Vignettes of Remarkable People in the Faith:
Marion "Generall" Jack:

Born and raised in Canada, Marion Jack had become a Baha'i while an art student in Paris. In 1908 she spent some months in Acre where she had the privilege of being with 'Abdu'l-Baha. He admired her sense of
humor, joviality, and spiritual certitude, and He gave her the affectionate nickname of "General Jack."
Dur ing her stay in the Holy Land, she taught English to some of His grandchildren and met another of them, the young Shoghi Effendi.
Some of her paintings done at that time are now on display in the Baha'i holy places in Israel, including the Mansion of Bahji.
Inspired by the guidance of 'Abdu'l-Baha , Ms. Jack took the message of the Faith to Alaska 1919-20. More than a decade later, when revisiting the Holy Land, Shoghi Effendi, then the head of the Faith,
asked Ms. Jack, 65, to go as a Baha'i pioneer to Bulgaria. She went there directly from the Holy Land, arriving in 1931.
In cooperation with just a handful of other Baha'is, she helped establish thriving Baha'i communities in places such as Sofia and
Varna.
In that first decade of her stay in Bulgaria, she lived through the world economic depression sustained only by a er pension that afforded her basic accommodation and food. Then, during World War II, her living conditions became immeasurably worse.
Shoghi Effendi suggested she leave the country for Switzerland.

However, he accepted, with great admiration, her plea to remain at her post. She had told him there was nobody there at the time who could
replace her as a Baha'i pioneer.
Living in a city subject to aerial bombing and facing the possibility of internment by a pro-Nazi government, Ms. Jack demonstrated
persistence, fearlessness, self-abnegation, and generosity.
During the Stalinist-style political era that followed the war, she suffered from inadequate food, heating, and clothing. She lived in dank rented rooms -- once in a damp cellar with no windows.
Among the other difficulties she faced were serious health problems, an inability to master the Bulgarian language, theft of her
belongings, extreme cold, plagues of bedbugs, and the irregular arrival of her pension. Yet she remained cheerful and steadfast.
Shoghi Effendi said there was never a "more inspiring pioneer."
When she passed away, aged 87, on March 27, 1954, he urged the building of a suitable grave that was destined to "confer eternal benediction" on Bulgaria. It would, he said, become in the future a place of visitation, a prediction that is being borne out by such visits as the one last month.
"Immortal heroine.." An extract from the tribute to Marion Jack by Shoghi Effendi is inscribed on the headstone of her grave.
An extract of the tribute Shoghi Effendi paid her on her passing
appears on the headstone of her grave: "Immortal heroine...Greatly loved and deeply admired by 'Abdu'l-Baha. A shining example to pioneers...Her unremitting, highly meritorious activities...shed imperishable splendor on contemporary Baha'i history...Shoghi."
Marion Jack's legacy lies in a Baha'i community now established in 100 localities throughout the country -- and in beautiful paintings adorning the meeting chamber of the National Spiritual Assembly of the
Baha'is of Bulgaria and some of the walls of the Baha'i holy places in Acre and Haifa.
(For more information on Marion Jack, see the book "Never Be Afraid to Dare" by Jan Teofil Jasion, George Ronald, Publisher, 2001.




Lessons from the Master:
Beauty of the Human Race:
The following delightful story about an incident during `Abdu'l-Baha's stay in New York illustrates the fact that He was not `colour-blind', but rather He found racial differences a thing of beauty. When the Master was on His way to speak to several hunDrd men at the Bowery Mission He was accompanied by a group of Persian and American friends. Not unnaturally a group of boys was intrigued by the sight of this group of Orientals with their flowing robes and turbans and started to follow them. They soon became noisy and obstreperous. A lady in the Master's party was highly embarrassed at the rude behaviour of the boys. Drpping behind she stopped to talk with them and told them a little about who `Abdu'l-Baha was. Not entirely expecting them to take her up on the invitation, she nevertheless gave them her home adDrss and said that if they liked to come the following Sunday she would arrange for them to see Him.
Thus, on Sunday, some twenty or thirty of them appeared on the doorstep, rather scruffy and noisy, but with signs that they had tidied up for the occasion nonetheless. Upstairs in `Abdu'l-Baha's room the Master was seen at the door greeting each boy with a handclasp or an arm around the shoulder, with warm smiles and boyish laughter. His happiest welcome seemed to be directed to the thirteen-year-old boy near the end of the line. He was quite dark-skinned and didn't seem too sure he would be welcome. The Master's face lighted up and in a loud voice that all could hear exclaimed with delight that `here was a black rose'. The boy's face shone with happiness and love. Silence fell across the room as the boys looked at their companion with a new awareness.
The Master did not stop at that, however. On their arrival He had asked that a big five-pound box of delicious chocolates be fetched. With this He walked around the room, ladling out chocolates by the handful to each boy. Finally, with only a few left in the box, He picked out one of the darkest chocolates, walked across the room and held it to the cheek of the black boy. The Master was radiant as He lovingly put His arm around the boy's shoulders and looked with a humorously piercing glance around the group without making any other comment.116

[Annamarie Honnold, Vignettes from the Life of `Abdu'l-Baha, pp. 100-101, taken from Ives, Portals to Freedom, pp. 64-7 (adapted)..]