Mabel Paine
Mabel Hyde Paine (December 7, 1877 - August 15, 1955) was an early American Bahá’í who helped found the Local Spiritual Assembly of Urbana, Illinois.
Biography[edit]
Paine was born Mabel Hyde in Rockville, Connecticut, in 1877. Her family descended from the Europeans who had settled in New England in the 1600's and her father was a pastor for the Congregational Church. Her father died when she was two and she was raised in poverty by her mother alongside her four siblings. Despite a lack of financial means she was able to attend Mt. Holyoke College and received a High School education. After graduating school she taught in a country school and raised funds which, with a scholarship, allowed her to attend Wellesley College which she graduated from in 1902 after a brief hiatus due to suffering typhoid.[1]
In 1908 she married Ellery Burton Paine who worked at the University of Illinois teaching electrical engineering and she moved to Urbana with him. She discovered the Bahá’í Faith in Urbana attending a talk given by Lua Getsinger in 1912 and one by Charles Mason Remey in 1913 and then attended classes conducted by Albert R. Vail before declaring in 1915. In 1920 she was elected to the Local Spiritual Assembly of Urbana when it was established and in September that year she went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land with her daughter Sylvia where they met ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. She undertook a teaching trip across Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska after returning from pilgrimage but her ill health prevented her from travel teaching afterward,[1] and she instead began writing on the Faith contributing articles to Star of the West and serving on the editorial committees of The Bahá’í World and World Order magazine.[2]
In 1931 Paine went on a second pilgrimage with her daughter and they met Shoghi Effendi and she assisted in the development of the administration of the Faith according to his guidelines. She served on the Local Spiritual Assembly of Urbana up until her passing in 1955. Leroy Ioas wrote the following message to her daughter on behalf of the Guardian after her passing:
"The beloved Guardian deeply values the long and devoted services of your mother in the pathway of the Cause of God. She has ascended to the Abhá Kingdom and is now receiving a rich reward, from the Master whom she served so efficiently and so diligently."[2]
Publications[edit]
- 1953 - The Divine Art of Living, compilation from the Bahá’í Faith.
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Baha'i News (1979). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 583, Pg(s) 7. View as PDF.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Baha'i News (1979). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 583, Pg(s) 8. View as PDF.
