mrs. Asberry attended the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893, where the Faith was first mentioned on the continent. Mrs. Clark states that her notes are based on extensive conversations with Mrs. Asberry. While there is no way to know exactly what Mrs. Asberry said or the accuracy of her memory, some worthwhile comments can be made. Nettie Asberry was a well educated, intelligent woman, spiritually minded and keenly interested in human rights. This auspicious event would almost certainly have captured her interest. It and the much greater event, the World’s Fair, held in Chicago at that time, were, in fact, announced in Tacoma daily newspapers at the time, and those newspapers did contain advertisements of direct train service from Tacoma to Chicago. Did she actually go to Chicago or attend the World Parliament? There are no records of attendance at the World Parliament, so it is unlikely that it will be possible to verify her attendance. She may have actually first heard of the Faith in Tacoma. The Tacoma Daily News of October 21, 1893 (shortly after the Parliament concluded) contains an announcement that the Rev. Alfred W. Martin will present ten free lectures, one each week, at the First Free Church, on the world’s great religions (presumably based upon information from the World Parliament). The subject and date of each lecture is listed. The lecture for December 28, 1893 is on “Mohammedanism – the religion of Turkey and Arabia, etc.”.  The large size of and detailed information in the announcement suggest that a good turnout was expected. It is certainly possible that the Bahá’í Faith and Bahá’u’lláh were briefly mentioned that evening. If one accepts the reasoning that the simplest explanation is the most likely one, then it is likely that Nettie Asberry first heard of the Faith on that date. The name and the memory of that Greatest Name were safely planted in the fertile soil of her mind, where it germinated and blossomed 50 years later.

 

            Shortly after her passing, the Tacoma Association of Colored Women’s Clubs completed a clubhouse, naming the music room the Dr. Nettie J. Asberry room.  The Asberry Cultural Club is named after her.  Elizabeth Johnson was a guest speaker before the club members in 1977.  The Club continues to host activities.

For more, see University of Washington Libraries:

http://www.lib.washington.edu/Specialcoll/findaids/docs/papersrecords/AsberryNettie1081.xml

Text to Part 2 prepared by Gary Slone

Photo courtesy www.bahai-biblio.org.

The Story of Ali-Akbar-i-Hakkak

from Adib Taherzadeh’s The Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, Volume 2

quoting from History of the Martyrs of Yazd by Hájí-Muhammad-Táhir-i-Málmírí (Mr. Taherzadeh’s father)

Those who truly recognized the station of Bahá’u’lláh accepted persecutions and sufferings for His love. They knew that after embracing the Faith of God their lives would be endangered. Indeed, when they left their homes to go out they could not be sure they would ever return. The enemy was poised at all times to strike at any one who was identified with the new-born Faith. So, those who followed the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh in the early days clearly understood that at any time they might have to lay down their lives in the path of God. This was their test of faith and the great majority of them remained steadfast till the end.

The following account depicting the scene of the martyrdom of one of the early believers, demonstrates this faith.

Here is one who laid down his life in such a dramatic fashion that many among the multitude of spectators who had thronged the square to deride the victim and make merry at the sight of his execution were moved to tears. Even the hearts of those callous men who had been appointed to commit this heinous deed were deeply touched. The illustrious hero who appeared on this tragic scene was Ali-Akbar-i-Hakkak, a very attractive and handsome young man from Yazd, Persia. He was an engraver by profession and highly skilled in his art. He was married and had a four-year-old son by the name of Habibu’llah. As soon as the tragic news of the Nayriz upheaval reached Yazd, Ali-Akbar set out at once on a journey to visit the historic site where the peerless Vahid together with his band of valiant crusaders had fought and fallen. On his return to Yazd he manifested such a spiritual joy and overwhelming zeal in the teaching work that soon he was denounced and branded as a ‘Bábí’ whereupon the despotic Governor had him arrested on a charge of heresy and reported the matter to Tihran asking for instructions.

Nearly two months wore on and no word came from Tihran. Therefore a fine was exacted from the captive and then he was released on bail on the understanding that as soon as the decree was received he should place himself immediately at the disposal of the Governor.

Unruffled by the dire fate which awaited him, Ali-Akbar resumed his occupation in a spirit of complete resignation until after a lapse of three months a message came from Tihran to the effect that any person found to belong to the Bábí Faith should be put to death forthwith. This odious order invested the Governor with plenary powers to carry out his design. Therefore early in the morning of 15 July 1852 he sent his men to arrest Ali-Akbar at his home. Having done so they conducted him to the Governor’s office in the barracks where the Governor interviewed him.

