Ludmila Ott Bechtold Van Sombeek

Ludmila Van Sombeek.

Ludmila Ott Bechtold Van Sombeek (Jul 30, 1893 Vienna, Austria - Sep 7, 1979 in Phoenix, Arizona) was a nurse who fled World War I to the United States by marrying Adolph George Bechtold and learned of the Baha'i Faith from Marie Foote in Brooklyn, New York. Her first appearance in newspapers was supporting a black school for children and concerns of African Americans would follow through most of her life. She was active in some Race Amity Conventions and was visible in some newspapers such as The Pittsburgh Courier, The Chicago Defender, New York Age, and the The Carolina Times across two marriages which the husbands died in, though noting supporting her and her priorities. Between her husband's she became the first guild-licensed optician in the country and whether in Baha'i circles or not, served in volunteer associations along the way. She moved with her second husband to Durham, North Carolina in 1955 and after he died in 1958 she continued there until 1969 when she moved to be near her children and soon retired from public engagements. She died a decade later.

Perhaps the most revealing of the hundreds of newspaper articles about her was in 1935 done by African-American columnist L. F. Coles who had grown to know her first family and carefully noted the non-prejudicial atmosphere of the family, her active engagement in institutions focused on African-Americans and her advocacy of the Baha'i Faith.

First decades

Very little is known of Ludmila Ott before coming to the United States. She was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1893. She migrated to America in 1916 about the age of 23 fleeing the beginning of World War I and her first career was nursing. By 1919 her parents appear to have settled in Holland. He was 18 years her senior.

Adolph George Bechtold, coming to America, and Marie Foote

Ludmila was listed married to Adolph George Bechtold by 1916 when they returned from a trip to Bermuda. George, as he is more often called, was already an optician and business owner. The Bechtold's applied for passports in September 1919 traveling to Holland to assist Ludmila's parents, and returned in June 1920.

US Census data from 1920 does not indicate children of the Bechtolds - the 1930 census lists one child 10 yrs old and one seven, The Bahá'í World biography indicates these children were adopted. Schools would obviously be in the picture and Bechtold was soon involved in some schools but it not definitely known which schools their children attended. And the Great Depression in the United States was on the horizon.

Foote and the Faith

Ludmila Bechtold attended introductory meetings on the Bahá'í Faith at Marie Antoinette “Aunty" Foote in Brooklyn and joined the religion in 1922.

Foote's history with the Faith goes back some decades. She is mentioned in the newspapers occasionally. Foote attended a Catholic Cardinal's visit in New York in 1893. In 1899 Foote gave a talk on education, and went on a vacation in Buffalo 1901. In 1903 Foote was listed as a member of the Bahá'í Faith while being teacher in Brooklyn. The article speaks of Bahá'ís holding "meetings in 'Genealogical Hall in 58th St' and at the home of J. Newcomb Witney"… "where Mr and Mrs MacNutt … lecture". Other active members noted were Mr and Mrs Frank Osborne, Ella Flower, Mr and Mrs Leyler, Mr and Mrs. George Witte, Mr. Hawkins, Mr. Marsh, Mrs Herman, and others. Others mentioned include "Miss Goin, of 5th Ave(Manhattan)", Phoebe Hearst, and Miss Barney. Edward Granville Browne's work is referenced a bit and it notes Kheiralla's founding and separation from the community. In 1906 Foote is promoted at work. In 1908 Foote is listed in a "Women’s Illuminati club". In 1909 her retirement as a teacher was announced. In 1910 Foote held a meeting for the Faith, and had joined a Press Club, and was listed living with her sister Stella. In August 1912 Foote attended the visit of `Abdu’l-Baha to Green Acre Bahá'í School Greenacre and is in the large panoramic picture, on the left, wearing a dark shawl over the arms of her dress. She was also noted in a Woman’s Press Club anniversary meeting in November. as well as a Phalo Club meeting.

On June 12, 1918, Foote presented “The Station of Women in the Cycle of Bahá’u’lláh”, and was noted still a member of the Phalo club in 1921. Bechtold also joined the club.

Foote died in 1930.

Bechtold

Though Ludmila, sometimes called Mrs. A. G. Bechtold, or Ludmila O. Bechtold, according to the norms of the day, had joined the religion in 1923, which was timed with when the religion had achieved some notability in race-relations in New York City - see Coverage of the Baha'i Faith in New York City via the New York Age newspaper - her first public appearance in the news as a Bahá'í was in October 1929 when she helped at a fundraiser the Bahá'ís held for a nursery school she was a broad member of, to be held the day after the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The nursery served black children giving them a Montessori education. This was just the small beginnings of her presence in newspapers.

