Evelyn Walters
Evelyn Walters (1920 - January 1, 2018) is an American Bahá’í who was named a Knight of Bahá’u’lláh for pioneering to Morocco.
Biography[edit]
Walters was born in 1920. She first discovered the Bahá’í Faith in 1936 and by autumn 1937 she wanted to join the religion. She was advised to attend classes so she understood it before joining and began attending three deepening classes a week before declaring in New York in 1939.[1]
Shortly after declaring Walters met Richard Walters at the Green Acre Sumer School and they married in Teaneck, New Jersey, in 1941. In September 1942 they pioneered to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Walters was elected to the Local Spiritual Assembly. By 1947 they had two children, Nina and Richard Jr., and that year they pioneered to Tucson, Arizona.[1]
In 1953 the Walters attended the Chicago Intercontinental Teaching Conference held to launch the Ten Year Crusade and they decided to pioneer to Morocco as a result of the conference. They traveled by boat, sailing on the same boat as fellow pioneers Richard and Mary Suhm, and arrived in Tangier in April, 1954,[1] then moved to Casablanca in 1955,[2] where they hosted firesides and were able to establish a community.[3]
In December 1960 the American air base where Richard worked was closed down and the Walters consulted with the European Teaching Committee who requested they settle in Portugal and they moved to the village of Larangeiro near Lisbon.[3] Conditions in Portugal were difficult, in 1961 their son passed due to an illness, and the Walters divorced.[4]
After separating Walters pioneered to Madeira Island for a year then returned to the United States settling in Albuquerque. In 1967 she enrolled in a Business College and in 1972 she pioneered to Santa Fe, New Mexico, to help reform its Local Spiritual Assembly. In 1975 she pioneered to Hawaii settling in Lahaina where she assisted with Bahá’í youth work.[4] In 1992 she was invited to the Holy Land to attend a gathering of the Knights of Bahá’u’lláh. She did not have the funds to make the journey but the Local Spiritual Assembly of Albuquerque raised money for her to go.[4] Richard wrote to her shortly before they attended the gathering in Haifa and they reconnected and remarried in 1993.[5]
After remarrying the Walters pioneered to Texarkana, Arkansas. Richard passed away due to cancer in 1999 and Walters returned to Albuquerque.[5] She passed away in Florida in 2018.[6]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Redman, E. The Knights of Bahá’u’lláh, George Ronald Press: London, 2017, p 30
- ↑ Redman, E. The Knights of Bahá’u’lláh, George Ronald Press: London, 2017, p 31
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Redman, E. The Knights of Bahá’u’lláh, George Ronald Press: London, 2017, p 33
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Redman, E. The Knights of Bahá’u’lláh, George Ronald Press: London, 2017, p 34
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Redman, E. The Knights of Bahá’u’lláh, George Ronald Press: London, 2017, p 35
- ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/186836096/evelyn-b-walters
