Jesma Herbert

Jesma Herbert
Born	August 29, 1890 California, USA.
Died	May 21, 1959 Los Angeles, California, USA.
Other names	Jesma Robison
ABM	Americas 1957 - 1959

Jesma Herbert (August 29, 1890 - May 21, 1959) was an American Bahá’í who served on the National Teaching Committee of the United States and as an Auxiliary Board member for Protection for the Americas.

Biography

Herbert was born Jesma Robison in California in 1890. She married Leonard Herbert in 1927. In her career she was a publicist and at some point after marrying she was hired by the Local Spiritual Assembly of Los Angeles to assist with public relations work. As a result of the work she studied the Faith and became a Bahá’í and her husband also declared a few years after her.

As of 1948 Herbert was serving on the U.S. National Teaching Committee as Secretary for the Western States, and she spoke at that years Geyserville Summer School. In November 1949 she participated in a meeting held by the Southern California Regional Teaching Committee in Los Angeles speaking on the importance of interlocking coordination between Assemblies of Groups and stressing that the Regional Teaching Committee was to provide teaching assistance rather than administrative assistance.

In 1953 at the launch of the Ten Year Crusade Herbert was appointed as Secretary of the National Teaching Committee for pioneering and teaching within the continental United States during the Crusade. In September 1957 she was assigned the responsibility of chairing a Teaching Conference in San Francisco by the National Spiritual Assembly, and when the Auxiliary Boards for Protection were established in October 1957 she was appointed as an Auxiliary Board member for Protection for the Americas. In February 1958 she was assigned the responsibility of chairing Teaching Conferences in Fresno and Sacramento in California, Albuquerque in New Mexico, and Denver in Colorado by the National Spiritual Assembly. Later in the year she helped conduct a deepening class during a youth event in Los Angeles.

In 1959 Herbert passed suddenly in Los Angeles. A message from the Hands of the Cause for America who were Corinne True, William Sears, and Horace Holley, commended her services with the following tribute:

"The American Hands take the occasion to express their grateful appreciation of Mrs. Herbert's years of ardent and fruitful service as a member of that Board. Her services to the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, indeed, over a long period, evoke admiration and esteem on the part of the entire American Bahá’í community."