Race amity conferences and other endeavors

As the Great Depression in the United States was unfolding, 1930 would mark a rising area of focus for Ludmila Bechtold. On November 1930 she took part in her first Race Amity Convention, a conference sponsored by the Bahá'ís at Green Acre Bahá'í School and area venues. Articles covered the three days of conferences and speakers; she then spoke November 2 in Chicago along with Mary White Ovington, of the NAACP, and Bahá'í Louis Gregory. Bechtold participated in another meeting on racism in February, and in September 1931 as a guest.

In January 1932 she was visible on the board of the same nursery school in Brooklyn and the school had a fundraiser at the Savoy Ballroom, clearly with African American connections. The 1930s would be an ongoing set of race-related, race amity, opportunities. In 1932 one was in Los Angeles, featuring Chief Luther Standing Bear. A leading impact of the Great Depression on Bahá'í affairs also occurred in then 1930s when the employment of Albert Vail and Louis Gregory, who often spoke at Race Amity conferences and as traveling teachers of the religion, was terminated in 1932 (announced to them in April 1932, after the national convention, but paid through January 1933,) by the National Spiritual Assembly, The Depression affected the National Bahá'í Fund severely and the funds to continue the work of building the Bahá'í House of Worship were in question. Indeed priorities for beginning construction to finish by the goal date of June 1, 1933 were noted July 1932, reiterated in October, substantiated in January 1933, with further steps taking into the end of the summer.

Amidst the difficult period, the following summer Ludmila kept up with events in Portsmouth, New Hampshire where she chaired the closing session of the several-day Bahá'í Race Amity conference that was held at a church. In December the next Race Amity conference of the Bahá'ís was held in New York for which Bechtold served on the organizing committee. Indeed during 1933 two more Race Amity meetings were held in New York with Bechtold acting as substitute chair where she aided in organizing resources for the conferences. July of 1933 Bechtold spoke at the third session of the Race Amity conference then held at Green Acre Bahá'í School, and Bechtold was appointed officially on the national Race Amity committee of the Bahá'ís of the United States in 1934, and in November Bechtold is again noted chairing a Race Amity conference, this time in New York city. Earlier that summer she attended the Esslingen Bahá'í Summer School in Germany. A passenger list for the SS shows her returning to America in August 1934. An African-American columnist L. F. Coles wrote some two years after meeting the Bechtold family through a Bahá'í friend James F. Morton in The Pittsburgh Courier. The article notes various aspects of the family and Ludmila - the non-prejudicial atmosphere of the family, her trip back the summer of 1934, her interest as a nurse, and generally her involvement or interests in the NAACP and Urban League meetings, Howard University, Fisk University, Cheyney Institute], The Pittsburgh Courier, and other newspapers, was a friend of Louis Gregory, and that she had vindicated the Bahá'í Faith when Coles offered that Islam might have a greater stance on inter-racial harmony. Coles reported her feeling depressed that her contacts in the African American community "…feel that she is not sincere." He dismissed the concerns because African-Americans would spread rumors of African-Americans who appeared to get along with white people in days gone by.

Bechtold was again noted attending a Race Amity conference in 1935, and in 1936, when attending the Bahá'í national convention, she was received by African-American publisher and Bahá'í Robert Sengstacke Abbott and his wife; a fact published in The Chicago Defender. The national inter-racial committee was discontinued in 1936 so that more local events, with less pressure on the national budget during the Depressions, could be held and the fact that the national level engagement had "sometimes resulted in emphasizing race differences rather than their unity and reconciliation," according to the National Assembly, as it had reached the level of attracting national level leaders of minorities. Meanwhile she was one of the delegates from New York for the national Bahá'í convention. She presided for local Race Amity conference in August in New York city.

