Findlay, Ohio

Findlay
First LSA of Findlay, 1941.
History:
Firsts
 -  Local Assembly 1941 
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Findlay is a city of the U.S. state of Ohio. A Local Spiritual Assembly was established in the city in 1941 but lapsed the following year and there has only been a small Bahá’í community in the city since.

History[edit]

Early Bahá’í activity in Findlay included visits by Dorothy Baker who had visited the city by 1940 to teach the Faith.[1] As of January 1941 an organized Bahá’í Group had been formed in the city,[2] and the Local Spiritual Assembly of Findlay was established in April, 1941.[3] By January 1942 there were less than nine Bahá’ís in the city again and the Assembly was dissolved.[4]

In 1943 Rose Steinberg pioneered to Findlay from Columbus and Agnes Maye Ayres pioneered from Celina to help reform the Assembly,[5][6] however the community remained too small to form the body and in 1946 the National Teaching Committee announced two pioneers were required for an Assembly to form.[7] The Bahá’ís of Findlay had been able to form an organized group as of 1946 despite being unable to elect an Assembly,[8] and in November that year Ruth Moffett visited to conduct an intensive teaching campaign during a tour of Ohio.[9][10] By early 1947 there were six Bahá’ís in Findlay,[11] and Moffett reported there were four residents who were interested in declaring.[12] There were only two declarations however and the Assembly remained unformed.[13]

In late 1956 it was reported that there were signs an Assembly may be reformed in Findlay in 1957 although the community was ultimately unable to.[14] In 1958 the Findlay Bahá’ís collaborated with the B&P Women's Club of Findlay contributing two speakers to a public meeting held by the Club.[15] The Bahá’í Faith received wide publicity in Findlay in 1968 when the Republican-Courier of Findlay ran a story on Howard Duff, the telegraph editor of the paper, mentioning that he had become a Bahá’í in 1947 however the community did not experience growth as a result.[16]

In 1975 Lake Kissick, Jr., a Bahá’í from Findlay with cerebal palsy launched a project seeking collaboration from disabled and non-disabled Bahá’ís to help disabled Bahá’ís develop the capacity to proclaim the Faith.[17][18] As of 1978 there were seven Bahá’ís in Findlay.[19]

References[edit]

  1. Baha'i News (1940). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 139, Pg(s) 7. View as PDF.
  2. Baha'i News (1941). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 141, Pg(s) 11. View as PDF.
  3. Baha'i News (1941). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 146, Pg(s) 10. View as PDF.
  4. Baha'i News (1942). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 150, Pg(s) 12. View as PDF.
  5. Baha'i News (1943). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 161, Pg(s) 5. View as PDF.
  6. Baha'i News (1944). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 167, Pg(s) 4. View as PDF.
  7. Baha'i News (1946). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 184, Pg(s) 7. View as PDF.
  8. Baha'i News (1946). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 185, Pg(s) 11. View as PDF.
  9. Baha'i News Letter (February, 1926). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 10, Pg(s) 3. View as PDF.
  10. Baha'i News (1947). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 191, Pg(s) 3. View as PDF.
  11. Baha'i News (1947). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 192, Pg(s) 1. View as PDF.
  12. Baha'i News (1947). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 194, Pg(s) 3. View as PDF.
  13. Baha'i News (1947). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 200, Pg(s) 4. View as PDF.
  14. Baha'i News (1956). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 306, Pg(s) 16. View as PDF.
  15. Baha'i News (1959). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 335, Pg(s) 10. View as PDF.
  16. National Baha'i Review, 14, p 13
  17. The American Baha'i, Aug 1975, p 7
  18. The American Baha'i, Aug 1977, p 5
  19. American Baha'i, Feb 1978, p 8

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