Velma Sherrill

Velma Sherrill
Born	June 27, 1911 Wallace County, Kansas
Died	May 17, 1996
NSA member	United States 1961 - 1964
ABM	Americas 1957 - 1973
Counsellor	North America 1973 - 1980 Americas 1980 - 1985
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Velma L. Sherrill (June 27, 1911 - May 17, 1996) was an American Bahá'í who served on the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and as a Continental Counsellor.

Biography

Velma was born in Wallace County, Kansas, in 1911. She had one older and one younger sibling. She graduated high school at the age of fifteen.

In 1935 Velma became a Bahá'í after learning of the religion in Kansas City from Bahá'ís including Emogene Hoagg, Orcella Rexford, and Ruth Moffett. She later moved to Chicago where she was able to learn from Horace Holley.

As of 1944 Velma was serving on the Regional Teaching Committee of Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska, and the State Convention Committee of Missouri. In June 1945 Velma spoke at public meetings in Joplin, Missouri, to to support an isolated Bahá'í living there. In 1946 she spoke at a public meeting in St. Louis, Missouri.

Velma served as secretary of the National Teaching Committee for a time during the ten year crusade. In 1957 she was elected to the inaugural Local Spiritual Assembly of Webster Groves, Missouri, alongside her husband Lloyd, and the same year she was appointed as an Auxiliary Board member for Teaching. In February 1958 she visited Kansas City and St. Louis as Auxiliary Board member. She taught a session on Bahá'í Administration at the first Southwestern Bahá'í Summer School at Bachman's Lake later in 1958. In 1959 she represented the Faith at a 'Religion in Life' week at Iowa State Teacher's College in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

In 1961 she was first elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States. In April 1964 she represented the Assembly at the first National Convention of Hawaii. In 1964 she resigned from the Assembly and continued to serve as Auxiliary Board member, as the Universal House of Justice had directed that individuals could not serve on an Auxiliary Board and National Assembly at the same time. She taught at the Green Lake Institute in Wisconsin in 1965. In 1967 she was appointed executive assistant to Hand of the Cause Zikrullah Khadem.

In 1973 Velma was appointed to the Continental Board for North America, and when this body was merged with the other American boards in 1980 she was appointed to the Continental Board for the Americas for a five year term.

Velma continued to be active after completing her term as Counsellor, participating in the St. Louis Dialogue Group of the World's Religions and Philosophies. In 1991 she helped organize the Fifth Annual Gathering for Peace for the group, and in 1993 she was included on a program which also featured the Dalai Lama. She also supported an annual Prayer Pilgrimage to different houses of worship in St. Louis. She also served on the Local Spiritual Assembly of Webster Groves, and was secretary of the body at the time of her passing.

She passed away in May 1996, and Christian, Sikh, Vedanta, Confucian, Tao and Buddhist representatives all expressed their affection and respect for her at her funeral. The Tenth Interfaith Gathering of the St. Louis Dialogue Group was dedicated to her memory.

References

• Obituary published in Bahá'í World: In Memoriam 1992-1997, pp 310-312