Though the people in Yazd were steeped in prejudice against the new Faith and apt to fly into a fierce fury at the sight of anyone who was identified as ‘Bábí’, they nevertheless admired Ali-Akbar for his rare qualities and charming manners. Moreover, his reputation as the best engraver had won him real affection by all who had come to know him. Even the Governor and the officials felt reluctant to have him executed. They did everything in their power to make him utter a mere word of lip-denial against the new Faith and thus save his own life. They employed many a word of persuasion, threat and promise but none could induce this valiant hero to recant nor did the pomp and might of a ruthless potentate influence this stout-hearted man of God to compromise his cherished faith in favor of this fleeting life and its earthly vanities. The Governor grew  angry; he could not tolerate one who dared to challenge his authority and persist in his own ideas.

Furious with rage, the Governor summoned his Farrash-bashi (chief steward) and ordered him to put this defiant Bábí to death at once by blowing him from the mouth of a cannon. The order was immediately passed on to the artillery unit who hauled their gun out of the barracks to the adjoining public square. Then the Farrash-bashi accompanied by the executioner led the valiant victim to the square amidst a gathering multitude of spectators.

Eager to save Ali-Akbar from his fate, the Farrash-bashi employed ingenious ways of intimidation and inducement in a futile effort to break down his spirit and make him abjure his allegiance to the new Faith.

The cannon from which he was to be blown was an old type muzzle-loader, and the Farrash-bashi, knowing that it was as yet unloaded, hit upon the idea of staging a mock execution in the hope that the victim would succumb to the fright and terror that such an ordeal would usually provoke. Therefore, assuming a wild and serious look, he barked orders at the executioner to hurry up, tie down the victim tightly to the mouth of the gun and have him blown off without further delay. Thus Ali-Akbar was bound to the gun and left in this frightful position for quite a long while during which the gun crew kept running back and forth pretending to be adjusting their gun, as though they were just about to fire.

During the whole time the Farrash-bashi was watching the victim closely, urging him to recant. However, he was amazed to see that instead of becoming terrified and shaken Ali-Akbar had maintained his calm and fortitude throughout. The Farrash-bashi soon realized that intimidation had failed to bring about what he hoped for. He ran towards the gunner, stopped him from his false attempt at discharging the unloaded gun, and asked the executioner to set the victim free.

By that time (about ll a.m.) the whole square was fully packed with a seething mass of spectators who looked stupefied and bewildered.  

As soon as Ali-Akbar was unfastened the Farrash-bashi came over to him expressing his sympathy in a kindly manner. He then conducted him to an adjacent public cistern away from the crowd where he offered him a seat near to himself on a little platform. He reasoned with Ali-Akbar most earnestly, urged and persuaded him again and again to denounce the Faith and save his own life, but the effort proved unsuccessful. There sat Ali-Akbar solid as a rock, immovable and uncompromising, resisting the full force of these dire tests. As these painful moments dragged on, the Farrash-bashi began to perceive with bitter plainness that nothing whatever could induce this invincible youth to recant. Dismayed and disappointed, he led him back to the scene of death and ordered the gun crew to load their gun forthwith. Meanwhile a new idea occurred to him which might well prove effective in breaking down the victim’s fortitude. He sent his men to fetch Ali-Akbar’s poor wife and child to the scene — a very strong and challenging inducement indeed. After a few moments the unfortunate wife appeared in a state of panic holding the hand of their beloved child who looked sweet and attractive in this best suit.

She faced her husband and weeping bitterly implored, ‘Come and have pity on this child!’ ‘What am I to do without you?’ she sobbed. But Ali-Akbar did not answer; he turned his back on them. Again the wife and child came forward and stood in front of him. She flung herself at his feet, begging and imploring. But Ali-Akbar kept silent and once again turned away from them. Then the little child ran over to his father and grabbing the hem of his garment exclaimed ‘Daddy, Daddy, why do you turn away from me?
Don’t you love me any more?’

These simple, these piercing words must have movedAli-Akbar more than anything else. Perhaps he could not bear it, for he raised his head heavenward in such a gesture as to make an impassioned appeal. It seemed as if he were saying: ‘Oh God! I entreat Thee to spare me from further
temptations.’

The tragic episode had reached its climax. The occasion  had become so gripping, so heart-rending that many among the onlookers were stricken with grief and sympathy. Even the Farrash-bashi’s eyes were dimmed with tears. The heroic self-renunciation and superhuman fortitude manifested by this gallant martyr shattered the last scrap of hope which the Farrash-bashi entertained in making the victim abjure his faith. Browbeaten and dismayed, he decided to put an end to this sad spectacle by carrying out the Governor’s order at once.

