Orol Platt

Orol Platt.

Laura "Orol" Platt (July 18, 1866 - March 15, 1964) was an early American Bahá’í who assisted in teaching the Bahá’í Faith in Los Angeles County.

Biography[edit]

Platt was born Laura Arkell in 1866 to James Arkell, a United States Senator, and Sarah Hall Bartlett.[1] Her family established the Beech-Nut Packing Company of Canajoharie, New York.[2] At some point she married Arthur Collins Platt.[1] She had become a Bahá’í by the 1910's and was among the earliest Bahá’í of Los Angeles,[2] and a Bahá’í study class was hosted in her home, with prominent Bahá’ís Beulah Storrs Lewis, and Carole Lombard and her mother being introduced to the religion through it.[3]

In 1917 Platt began providing funding for the Tarbiyat School in Tehran, Iran, with the school eventually naming a department after her.[4] In 1925 she visited Honolulu, Hawaii, and Japan with her husband and was able to meet with Agnes Alexander in Hawaii and teach the Faith in Japan.[5] She assisted with efforts to establish a Bahá’í community in Long Beach, California, in the late 1920's making weekly visits alongside Beulah Storrs Lewis to facilitate a study class for a six month period.[6]

Platt continued to host Bahá’í events in her home into the 1940's,[7] and in 1946 she established a University of Southern California scholarship which provided funding for twenty-five students a year to study at the University.[2] She passed away in Los Angeles in 1964.[8]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/41418377/laura-platt
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-obit-for-bahai-la/6284882/
  3. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1952?). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. Wilmette, Ill. Volume 11 (1946-1950), Pg(s) 504. View as PDF.
  4. ↑ Baha'i News (1934). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 88, Pg(s) 12. View as PDF.
  5. ↑ Earl Redman, Duane Troxel (2022). Agnes Baldwin Alexander: Hand of the Cause of God. United Kingdom: George Ronald. p. 194. ISBN 9780853986478.
  6. ↑ Baha'i News (1931). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 48, Pg(s) 12. View as PDF.
  7. ↑ Baha'i News (1945). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 178, Pg(s) 7. View as PDF.
  8. ↑ Baha'i News: U.S. Supplement, 76, p 7
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