Mildred Clark
Mildred Eileen Clark | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Mildred Eileen Hodges May 24, 1892 Manchester, Illinois, United States |
| Died | May 27, 1967 Turku, Lansi-Suomen Laani, Finland |
| Spouse(s) | Garfield Chase Hiatt (1880-1923), George Nathaniel Underwood Clark (1890-1962) |
| Children | Mary Melissa Hiatt Rice |
| Parent(s) | Orrin Oswald Hodges and Mary Clara Rose |
Mildred Eileen Clark (May 24, 1892 - May 27, 1967) was an American Bahá’í who pioneered to Europe where she helped develop the Bahá’í community of Norway and opened the Lofoten Islands in Finland to the Bahá’í Faith for which she was named a Knight of Bahá'u'lláh.
Biography[edit]
Clark was born Mildred Eileen Hodges in Manchester, Illinois, in 1892.[1] In 1912 she married Garfield Chase Hiatt in Cleveland, Ohio, who passed away in 1923.[2] At some point Clark became a Bahá’í and she was an active member of the community as of the later 1930's pioneering to Denver, Colorado, from San Francisco in 1942 to support the work of the American Seven Year Plan.[3] She met George Clark in Denver and they got married around 1946.[4]
In 1946 the Second American Seven Year Plan was launched which tasked the American community with establishing the Bahá’í Faith in Europe. Clark volunteered to support the Faith in Europe and was advised to settle in Norway by the European Teaching Committee and settled in Oslo. She helped form the first Local Spiritual Assembly of Oslo in 1948, pioneered to the Netherlands in January 1950, and briefly moved to Luxembourg in 1952 where she helped organize a European Teaching Conference before returning to Oslo.[4]
In July 1953 Clark attended the European Intercontinental Teaching Conference held in Stockholm, Sweden, to launch the Ten Year Crusade and at the conference she volunteered to be the first pioneer to the Lofoten Islands in Finland which were designated as a territory to be opened to the Faith. She arrived in Svolvaer in the Islands with fellow American pioneer Loyce Lawrence in August 1953 and they were both named Knights of Bahá’u’lláh.[4]
Clark returned to Norway in approximately 1963 settling in Trondheim where she continued to hold firesides in her home despite suffering a heart condition.[5] She later pioneered back to Finland settling in Turku shortly before her passing in May, 1967. The Universal House of Justice conveyed the following message to the National Spiritual Assembly of Finland after her passing:
DEEPLY GRIEVED PASSING KNIGHT BAHA'U'LLAH MILDRED CLARK HER VALIANT SERVICES PROMOTION FAITH CONSTITUTE NOTABLE CHAPTER HISTORY ITS ESTABLISHMENT EUROPEAN CONTINENT STOP URGE HOLD MEMORIAL SERVICES ALL COMMUNITIES FINLAND PRAYING HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS HER SOUL ABHA KINGDOM[4]
Further Reading[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ Mildred Eileen (Hodges) Clark (1892 - 1967) at WikiTree.com
- ↑ Garfield Chase Hiatt (1880 - 1923) at WikiTree.com
- ↑ Baha'i News (1942). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 155, Pg(s) 6. View as PDF.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1974). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 14 (1963-1968), Pg(s) 303. View as PDF.
- ↑ Redman, E. The Knights of Bahá’u’lláh, George Ronald Press, London. p 321
External Links[edit]
- Mildred Hodges Clark on WikiTree - family tree