So the victim was presently bound up once again to the mouth of the cannon in front of his unfortunate wife and child. As soon as this had been done the site was cleared of all those who stood nearby, but the child refused to be pushed further away. He became restive and kept crying and pleading, ‘Take me to my Daddy! Let me go near him!’

The dreadful end was now at hand. A tense feeling had seized upon the souls and a sense of dread and awe overwhelmed the whole mass of the people in the square. At a sharp signal from the Farrash-bashi the gunner ignited the explosive charge which was designed to send the victim sky-high, torn into bits in a split of a second. But to the profound amazement of all the gun didn’t go off! Again and again the charge was ignited but the gun still wouldn’t go off! Everybody looked stupefied and spellbound.

The Farrash-bashi ran towards the victim and calling  him by his name exclaimed, ‘We don’t want you to be killed; it seems that God does not wish it either. Now won’t you have sympathy for your child?!’ But he did not say a word, even when his horror-stricken wife and child rushed once again to his side. He stayed as calm and unconcerned as ever.

In the meantime the gunner was busy at the breech refilling the charge. The Farrash-bashi paused a moment in earnest expectation. Perhaps he would now give way. Perhaps he would say a word of denial. Perhaps something would happen that could save his life. However, to Ali-Akbar’s mind a compromise was utterly unthinkable… The soul longed and craved to sacrifice his puny frame for the love of his Lord and to take  his flight to the abode of the Beloved. Now the golden opportunity had offered itself… His prolonged and unexampled fortitude served increasingly to throw into relief the striking contrast between his own noble vision and the Farrash-bashi’s base pattern of thought.

Far from being grieved and shaken, how jubilant, how thrilled, how relaxed must have felt his soul when the Farrash-bashi in his utter despair and bewilderment signaled once again to fire.

And this time in a flash of a second the body of Ali-Akbar, blasted into bits amidst a tremendous burst of fire and smoke, flew sky-high, then came down from heaven like a swarm of tiny meteors, accompanied by a shower of crimson droplets, to be scattered far and wide all over the square.

The Governor ordered that the fragments of his body should be left exposed until sunset, that they might be trampled upon by men and animals.

This tragic martyrdom came as a shattering blow to the entire body of the early believers, particularly to his unfortunate wife. Her grief knew no bounds as she continued to weep and wail, and to beat her head.

 

Want to buy this book? Go to http://www.grbooks.com/ (the publisher), http://www.bahaibookstore.com/ (U.S. distributor), or the Bahá’í distribution source in your country.

Mark Tobey, the American painter, was a Bahá’í who Elizabeth met while he was living in Seattle in the 1940’s and early 50’s and with whom she developed and maintained a warm friendship and a correspondence for many years. She was always proud of her association with him and talked about it with friends for the rest of her life. She may have first met him in 1947 through one of the speaking engagements that he gave on behalf of the Faith. She collaborated on one project with him, which formed the basis of their friendship. Tobey’s long-time friend, Pehr Hallsten, had translated the Arabic portion of The Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh into Swedish, from Shoghi Effendi’s English translation. A number of Swedish friends of Mark Tobey had read the translation and expressed enough pleasure with it to convince him that it was ready for publication, so, working formally through the auspices of the Seattle Spiritual Assembly, he obtained approval from the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States to have the translation published, which approval was given on condition that the book not be sold (copies could be given away). 

 

            Elizabeth was happy to do something to bring the Bahá’í teachings to Sweden. Efforts to have the translation printed in Seattle did not happen – there was one small Swedish language newspaper being published in Seattle, and apparently that was not a satisfactory source. She accomplished it by having the printing done in Stockholm when she attended the Stockholm Conference the summer of 1953. Five hundred copies were printed (at Mark Tobey’s expense). Tobey requested that she take some copies to present to the Guardian when she went on pilgrimage in 1954.

 

            Their correspondence began in 1952 and lasted through at least 1967. Many of the letters are undated, so it is difficult to be certain how long they kept in touch. Mark Tobey’s letters are amiable, discussing mutual friends and religious activities, his or Pehr’s medical or living conditions, his travels and business activities as an artist in demand – the sort of things that one would write about to a friend. He presented her with two paintings as gifts, one of the Seattle market place from 1940, and an impressionistic work that he gave to her in 1964.