Other interests

Crossing through 1936 Louis Gregory pioneered to Haiti and there is a clear drift from Bechtold's work in racism as well as exposure at the national level inside the religion, and overall less visible activity in newspapers, but there was an increase in diverse interests too. In January 1937 a race-related meeting was held in Tennessee and featured the criticism of W. E. B. Du Bois The Tennessee event in particular seems to have drawn a moment of disunity with an issue of what seemed like a segregated meeting of Bahá'ís which Bechtold and others seem to have been partially informed of, and may have misinformed Du Bois of what happened, though another Bahá'í was noted as a more vocal critic after also being mis-informed of the situation. The same month Bechtold was mentioned as vice-president of the Speakers Club of women in New York. Soon she was a corresponding secretary, though she also continued working with Bahá'í Race Amity meeting in February in New York. Her work with the Speakers Club continued while she again attended the national Bahá'í convention. January 1938 similarly opens noting Bechtold was the corresponding secretary of the women's Speakers Club, Therein comes a gap from 1938 to 1940 in mentions of Bechtold. Whether matters of health with the approaching death of her husband, or classes on becoming an optician, or other matters played a role are unknown.

The next mention of Bechtold is a visit of hers to New Haven, Connecticut, wherein she met with a reading circle of black women discussing the religion. In the Fall she had a talk connecting religious ideals with community service/betterment, and assisting in fair at a Quaker Friend's school. Nine months later Bechtold chaired the last day of a Race Amity conference held at Green Acre. Her daughter Monaver sang for the next Race Amity conference in October 1942 though if Bechtold was active in the meeting it isn't said. In 1943 Bechtold gave a program at Green Acre on "Divine Justice", and was a guest speaker at the New York Bahá'í Center presenting Leslie Pinckney Hill, an African-American educator, writer and community leader. A year later Adolph George Bechtold died, and echoes of commemorating him appeared for some years later in the Bahá'í News.

A widow once

In November of 1949, some fives years after the passing of Adolph George, Ludmila is noted a member of the Business and Professional Women's Club of Brooklyn. Indeed she had been busy, becoming the first licensed Guild Optician, was treasurer of the Prescription Opticians of Greater New York, and lead the company founded by her husband some 50 years earlier. While busy with running the business and her work as an optician, she was relatively not visible in the news until 1950 when she gave a talk on being the (still) only licensed optician in America at the Women's Downtown Club meeting in Brooklyn, was again visible as a member of the Business and Professional Women's Club of Brooklyn, and attended their state convention.

Her first appearance in religious activities known since 1943 came in January 1952 when she assisted at an interfaith social. That year she also served on a committee aiding in placing Bahá'í pioneers to Africa with job opportunities, and took part in an African Intercontinental gathering of Bahá'ís in Kampala, Uganda. In the Spring of 1954 she hosted a Women’s Committee of Brooklyn Interfaith Fellowship.

Van Sombeek and rejuvenated activity

George Van Sombeek, Ludmila's future next husband, first appears in Bahá'í national coverage changing his service on committees in 1947 advising Bahá'ís about the United Nations. In February, 1954, Ludmila, appears as married to Van Sombeek returned from a trip in Europe for the religion, and then in April when she is noted speaking in a home in Lockport, New York, noting she had attended the International Congress of Women’s Clubs in Stockholm, Intercontinental Conference in Kampala, Uganda followed by a trip through Africa from Uganda to Nairobi, Kenya. Now known as Mrs. George Van Sombeek or Mrs. G. Van Sombeek, in September she is noted as a member of the re-designated national Inter-racial committee, and was reported having taken a trip before February 1955 among southern black schools, and presided at a Bahá'í brotherhood meeting again presenting Leslie Pinchney Hill, among other speakers. Indeed she seems to have undertaken another tour because she appears in Louisville, KY, newspapers in March twice in a couple days. In April she was noted a member of the Local Assembly of New York, and was again noted a member of the national Inter-racial committee, the group of which itself was pictured in the African-American newspaper The Pittsburgh Courier in July.

