Olivia Kelsey

Olivia Kelsey
Born	February 9, 1889 Delaware County, Ohio, USA
Died	October 13, 1981 Yellow Springs, Ohio, USA
Spouse(s)	Francis Arthur Kelsey (1892 - 1937) m. 1929
Works •  Media

Olivia Kelsey (February 9, 1889 - October 13, 1981) was an American Bahá’í who was named a Knight of Bahá’u’lláh for pioneering to Monaco.

Biography

Kelsey was born on her families farm in Delaware County, Ohio, in 1889 into a Christian family with her father being Catholic and her mother Protestant. Her mother passed in 1900 and in 1902 she was sent to live with the family of one of her mothers brothers in Cleveland. After completing her schooling she moved to New York City where she studied drama and music for twelve years and was active at a Shakespearean theatre.

She was introduced to the Bahá’í Faith by Francis Arthur Kelsey, brother of Curtis Kelsey, in New York. They married in 1929, she joined the Faith in 1932, and they began hosting Bahá’í events in their home in New York and she began writing poems and articles on various subjects related to the Faith for World Order magazine.

In 1937 Arthur passed away leaving Kelsey widowed. She pioneered to Louisville, Kentucky, that year after his passing and she began assisting various Bahá’í communities across America with public relations and proclamation activities developing relationships with newspapers, and radio and television stations. In 1944 she pioneered to Kansas where she was appointed to a Regional Teaching Committee. In 1947 a compilation of quotes from the Bahá’í writings which she had arranged into a format where they were used to answer ninety-five questions was published and it began to be used to teach the Faith.

In 1953 Shoghi Effendi announced the Ten Year Crusade which included several goals to establish Bahá’í communities in countries around the world. In 1954 Edna True contacted Kelsey to see if she would be interested in filling the post of Monaco which needed to be re-opened to the Faith due to the passing of Nellie French. She retired from her professional career and pioneered to Monaco with Florence Ullrich and they arrived in the country in March, 1954, initially living together in a cheap hotel. She went on pilgrimage in the winter of 1954 and met with Shoghi Effendi who advised her to focus on establishing a Local Spiritual Assembly in Monaco and to teach in France after this was accomplished.

In 1955 the Local Spiritual Assembly of Monaco was established and in 1959 Kelsey moved to Toulouse, France, to support the local Bahá’í community. The following year Mason Remey broke the Covenant and attempted to usurp control of the Bahá’í community by claiming to be the Guardian of the Faith and Kelsey traveled across France to deepen local Bahá’í communities at the request of the Hands of the Cause.

In 1964 Kelsey returned to the United States due to a decline in her health. She settled in Columbus, Ohio, where she lived with friends and became active in publicity work for the Faith again and also participated in teaching projects. In 1974 she began making travel teaching trips to South Carolina and West Virginia. In her final years she lived with friends in Zenia, California, and Yellow Springs, Ohio, and in her final months she was cared for at the Friends Care Center in Yellow Springs where she taught the Faith to the nurses. She passed away in 1981 and the Universal House of Justice conveyed the following message after her passing:

LONG DEDICATED DISTINGUISHED SERVICE KNIGHT BAHAULLAH OLIVIA KELSEY ADDS LUSTRE ANNALS AMERICAN BAHAI COMMUNITY. ASSURE PRAYERS BOUNTIFUL REWARD PROGRESS HER SOUL ABHA KINGDOM.