Dorothy Baker, a Photograph Taken in the Late 1930S, and One of Her Favorites
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Champion Builder Books are a series of biographies about indi- viduals who have been instrumental in helping the North Ameri- can Bahá í community fulfill its destiny—in the words of Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith—as “the champion builders of Bahá'u'lláh's rising World Order.” Other Champion Builder Books: To Move the World: Louis Gregory and the Advancement of Racial Unity in America by Gayle Morrison Martha Root: Lioness at the Threshold by M. R. Garis Zikrullah Khadem, The Itinerant Hand of the Cause of God: With Love by Javidukht Khadem ii Dorothy Baker, a photograph taken in the late 1930s, and one of her favorites. iii iv THE LIFE OF Dorothy Baker “Is it ever possible,” they ask, “for copper to be transmuted into gold?” Say, Yes, by my Lord, it is possible.—Bahá’u’lláh BY DOROTHY FREEMAN GILSTRAP Researched by Louise B. Mathias Bahá’í Publishing Trust Wilmette, Illinois v Bahá’í Publishing Trust, Wilmette, Illinois 60091-2844 Copyright © 1999 by Dorothy Freeman Gilstrap All Rights Reserved. Published 1999 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data. Freeman, Dorothy. 1951– From Copper to Gold: the life of Dorothy Baker / by Dorothy Freeman Gilstrap; researched by Louise B. Matthias. — [2nd ed.] p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-87743-255-4 1. Baker. Dorothy. 1898-1954. 2. Hands of the Cause of God— Biography. 3. Bahais—Biography. I. Title BP395.B35F74 1998 297.9’3’09—dc21 [B] 98-31611 CIP vi This book is dedicated, as was the life of Dorothy Baker, to the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, Shoghi Effendi whose vision for humankind continues to inspire in myriad hearts the longing to give their all to the Cause for which he so nobly and selflessly lived. vii viii Table of Contents List of illustrations .................................................................................................................. x Researcher’s preface to the second edition .......................................................................... xiv Author’s preface to the second edition .............................................................................. xviii Author’s preface to the first edition ...................................................................................... xx Acknowledgments .............................................................................................................. xxiv Prologue: Autumn 1912 ......................................................................................................... 1 1. Fifteen years earlier, 1896 .............................................................................................. 9 3. Final year at school, 1916–17 ....................................................................................... 27 3. Teacher’s training college, 1917–19 ............................................................................. 35 4. Grammar school teacher and suitors, 1920 ................................................................... 49 5. Frank Baker and proposal, 1920–21 ............................................................................. 61 6. Marriage, birth of Louise, and the psychic, 1921–23 ................................................... 73 7. Move to Buffalo, birth of Bill and the passing of Sara, 1923–26 ................................. 87 8. Move to Lima, Ohio; health scares and deepening, 1927–30 ..................................... 107 9. Early depression years, deepening, and teaching at Louhelen, 1931–32 ................... 123 10. Passing of Mother Beecher, 1932 ............................................................................... 139 11. Growth of the Lima Bahá’í community, 1932–34 ...................................................... 147 12. Expanding horizons and development of skills, 1934–36 .......................................... 171 13. Local opposition encountered and countered, 1936–37 ............................................. 189 14. NSA member and public speaker, 1937–39 ............................................................... 203 15. Travel teaching in North America, 1940–41 .............................................................. 225 16. Memories of Dorothy; her talks and letters, 1940s ..................................................... 241 17. Teacher and administrator, 1944–51 .......................................................................... 283 18. International arena and Louise Baker, 1943–51 ......................................................... 317 19. Growing family & appointment as Hand of the Cause of God, 1947–1951 .............. 367 20. International responsibilities & pioneering plans, 1951–53 ....................................... 