Durham, NC

Settling in

The Van Sombeek family then moved to Durham, North Carolina. According to comments of the committee there was conscious engagement with African-American colleges and newspapers undertaken as well as dinners of international students and faculty. The family's first appearance in the local news was when George Van Sombeek wrote a letter to the editor of The Carolina Times, a prominent African-American newspaper with a state-wide reputation, noting the revived persecution of Bahá'ís in Iran. That winter they are noted among the Durham Bahá'ís going to Greensboro for the state convention to elect delegates for the national convention; listed were Mr. and Mrs. George Van Sombeek, Margaret Quance, Orpha Daugherty and son Mark; Louise Sawyer was off in Florida and would attend the convention there. In Spring 1956 Ludmila is noted going on a speaking trip before national convention in the society notes of The Carolina Times. Ludmila returned to Louisville in June of 1956, followed by Van Sombeeks attending the August Blue Ridge Conference at Black Mountain, North Carolina, including some visiting from the North who were guests of the Van Sombeeks. That October Challoner Chute from UVa from England speaks at Van Sombeek home, and a note of her return from another speaking trip was published in November covered her travels in some detail and noted her visit with the family of Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. among many others, though the entry was still just part of the society page. In December the first story in The Carolina Times to break out of the society notes was the visit of Bostonian lawyer Bahá'í Matthew Bullock who was a NC native and speaks at Van Sombeek home and though a short article it was on the front page. It is worth noting this was there an inter-racial meeting in a white couple's home in the still segregated South. A week later Bahá'í Sarah Pereira, Chair of a department at the integrated West Virginia State College, spoke in Durham at home of Van Sombeek, serves on the Auxiliary Board with responsibilities beyond the United States. The article was the first to present a picture of a Bahá'í. Ludmilla made news in Nashville with a talk while visiting in February 1957, while her husband George wrote another letter to the editor, this time on race unity and an appreciation of Black history. In March 1957 is the first article just about Ludmila, not her in the "society notes" but in an article just about her - this one reviewed her return from speaking tour. Noted People and places she visited with include African-American colleges Le Moyne College, Tennessee A & I College, Fisk University (noting she had spoken there in 1934,) and visited with Anna Arnold Hedgeman among others.

Just a month later, and some weeks after the fact, there was mention of a buffet dinner at Van Sombeek home to note the Bahá'í new year, though it was not called Naw-Rúz yet. In June it was noted that Ludmila was returned from a speaking tour, covering various African-American connections such as Percy Lavon Julian, Ted Berry, but also Hopi and Navajo engagements while visiting in Arizona, all before going to the national Bahá'í convention. In July Ludmila was guest of Lillian Evanti who performed at Greensboro. In August there was an article covering the first Race Unity Day, held in June in Durham with Ludmila supplying slides of Bahá'í activities in Arizona and of the Bahá'í House of Worship, a UNESCO delegate speaker, with guests from Duke, NCC (what became NCCU), and international guests from Australia and Iran, all at the Van Sombeek home. But in late August the Van Sombeeks had actually returned from a two week trip visiting family in Ohio; though nominally a society page type of entry it was instead granted it's own space as a stand-alone article. Notice of Ludmila's talk in Oklahoma City was noted in September, though by then she had returned to North Carolina where she wrote a letter to the editor about the golden rule across religions including the Bahá'í Faith, A number of religious leaders gathered that same day as the letter to the editor at a Presbyterian church and Ludmila delivered the principal talk of the event. In November visiting professor E. Thomas from Duke and Leonard DeSheild talked at UN Day with Ludmila presiding at a community center. That December Ludmila was among speakers at the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom's NCC forum, and Ludmila herself appeared in a picture on the front page alongside several others leaders of the group.

A notice in late December covered Etta Woodlen, chair of national Inter-Racial Committee of Bahá'ís, who had stayed at the Van Sombeek home and toured several cities in North Carolina. Others noted in the article included various international guests and speakers and Woodlen had an additional reception at Carlatta Holmes's home. January 1958 opens with coverage of some 31 students from universities/colleges from many states, including African American and others, gathered at the Von Sombeek home at which international students shared about their homelands, there was music, and a presentation on Bahá'í teachings. A week later a letter to editor was contributed by George Van Sombeek on the Bahá'ís observance of World Religion Day, with some of those students still around. At the time Ludmila spoke at Johnson C. Smith University for their observance of World Religion Day. A month later Bahá'í Helen Elsie Austin was a guest of the Van Sombeeks.

Though reported some weeks after the fact, there was a notice of a Persian dinner held at the Van Sombeek's for the Bahá'í New Year with tape by William Sears played, (he had just recently been appointed as a Hand of the Cause.) The article also noted Ludmila was a speaker at the Elizabeth City State Teachers College in the far north-east of the state during a session on religion at the school. A week later a picture of a group meeting with Rev. Dr. King included Ludmila. It also noted George Van Sombeek had died a few hrs after this meeting. He was buried in Woodlawn Memorial Park, Durham.

