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“The Artist’s Daughter” , Nancy Douglas Bowditch, p256-7
56. Letter from The Guardian via H. Rabbani to Nancy Bowditch, Agnes Parsons, and Mrs. Lucy Wilson. Dated August 15, 1932.
Dear Bahai Sisters,
I am directed by the Guardian to acknowledge on his behalf and on the behalf of the members of the Holy Family, the receipt of your kind letter of condolence and sympathy, dated July 17th 1932, and to extend to you all the expression of the heartfelt appreciation and thanks.
Your touching words in connection with the sudden removal of the Greatest Holy Leaf from their midst have greatly alleviated the burden of sorrow that weighs so heavily upon their hearts, and have demonstrated that in their great and irreparable loss, the Friends are faithfully sharing their sorrow and grief.
The passing of the Greatest Holy Leaf, so tragic in its suddenness, has, indeed, divested the Holy Family from its unique adornment and the Bahai world at large from one of its noblest and most precious members. She was to us all not only a true friend, but the real embodiment of those traits and characteristics of that genuine and profound love that are born of God, and that we had learned to admire in the Master. Her life at once so eventful and so glorious, is so closely interwoven with the history of the Faith itself, that I will not attempt to describe. Suffice it to say that the share she has had in shaping some of the chief events in the annals of the Faith, though yet in the main unrecorded and unknown, will be one day revealed and its significance will be deeply realized.
In this great loss that the followers of the Faith both in East and West have come to suffer, our Guardians share is the greatest and perhaps the most cruel. His sole comfort in this calamity, is to see the Friends united by working for the spread of the Cause for which our departed Khanum had given up all of her life, and for the triumph of which she cherished the highest hopes.
The expressions of highest zealous enthusiasm and hope, of genuine self-abnegation and love that the American believers and especially our precious sister Mrs. Agnes Parsons demonstrated in their last Convention meeting have greatly brightened the closing days of her life. (1)
Shoghi Effendi trusts that her memory will increasingly serve to cheer and hearten the Friends in their ever widening activities.
—Yours in His service,
H. Rabbani.
(1). Refers to the Annual Convention held in April 1932, at which the delegates and friends responded in an impressive manner to the need of the Fund associated with the name of the Greatest Holy Leaf, initiated in order to complete the exterior ornamentation of the House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois. Mrs Parsons spontaneously removed a valuable pearl necklace from her neck to assist in meeting the Fund's goal. See Baha'i News, No. 62, May 1932 for a report of that Convention.
Postscript by Shoghi Effendi
I deeply appreciate your sympathy. My loss is tremendous and my sorrow so profound. I will pray that you, who have felt the power of her spirit at so advanced an age may be enabled to mirror forth its splendour and reveal its beauty to the world. I will continue to pray in your behalf. You are often in my thoughts. Rest assured and persevere in your devoted efforts.
[Bahiyyih Khanum, compiled by the Research Department p46-7]
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