Artemus Lamb

Artemus Lamb
Artemus speaking in Honduras in 1980.
Born	January 20, 1905 Iowa
Died	January 15, 1998 El Salvador
NSA member	Central America 1951 - 1961 Guatemala 1961 - ????
ABM	Americas 1963 - 1968
Counsellor	Central America 1968 - 1980 Americas 1980 - 1985
Works •  Media

Artemus Dwight Lamb (January 20, 1905 - January 15, 1998) was an American Bahá'í who pioneered to South and Central America, and served as a Counsellor from 1968 to 1985.

Biography

Lamb was born to James Dwight Lamb and Molly Valeria Ankeny in Iowa in 1905. He became a Bahá'í in 1939, with his sister Valeria having declared in 1937. In January 1941 he was appointed to the Regional Teaching Committee for California, Nevada and Arizona.

In March 1942 Lamb was appointed to the Regional Teaching Committee for Colorado, Utah and Wyoming, and soon became Committee Secretary. Later in the year he gave a brief talk at a commemoration of the Declaration of the Báb in Bakersfield which was attended by 250 people, only ten of whom were Bahá'ís.

In 1944 Shoghi Effendi requested that a pioneer be sent to Punta Arenas, a city in Chile, and Lamb volunteered to fill the post however the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States requested that he go to Ecuador first. He left the United States for Ecuador via steamship from Los Angeles and three days into the journey the ship sank at Acapulco, Mexico, while he was ashore, destroying his possessions. The steamship provided the passengers transport to Mexico City where they were reimbursed only for their tickets. The American Embassy offered Lamb transport by plane to anywhere in South America, and after receiving the blessing of the Inter-America Committee, he flew to Santiago, Chile, instead of Ecuador. He remained in Santiago for a time before travelling to Punta Arenas by boat, finally arriving on October 2, 1944. He received a letter from the Guardian commending him for pioneering shortly after he arrived.

Marcia Steward de Matamores, the first Bahá'í in Chile, was living in Punta Arena when Lamb arrived, but soon moved to Santiago with the approval of the Guardian. He was then joined by a young Chilean Bahá'í, Esteban Canales, and they began hosting a weekly radio program titled The City of Certitude. In April, 1945, eight people declared due to the radio program and the Local Spiritual Assembly of Punta Arenas was formed. The Assembly was disbanded shortly after being founded, as five members had been living in the city temporarily and returned home, but it was re-established after a short time. Lamb befriended the U.S. Vice Consul in the city who came to him for advice on some spiritual matters.

In late 1946 Lamb visited Asunción in Paraguay where he was interviewed for papers and on the radio, and he also attended the first All South American Bahá'í Conference in Buenos Aires which was also attended by his sister Valeria Nichols. In 1947 he visited the mountain village of Mogotes in Columbia to meet a Bahá'í who had declared via correspondence and not yet met a Bahá'í, and he gave a talk at a public meeting held in the village. In June 1947 he moved to Santiago with the approval of the Guardian, and he was appointed to the International Teaching Committee for Central America (CEPSA). He also visited the United States to teach prospective pioneers about pioneering to Latin America, and conducted a teaching tour of Central America in 1947, visiting Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Chile. In 1948 Lamb visited Mogotes again when travelling to a Bahá'í Conference for northern Latin American countries held in Panama.

In 1949 Lamb returned to the United States due to financial difficulties, and sought to find employment with an international agency which would allow him to return to Latin America. He was not able to find a job, and decided instead to pioneer to Costa Rica in 1950 where he soon found employment at a Cultural Center. In 1951 he attended the first Convention of Central America held in Panama and was elected to the first Regional Spiritual Assembly of Central America. In 1953 he went on pilgrimage and met Shoghi Effendi in the Holy Land.

In March 1956 Lamb pioneered to Santa Ana, El Salvador, at the request of the National Spiritual Assembly of Central America in order to establish a Local Assembly in the city and he established an English language school in the city to support himself. In 1959 he had to leave El Salvador due to circumstances outside his control and he pioneered to Guatemala City in Guatemala where he secured work as a teacher at a bilingual private school. In 1962 he pioneered within Guatemala to Coban which allowed him to visit surrounding isolated villages to teach.

Lamb served on the Assembly of Central America until 1961, when it was disbanded, and he then served on the National Assembly of Guatemala. In 1963 he was appointed as an Auxiliary Board member for Central America. In 1968 the Universal House of Justice established the Continental Boards of Counsellors and Artemus was appointed as an inaugural Counselor for Central America. In 1980 the House made the term length for a Counselor five years, and merged the Continental Board of Central America with the Boards of North and South America, Artemus was appointed to the new Continental Board of the Americas and served one term.

In his later years Artemus wrote books, pamphlets and booklets relating to the Faith. He passed away in El Salvador in 1998.

Publications

Bahai.media has a related page: Category:Artemus Lamb

• 1995 - The Odyssey of the Soul
• 1995 - The Beginnings of the Bahá'í Faith in Latin America: Some Remembrances