As a widow again

Challoner Ricard St. Clair Chite of the University of Virginia visited NCC accompanied by Ludmila two weeks after George died. Ludmila then attended Intercontinental Conference in Chicago with Mrs. Joe Sawyer and returned to Durham, only to quickly embark on a tour: to Fisk University for the inauguration of Stephen Wright, spoke at Tennessee University, then to Indiana where she was the guest of Dr. and Mrs. T. E. Jones, then president of Earlham College. Then she attended the Bahá'í national convention and then went to South Bend, Indiana to speak before visiting with family in Ohio and upon her return she entertained Manel Powell at her home. More than a month later Ludilla hosted Bahá'í Eruch Munsiff, wife in Indian diplomat, who spoke at various engagements. The rest of 1958 was quiet.

In February of 1959 the Van Sombeek home hosted a conference on race relations with attendees from North Carolina and Virginia sponsored by national Baha'i Interracial committee. Thirty four people attended and a photograph of the group was published in The Carolina Times. A couple days later Bahá'ís Dr. and Mrs. Raymond Piper were hosted by Van Sombeek while on their around-the-world trip while they visited area colleges and universities followed by a reception.

After a quiet March, Bahȧ'í A. K. and Mrs. Kalantar had returned and he was noted giving a talk at the Van Sombeek home during a tour. There is another quiet June but during July Van Sombeek went to Black Mountain, New Jersey for a World Affairs Institute sponsored by the American Association for the United Nations, (as it was called then,) and the North Carolina Council of Churches. In October Van Sombeek's home hosted international students and teachers at home for a UN Day party given by the Bahá'ís of Durham. Then in December Matthew Bullock, then a former Dean of Alabama A & M Normal School, began a two month series of talks in the area such NCC, Palmer Memorial Institute, and other colleges while guests of Mr. and Mrs. J L Moffit and was entertained long friends Van Sombeek and Carlota Holmes. Very soon after Van Sombeek went to visit the Bahá'í House of Worship at Wilmette, Illinois, and a visit with family in Toronto.

January 1960 opened with World Religion Day being celebrated and attracting the proclamation by Durham Mayor Emanuel J. Evans, with talks by Viennese Professor Adolphe Furth, and Bahá'ís Albert James and Van Sombeek. Then national assembly member Ellsworth Blackwell returned to NC to lead a conference with attendees from four states as a guest of Carlotta Holmes and Van Sombeek held an open house reception. Ludmila then spoke at an integrated meeting at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem as a guest of Dr and Mrs. Emerson Head. The Pittsburg Courier published a picture of a meeting in March at which Ludmila was seated next to Mrs. Martin Luther King at a "Co-ed Weekend" at NCC. This was soon followed by the Bahá'í New Year observance hosted at the Van Sombeek home. In April Van Sombeek then spoke at Duke University's Internationalist Club in the Women's College. Van Sombeek's next visibility was in June in the newspapers was giving a reception for Dr and Mrs. R. Piper of Syracuse.

That Summer her daughter's family, Mr and Mrs Bruce Van der Heydt and children, visited her in Durham and Ludmila held a lawn party with a slide show provided by Danish visiting professor. Van Sombeek was then among the teachers advertised for the Davison Bahá'í School, (later known as Louhelen Bahá'í School.) Come September Van Sombeek returned to Durham after many stops and speaking opportunities such as Eliot, Maine, home of Green Acre Bahá'í School, Flint Michigan, New York City and Long Island where she was a guest of Mrs. and David Thomas. A week later Van Sombeek hosted the observance of World Peace Day.

In later October Van Sombeek was noted offering talks in Tennessee, and then she was a guest of Sarah Pereira and entertained by Mrs. Stephen Wright, wife of the then Fisk President. This was followed in later November with an international Bahá´'i fellowship evening at the Van Sombeek home with guests Dr. and Mrs. Peter Tadley showing slides, and then Challoner Chute was her guest in December.

January 1961 begins with Van Sombeek entertaining foreign students at her home, and a week later she hosted the World Religion Day observance. Then she went for a weekend to Washington DC to attend meetings for Lillian Evanti, again, with Ali Kuli Khan at the home of Mrs. Frank Snowden.

In February Van Sombeek hosted a party for Jean Norris, English teacher at NCC, and Henry Markot, church choir cunductor with guests from international sollection of guests; though not advertised as such this would have been during Ayyám-i-Há. In April Van Sombeek hosted Bahá'í Allan Ward who spoke at a NCC series of talks and she hosted a reception for him. Ward would later write 239 Days: ʻAbud'l-Bahá's Journey in America, about ‘Abdu’l-Bahá's journeys to the America.