 

 

            Dr. Nettie J. Asberry, a woman of African -American ancestry, was one of the early Bahá’ís in Tacoma and one of Elizabeth’s friends.  Dr. Asberry found the Faith at the age of  79, in 1944, shortly after Elizabeth’s arrival to Tacoma. Born in Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1865, just after the end of the Civil War, she studied music as a child and graduated with a Ph.D. in music from the Kansas State Conservatory of Music, probably one of the first women of her race to earn a doctorate in the United States. She moved to Tacoma in 1893, married Henry Asberry, the owner of a barber shop, and taught music from her home until about 1961. A lifelong advocate of human rights, at the age of 13 she was a secretary for the adult Susan B. Anthony Club in Leavenworth and saw the famous suffragette, and later, in Tacoma, was a local founder in the Northwest of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. 

 

            The Tacoma City Association of Colored Women’s Clubs completed a two-story clubhouse at 2316 South Yakima Avenue in 1970, after 15 years of effort. The center was opened as a place for culture and community service in June. The music room was named after Dr. Asberry. Elizabeth wrote to the organizers and expressed her regret that she could not attend, because she was going to be in Sweden, but she indicated that she had helped Dr. Asberry by giving her rides to meetings, had visited with her in her home “on the occasion of many silver teas for the advancement of the black people”, and often visited her in her nursing home until her death (in 1968). In 1977, the Asberry Cultural Club met at the clubhouse to honor the late Dr. Asberry with a tea, and Elizabeth was the featured speaker. Her friendship with Dr. Asberry was one that Elizabeth continued to cherish: her papers include a program for a February 1981 meeting of the Asberry Cultural Club.

 

 

            Eulalia Bobo, a Bahá’í, who was the sister of heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis, visited Tacoma on a teaching trip to speak to the public about the Faith in the spring of 1967. Elizabeth actively promoted her visit, made meeting arrangements, and provided transportation for Mrs. Bobo. A photograph appeared in the daily newspaper of Mrs. Bobo visiting Dr. Asberry at her nursing home, with the caption noting two of her speaking engagements in town. An official letter thanking Elizabeth for her efforts reads, in part, “We are all so happy about it and Mrs. Bobo was very pleased. She said she had more publicity here than any place she has ever been.” It’s been said that we all have one thing in life at which we are best: for Elizabeth, her specialty was getting publicity for the Cause of God to which she was devoted. Wherever she went, she worked to make publicity for the Faith happen. She did this even in her travels. Her papers contain a number of Swedish language newspaper clippings that came about because of her visits to that country in both 1953 and 1970, and they are invariably accompanied by a photograph of herself (or the Shrine of the Báb, in the 1953 article). 

 

            In the early 1960’s Elizabeth became less active. She would sometimes write to the Assembly, informing the members in advance that she would be unable to attend Feast regularly or serve on a Committee due to her health. That formality is an interesting contrast to our present custom – no one writes such letters anymore – and seems even more remarkable because there were so few Bahá’ís in the community. Everyone knew one another well. For example, on October 31, 1961, Elizabeth sent a letter to the Tacoma Assembly saying, “Please accept my resignation as a member of the Program Committee …” due to her poor health. On November 3, the Assembly wrote in reply, “The Assembly accepted your resignation from the Program Committee as you requested ….”; to which Elizabeth replied by letter dated November 22nd, “Thank you for accepting my resignation from the Program Committee ….” Why the formality? It may be that the very fewness of numbers created an expectation of active participation in the community, and that the failure to do so created a social obligation for a conscientious person to place her reasons on the record.

 

     Those Bahá’ís who can share their recollections of her today knew her only in her later years. Her friends remember her as a plainspoken woman with a forceful personality, a “real character”. Although Elizabeth arrived in the United States as a young woman, she never lost her Swedish accent. She had a thick accent until the end of her life that could sometimes make her hard to understand. She pronounced Hand of the Cause Ugo Giachery’s name “U Gary” and her friends Victor and Juliette Frank were “Vic and Yulie”. Those male Bahá’ís who made the effort to understand her and came to know her became her “boyfriends”.   She enjoyed talking to people and would tend to move very close to the person to whom she was talking. She would talk about her early life in Sweden (she loved the Lord’s Prayer that she learned as a child), her days in Chicago (she would feed the poor who came to her back door), her family, her friendship with Mark Tobey, and her meeting the Guardian on Pilgrimage. She was an excellent cook and made Swedish dishes and brought them to Feast.  She was always thinking of others: making sure that the sick had food and checking on the elderly, although she was one herself. She drove until she was 85, after which she relied on friends or took the taxi. Elizabeth enjoyed the theatre and dance, and liked eating Chinese food, eating at the lobster restaurant, and ice cream. Her favorite flower was the lily of the valley.

 

            Elizabeth spent her last years in a nursing home, where friends would visit her and help care for her. She left this world on February 21, 1994 at the age of 98, and is laid to rest in a mausoleum at the New Tacoma Cemetery.

 

Prepared by Gary Slone