389 21. Conference & travel teaching in India, 1953 .............................................................. 430 22. BOAC Comet Flight 781 crash & aftermath, 1954 .................................................... 472 Epilogue .............................................................................................................................. 486 Appendix I: Selected works by Dorothy Baker ................................................................. 500 Appendix II: Selected radio talks given by Dorothy Baker ............................................... 536 ix List of illustrations Dorothy Baker Frontispiece 1 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in New York, 1912 xxix 2 Dorothy King Beecher, circa 1911 xxx 3 Luella King Gorham, 1894 11 4 Mother Beecher, circa 1925 21 5 Dorothy, 1899 24 6 Dorothy “reading” with her doll, circa 1900 24 7 Dorothy all dressed up, circa 1904 24 8 Dorothy feeding the chickens, 1904 25 9 Dorothy, her mother Luella, and brother David 25 10 David and Dorothy Beecher, circa 1912 29 11 At Montclair Normal School, 1918 42 12 Dorothy, about 1919 53 13 The wedding party at Budd Lake, June 18, 1921 74 14 Conrad and Sara, 1924 88 15 The Baker family at Budd Lake, July 1923 91 16 Dorothy and her mother holding “Winnie Lou,” 1922 95 17 Mother Beecher with her son Henry and grandson David, holding his daughter Susan, 1923 96 18 Louise Baker, Dorothy, her father Henry Beecher, and grandmother Ellen Beecher, 1922 96 x 19 Bill and Dorothy, 1924 99 20 Louise and Bill with their grandfather Henry, 1927 100 21 Louise and Bill with their grandmother Luella, 1927 100 22 Conrad takes Louise and Bill canoeing on Budd Lake, 1927 100 23 Bill, Dorothy, and Louise, circa 1927 109 24 Bill and Louise Baker in Lima, 1928 109 25 Dorothy behind her new home, circa 1927 110 26 Dorothy’s father, Henry Beecher, 1933 145 27 Mother Beecher at ninety, June 1930 145 28 Louise, Dorothy, Frank, and Bill in 1932 149 29 Dorothy at Summer School in the mid-1930s 177 30 Louhelen Bahá’í School in the 1930s 178 31 Dorothy and Frank at Louhelen 179 32 Bahá’í class at Louhelen, 1935 180 33 Bahá’í class on the lawn at Louhelen 181 34 Bill and Conrad Baker, circa 1936 208 35 The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada, May 1938 220 36 National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada, 1940 232 37 Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Lima, 1940s 245 38 Mary Lou Ewing, 1945 246 39 Elisabeth Cheney, 1944 265 40 Bahá’í representatives from Latin America with the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada, 1944 289 41 The Inter-America Committee in the mid-1940s 319 42 Bogota, Colombia, 1944 320 43 Rice Lake Summer School, 1946 333 44 On their way to Europe: Louise and Dorothy Baker, January 1948 341 xi 45 … and in Madrid, March 1948 342 46 Hubert Matthias, Louise Baker Matthias, and Virginia Orbison, 1948 347 47 Portugal, 1948: in Hubert‘s Citröen 347 48 Dorothy Baker in Lisbon, 1948 353 49 Bill Baker and Annamarie Mattoon ‘s wedding 369 50 Frank Baker in the 1940s 373 51 Hand of the Cause of God Dorothy Baker, 1951 387 52 Convention of South America, Buenos Aires, 1952 392 53 In Haifa on the long-awaited pilgrimage 401 54 Hands of the Cause of God attending the First Intercontinental Teaching Conference, Kampala, February 1953 405 55 In Kampala, making a point 406 56 Hands of the Cause attending the Third Interconti- nental Teaching Conference, Stockholm, July 1953 418 57 Hands of the Cause of God at the All-America Intercontinental Teaching Conference, May 1953 419 58 In the House of Worship, Wilmette, 1953, with Matthew Bullock 420 59 National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States, 1953 425 60 Budd Lake, September 1953, four generations 426 61 New Delhi, October 1953: Bahá’ís who attended all four Intercontinental Teaching Conferences 432 62 Speakers at the New Delhi Town Hall, October 1953 436 63 With friends in Kanpur, December 5, 1953 441 64 Addressing Sanskrit College, University of Banaras, December 10, 1953 442 65 At Lady Irwin College for Girls, New Delhi, 1953 446 66 “What do you think of me in a Sari?” 451 xii 67 With the Maharani of Scindia at the Palace, Gwalior, November 1953 455 68 In Karachi, January 9, 1954 475 69 Elba, 1954 487 70 Monument erected in memory of those who lost their lives in the crash of January 10, 1954 491 71 Luella Beecher and Frank Baker in Grenada, West Indies, 1956 493 72 Some of Dorothy Baker's legacy, circa 1955 494 73 Hand of the Cause of God, Dorothy Baker, 1953 497 xiii Researcher’s preface to the second edition Within days of Mother’s passing people began to urge me to write her biography. To each I gave the same answer. I could write about her as my mother, but by the time I was grown and her work expanded to more than local teaching,