In May Van Sombeek attended the national Bahá'í convention and tour of luncheons and meetings opportunities in New York and Ohio where her daughter then lived. A month later Van Sombeek hosted a picnic birthday party for Bahá'í Jean Norris with students from area universities. And Allan Ward returned as a guest of Van Sombeek, and spoke at a series of meetings in the area. A week later Van Sombeek hosted Bahá'í Maude Dixon from New York. A regional observance of the Martyrdom of the Bab was held at the Penn Community Center in Frogmore, St. Helena Island, SC. Some Baha'is from Durham attended. In September Van Sombeek returned from a 5 week trip starting at Frogmore, then Maine, then Flint Michigan. And a week later she gave a farewell party for Henry Markot, soloist of Duke Chapel, Minister at Trinity Methodist Church with party of are colleges and community. A week later she hosted the observance of World Peace Day. A second article noted there was attendance from NCC and Duke.

In October an article an article covered that Van Sombeek returned from a tour to Nashville where the Bahá'í National Service Committee met and spoke to groups; she was a guest of Dr. and Mrs. E. G. High, related to E. N. Tooles of Durham. And she wrote a letter to the editor noting the observance of UN Day among the Bahá'ís. A week later there was a profile of the Faith noting their working for peace and advise revising the UN charter - the article also announced a meeting of the United Nations Association at her home with talks by Dag Hammerskiold; perhaps mistakenly saying that Adlai Stevens, and Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt would also attend - they did not. The the meeting was undertaken with the assistance of Carlotta Holmes and Jean Norris.

The Birthday of Baha'u'llah observance in Durham was held at Van Sombeek home in November. Another article reflected on it weeks later. An article in March Van Sombeek spoke at the Nashville Bahá'í Center on a panel with Herman Long (Fisk), Amoz Gibson (Bahá'í) among a set of conferences. Two weeks later a photo of a Bahá'í meeting at the Van Sombeek home was published in the newspaper, noting it was one of the newest religious groups of Durham. In April Van Sombeek hosted a piano recital with an international audience and performers featuring visiting guests Mr and Mrs Head from Ann Arbor Michigan.

In June Van Sombeek was pictured and Bahá'í teachings were summarized in Phoenix, Arizona. Then there was notice that Van Sombeek returned from Pheonix for a two week visit with son and a Pine Spring Bahá'í conference with Indians and visitors from many countries.

Then there is a notice of the first Local Spiritual Assembly of Durham - members Carlotta Holmes, Jean Norris, Kathryn Potter, Pari Rowshan, Norma Sarji, Joe Sawyer, Earl Smith, Thelma Stevens, Ludmila Van Sombeek, and notes the newest community member Ethlynne Thomas. That summer's area Bahá'í school was held at Frogmore with some Durhamite attendees - Carlotta Holmes, Pari Rowhan, Ludmila Van Sombeek, Kathryn Potter, Joseph Sawyer… it also marked 50th anniversary of `Abdu'l-Baha visit to America; Eulalia Bobo gave the opening address and other speakers included Alan Ward, Mrs. Robert Lee Moffett, and Paul Pettit.

After Van Sombeek's summer trip she was home and entertained a return visit from her children and gathered Bahá'ís who listened to them talking about experiences in New Mexico with Indians. In November there is a notice Van Sombeek had been to Dayton for Association for the Study of African American Life and History meeting at Central State College where Hobart Taylor spoke, Charles H. Wesley presented awards, and Van Sombeek also visited Bahá'í family of the Wesleys. Van Sombeek was away the rest of November but returned from visiting family in Toronto, Ohio, and Phoenix, Arizona, and offered a dinner talk with slides and music of her travels. Bahá'ís then observed Human Rights Day at the Van Sombeek home, with recorded talks by Dag Hammarskjold and Eleanor Roosevelt.

In February 1963 there were two articles in The Carolina Times related to the Faith - Dwight Allen came and gave a talk in Durham in the Flowers building of Duke University and a prayer meeting held at the Van Sombeek home for Moroccan Bahá'ís were suffering persecution. Kathryn Potter was chair of the local assembly. A month later Dwight Harris, an NCC teacher, gave a talk at the Van Sombeek home. After that there was a notice Van Sombeek had been invited to speak to the "A and B Circle" of the Kyls Temple AME Zion Church, showing slides of Holy Land and Vienna. Indeed was just getting ready for a major trip - in October Van Sombeek returned after six months in Europe following the Bahá'í World Congress held in London. Van Sombeek then visited nine countries giving talks including some behind the Iron Curtain. A week later Etta Woodlen of Deleware talked at a Bahá'í meeting held in Van Sombeek's home. A month later Bahá'ís of Durham offered prayers for President Kennedy, who had been assasinate, at the home of Van Sombeek.

