Adelaide Sharp

Adelaide Sharp
Born	1896
Died	October 5, 1976
NSA member	Iran 1954 - 1968
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Adelaide Sharp (1896 - October 5, 1976) was an American Bahá’í who pioneered to Iran where she assisted in efforts to educate women and was elected as the first woman to serve on the National Spiritual Assembly of Iran.

Biography

Sharp was born in Texas in 1896 to Horace M., a Christian, and Clara Sharp who was a Bahá’í. Her father passed when she was a baby and she was raised in Mexico by her mother who taught her about the Faith and she became a Bahá’í. Sharp and her mother returned to the United States so she could receive a higher education and after completing a degree she settled in San Francisco where she worked as a teacher.

In 1928 Sharp volunteered to accompany Susan Moody to Iran to teach at the Bahá’í run Tarbíyat school in Tehran and received permission to pioneer to Iran from Shoghi Effendi. She and Moody went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land for twelve days on their way to Iran and met with Shoghi Effendi. When they arrived in Tehran Sharp was appointed as the principal of the Tarbíyat school. In 1931 her mother joined her in Iran with the approval of Shoghi Effendi.

Sharp was able to work at the Tarbíyat school until 1934 when all Bahá’í schools in Iran were shut down at the order of the government, and she remained in in the country on the advice of Shoghi Effendi and established informal organized children's classes. She also collected material for the Bahá’í World publication and served on several Bahá’í committees including the Children's Service Committee, the Reviewing Committee, and the Unity of the East and West Committee. She made a second pilgrimage and met with Shoghi Effendi in 1937.

In 1954 Shoghi Effendi issued a directive that women were eligible to serve on Spiritual Assemblies in the East and Sharp became the first woman to be elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of Iran that year. One of her major responsibilities as an Assembly member was to act as the bodies foreign correspondent and to issue credentials for Persian Bahá’ís leaving the country. She was able to attend the First Intercontinental Conference held to elect the Universal House of Justice in the Holy Land in 1963 and she also attended the Bahá’í World Congress in England that year.

Sharp completed her service on the National Spiritual Assembly in 1968. In the 1970's her health declined and she became confined to bed for a few years before her passing in 1976. She had never married. The Universal House of Justice conveyed the following message after her passing:

DEEPLY GRIEVED PASSING DEDICATED STEADFAST PROMOTER CAUSE DEARLY LOVED ADELAIDE SHARP WHOSE SELFLESS LABOURS NEARLY FIVE DECADES COMMUNITY CRADLE FAITH IN EDUCATING ITS CHILDREN INSPIRING ENRICHING SPIRITUAL LIFE ITS YOUTH RESEARCHING TRANSLATING WRITINGS CONSOLIDATING ITS ADMINISTRATIVE INSTITUTIONS AND AS FIRST WOMAN MEMBER ITS NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY WILL ALWAYS BE LOVINGLY REMEMBERED STOP HER DEVOTED SERVICES WON HER PRAISE BELOVED GUARDIAN REINFORCED TIES BINDING AMERICAN BAHAI COMMUNITY TO FRIENDS BAHAULLAHS NATIVE LAND STOP FERVENTLY PRAYING HOLY SHRINES CONTINUOUS PROGRESS HER SOUL ABHA KINGDOM STOP ADVISE HOLD BEFITTING MEMORIAL GATHERINGS HONOUR HER NAME STOP NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY UNITED STATES HOLDING MEMORIAL GATHERING MASHRIQUL ADHKAR.