Mary Suhm
Mary Kelsey | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | July 30, 1925 USA |
| Died | August 20, 2002 Princeton, New Jersey, USA |
Mary Louise Suhm (July 30, 1925 - August 20, 2002) was an American Bahá’í who was named a Knight of Bahá’u’lláh for pioneering to Morocco.
Biography[edit]
Suhm was born Mary Louise Bristol in 1925. She was born to parents John Henry Bristol and Harriet Morgan and was adopted by her mothers second husband Curtis Kelsey when they married in 1928 and raised as a Bahá’í.[1] In 1952 she married fellow Bahá’í Richard Suhm who she had three children with.[2] Shortly after marrying the Suhm's pioneered to Whitefish Bay to establish a Local Spiritual Assembly.[3]
In 1953 the Suhm's attended the Wilmette Intercontinental Teaching Conference held to launch the Ten Year Crusade and were inspired to pioneer. While Suhm's parents were on pilgrimage in December, 1953, she asked them to ask Shoghi Effendi where they should pioneer and in January 1954 the Suhm's received a postcard noting that Shoghi Effendi advised they should pioneer to Tangier, Morocco.[2]
The Suhm's pioneered to Tangier with their three month old son arriving in April 1954. Their daughter Wendy was born while they were living in Morocco and they successfully helped establish a Local Spiritual Assembly in Tangier.[2] In 1956 Suhm contracted polio,[4] and Shoghi Effendi advised the Suhm's to return to the United States for her health.[2]
The Suhm's settled in Hackensack, New Jersey, after returning to America and pioneered to Ramapo, New York, after helping establish the Hackensack Assembly. After several years a Local Spiritual Assembly was established in Rampo.[4] In 1976 Suhm and Richard divorced and she moved to Wilmette, Illinois, to serve at the U.S. National Bahá’í Center. She served as manager of the Office of Pioneering from 1977 to 1987.[5]
In 1988 Suhm pioneered to Taiwan and taught the Faith in the country until returning to the United States in 1989. She passed away in Princeton, New Jersey, in 2002.[5]
References[edit]
- ↑ Harriet Elida Morgan at ancestors.familysearch.org
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Redman, E. The Knights of Bahá’u’lláh, George Ronald Press: London, 2017, p 29
- ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 25 (1996-1997), Pg(s) 310. View as PDF.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 25 (1996-1997), Pg(s) 311. View as PDF.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (2004). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 31 (2002-2003), Pg(s) 275. View as PDF.