January coverage starts with Van Sombeek talking at meeting in Florida, and from there went on a month long speaking tour along east coast for the Faith, and then she in turn hosted Bahá'ís Mr and Mrs Ted Lipitt of West Virginia who gave talk and slide series at bank and her home. At the end of the month she hosted Bahá'í Aileen Beale from Bournemouth who was speaking supporting the UN. That March a week after the fact an article covered Bahá'ís observing "New Year's Day" at the Van Sombeek home with international visitors. Van Sombeek was then off to return after 3 weeks which included Bahá'í national convention, visiting family, going to New York UN events, and the 1964 New York World's Fair.

In June Van Sombeek again gave a birthday party for Jean Norris at her home, noted the arrival of Valerie Wilson from California, and all with friends from Duke and NCC. Two weeks later Van Sombeek hosted Mrs. Roan Orloff Stone of Gallup NM who was working with Indians there. Two more weeks later there was notice of three Baháa'ís from Durham who went to Camp Forothy Walls at Black Mountain, NC - Ethlynne Thomas, Ludmila Van Sombeek, and Jean Norris. A particular teacher at the school was Hand of the Cause Dhikru'llah Khadem. At the end of the summer, Van Sombeek hosted Mary Browne of High Point and Ann Homes of New York - both coming from a peace conference sponsored by Quakers - with a picnic and an indoor reception with Bahá'ís and the wider community. A few days later Jean Norris gave a talk at the Van Sombeek home on the Bahá'í view of prophecies of the age of peace coming. Van Sombeek also hosted then editor of The Africa Report Glenford Mitchell, who was to speak at the World Peace Day event, with guests from Raleigh Duke and NCC. He was pictured in The Carolina Times a couple weeks later as he spoke at an AME Church.

In November it was noted Durham Bahá'ís observed the Bahá'í Holy Day of Baha'u'llah's Birthday at the Van Sombeek home. A month later the Human Rights Day observance by Bahá'ís was held at the Van Sombeek home. There was also a notice that Bahá'ís from Durham went to the state Bahá'í convention in Greensboro - Early Smith, Carlotta Holmes, Ludmila Van Sombeek, Wiley Allison, Thelma Allison, Andrew Allison, Jean Norris along with Baha'is fom 20 other towns in NC. And then Bahá'ís gathered over winter at the Penn Community Center in Flagmore SC - including Jean Norris, Van Sombeek, and others from 15 states with over 200 people with Hand of the Cause William Sears. A week later Bostonian Bahá'í Matthew Bullock was the main speaker at the World Religion Day observance held at NCC. Later in February Bullock was hosted by Van Sombeek and gave talks in area some two weeks.

In later April Van Sombeek hosted Bahá'ís Eugene Byrd and family who spoke at the NCC Bahá'í club meeting. Another visitor was Bahá'í Albert James. That Summer Van Sombeek made another trip to Europe and helped start activities of Bahá'ís in Hungary. Her return from the trip over seas earned a picture in The Carolina Times. She was pictured again talking at a meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, and gave talks in Tucson, and gave slide shows in Gallup, New Mexico.

In February 1966 Van Sombeek visited the DC area for the Legislative Seminar for the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom and hear a Foreign Relations Committee report on Viet Nam. Van Sombeek was a house guest of Sarah Pereira and upon return was asked to speak at a couple of local engagements. Two months later she had returned after going to the Bahá'í national convention and then visiting her daughter and giving a talk in Stony Brook, NY. The next week Van Sombeek hosted a picnic for guests from NCC and Duke, and international visitors where G. Hardin offered a paper and Bahá'í quotes. For the first time in many years there is a break in coverage of Van Sombeek's activities the rest of 1966.

