Irene Jackson
Irene Jackson Williams | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | December 3, 1920 Loxton, South Australia |
| Died | July 14, 1994 Fiji |
| NSA member | South Pacific Islands, 1959 - 1964 South Pacific Ocean, 1964 - 1970 Fiji 1970 - ???? |
| ABM | Australasia ???? - ???? |
Irene Francis Jackson Williams (December 3, 1920 - July 14, 1994) was an Australian Bahá’í who pioneered to establish the Faith in Fiji during the Ten Year Crusade, and served as an Assembly and Auxiliary Board member for many years.
Background[edit]
Irene was born Irene Francis Jackson in Loxton in 1920 to an English sea captain father and Australian mother. She grew up on a fruit farm in Paracombe Hills with seven siblings. The Family attended the Brethren Church, but Irene became interested in studying religion independently after hearing a minister disparage the Prophet Muhammad. She became qualified as a teacher at Adelaide Teacher's College.
She discovered the Faith through Merle Heggie while they were both teaching at the same High School in Kapunda, and she declared in 1948. She left Kapunda at the end of 1948, moving to the town of Whyalla where she taught the Faith. In 1952 she offered to pioneer to establish the Faith in a goal town of the Australian Assembly, and she later moved to and taught the Faith in Clare.[1] At the opening of the Ten Year Crusade in 1953 she decided to pioneer, first aiming to pioneer to Portugese Timor, but ultimately pioneering to Fiji, arriving on the island on March 21, 1954.
In 1959 she was elected to the inaugural National Spiritual Assembly of the South Pacific Islands, and she served on the body until 1964 when it was succeeded by two Assemblies responsible for a smaller area. She was elected to one of the succeeding Assemblies, the National Spiritual Assembly of the South Pacific Ocean, when it was established in 1964 and served on the body until 1970, when an independent National Spiritual Assembly for Fiji was formed and to which Irene was elected.
In 1962 Irene met Victor Williams, who was investigating the Faith, and they married in 1965. At first they lived in the Fiji Bahá'í Centre in Suva, and Irene served on the Local Spiritual Assembly of Suva. They later moved to Nasinu, where Irene secured a Bahá'í section in the local cemetery. Irene was later appointed as an Auxiliary Board member and served in the role until retiring in the 1980's.
She passed away in 1994, and the Universal House of Justice sent a message to the National Spiritual Assembly of Fiji noting her services to the Faith.
References[edit]
- Obituary published in Bahá’í World: In Memoriam 1992-1997, pp 161-164
Notes[edit]
- ↑ Baha'i News (1952). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 254, Pg(s) 10. View as PDF.
