Joan Lozier

Joan Lozier
Born	May 7, 1925 Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Died	August 30, 2011 Sierra Vista, Arizona, USA.
NSA member	Venezuela ???? - 1965

Joan Elizabeth Lozier (May 7, 1925 - August 30, 2011) was an American Bahá’í who pioneered to Venezuela.

Background

Lozier's were Walter J. and Carol Lozier and she was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, and completed a Bachelor of Arts at DePauw University in Indiana in 1947. She became a Bahá’í in 1951, and in 1952 the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States appointed Lozier to the editorial committee of Bahá’í News, serving until at least 1953.

In March 1954 she pioneered to Venezuela arrived in Caracas on March 16, and she wrote the following regarding pioneering:

"Any Bahá’í who has the desire to pioneer should have no fear of anything. Simply put your trust completely in Bahá’u’lláh and rely on Him. Do not think of yourself as being inadequate because ‘you’ have nothing to do with it once you put yourself at the disposal of God. ‘You’ are simply the channel through which the current flows and which sets everything in action. Once you experience this tremendous power and feel it and see it working all around you, you immediately lose all self-identity and become part of it and nothing more. Then you are completely dependent upon God and are completely free for the first time perhaps in your life. To achieve this you must above all be sincere, and go out with only one thought and wish, to serve humanity and, of course, doing this with the Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh. Also, we must be absolutely obedient to the laws and teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, and be obedient and work through our Administrative bodies when we go into and are in the pioneering field."

While in Venezuela Lozier worked as an English teacher, and also as a bilingual secretary and translator for American companies. At some point she moved to Valencia and in 1960 she was elected to the Local Spiritual Assembly of Valencia when it was established that year. By 1963 she had been elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of Venezuela.

In the 1965 Lozier returned to the United States to care for her parents and began a career as a social worker going on to complete a Masters degree in Psychiatric Social Work at Michigan State University in 1968. As of 1969 she had settled in Coldwater, Michigan, and she was appointed a Michigan state representative by the International Goals Committee.

In 1970 Lozier achieved becoming an Accredited Clinical Social Worker and in 1973 she moved to Douglas, Arizona, where she worked as a family counselor for the Cochise County Juvenile Court later becoming the Chief Juvenile Probation Officer and DIrector of the Juvenile Court Center while also teaching part time at the Cochise College and providing counseling through a private practice. She later became a state employee working as a case manager for the Arizona Department of Economic Security.

In 1988 Lozier retired and was elected to the Human Rights Committee of the Arizona Department of Economic Security, served on a local Douglas association representing the interests of disabled people, and participated in the local Kiwanis and Toastmasters Clubs. She moved to Sierra Vista, Arizona, in 2003 where she passed in 2011.