The Southeastern region Bahá'í Winter School was held at FFA-FHA State Headquarters near Covington GA in late December. Among those there included Van Sombeek, Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Allison, Carlotta Holmes and Jean Norris. In mid-January Bahá'ís observed World Religion Day with a prelude slide show by Jules Lauret and Van Sombeek at the Van Sombeek home and then an interfaith presenters of Rev. John Chappell, Jay Scales (Moslem), Kent Auter (UU), Fath. Joseph Woods (Cath.), Jules Lautret (Bahá'í) at the Allied Arts Center.

In March Allah Kuli-Khan Kalantar, who was also pictured in The Carolina Times, was hosted by Van Sombeek and gave talks at area meetings. In May Van Sombeek sent a letter to Martin Luther King Jr responding to a comment that he was going to visit the Holy Land. It didn't happen though. Meanwhile Van Sombeek attended the election of the first National Assembly Leeward/Windward and the Virgin Islands.

In October some 30 North Carolinians attended the international Proclamation Centenary conference in Chicago. Speakers included Episcopal Bishop James Pike, Yale Professor and Bahá'í Firuz Kazemzadeh, Executive director of the Chicago Urban League Edwin Berry, UN NGO Bahá'í representative Mildred Mottahedeh, and Fisk University faculty poet and Bahá'í Robert Hayden.

In 1967 Van Sombeek again toured European countries and was pictured on her return. This time she also went to two Bahá'í international summer conferences, went to Israel and Iran (probably for Bahá'í pilgrimage), and then attending the placement of the cornerstone at the Bahá'í House of Worship at Panama. In November Durham Bahá'ís gather at her home for the Birthday of Bahá'u'lláh observance and she showed slides of Iran with music by Evander Gilmer.

In April Van Sombeek returned after a 1 month tour to DC, Maryland and Pennsylvania, showing slides of her Panama and Iran Bahá'í trips. She also attended a retirement reception at Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana of a friend. In May she attended the 4th annual human rights conference seminar at the UN sponsored by the US Bahá'í National Assembly. In June Van Sombeek returned after attending national Bahá'í convention and trips to Ohio and Arizona to see family and show slides of her travels to small groups. But she soon left the country again to return in September after touring 8 countries after the Palermo Bahá'í Oceanic Conference on the centenary of Baha'u'llah's arrival in Holy Land. But in October she was giving talks in Geneva, Binghamton, back in Geneva, New York. Her activity earned her a story and picture on her return to Durham.

In February 1969 Van Sombeek attended a 3 day conference in Atlanta on Bahá'í spiritual varieties with presentations by Layd Gardner, Albert James, "a Navajo" (Chester Khan?) and Mrs. J. Khadem. Notice was made in The Carolina Times article of African-Americans on local and national assemblies and the Universal House of Justice as well as a Navajo on the national assembly. In April Van Sombeek retuned from Chicago attending the Bahá'í New Year observance at the House of Worship and a there wedding followed by an invitation of area groups to hear Van Sombeek speak. A week later the marriage announcement of the Bahá'í wedding of Jean Norris and Jay Scales noted Van Sombeek attended reading the Marriage Tablet. In May it was noted Durhamites Van Sombeek, Mr and Mrs Andrew Allison and Wylie Allison attended the national convention where Van Sombeek gave talks to area talks and there was notice of 35% increase in adult enrollments in the Faith and 89% of youth - also announced were eight conferences to be held over the next few years. Additionally it was noted Van Sombeek toured after attending the convention and that she spoke in areas around Chicago as well as locally in Kinston, NC. In particular Van Sombeek presented to an audience of hundreds of teachers at a conference in Charlotte on the treatment of minorities in textbooks and included slides of Baha'i Shrines and Temples. She then received invitations to speak at various schools - the first black teacher in a white school in Kinston NC in particular had her address her school and the black school as well as a club, while another set of invitations came from Durham.

Reno, Nevada

In September 1969 Van Sombeek announced she was moving to Reno, Nevada, after living in Durham some 14 years to live with her daughter and nearby family. They had moved here from New York to support the Baha'i Peace Plan and George passed in 1958. Her rate of being visible in the newspapers decreased. This represents almost the end of newspaper coverage of her activities. In Dec 1969 she did appear giving a talk at a meeting in Reno. But that appears to be the end of her public appearances except when she returned to Durham to attend the wedding of Mariam Parmelee and Tom Dessent. She died Sep 7, 1979 in Phoenix, Arizona.

Further reading

• Jean Norris Scales (Feb 1980). "Ludmila Van Sombeek: tireless worker for Cause". The American Bahá'í. p. 17.