How I Became a Baha’i by Chris Johnson, PhD

Submitted July 2023

After I got out of the Army in 1973 at the tail end of Viet Nam war, I moved to Des Moines to start an MBA program at Drake. During the 6 months I was there I had the pleasure of meeting and knowing Ruth Moffett. I have some fond memories of Ruth and some of her insights into the Baha’i Faith. She was a former fundamentalist Baptist Sunday School teacher who became a Baha’i. I attended her Fireside talks and took copious notes when she talked. I also helped her with her yard at her large house, as she was in her early 90s, I believe. I was married to Marsha Himes. We moved to Cedar Falls, Iowa at that time in order to begin my MA in Sociology/Gerontology. I vaguely recall the small Baha’i community there. We were there for 3 years and had a foster child for 6 months, who was briefly taken from her mother and abusive boy friend but later returned to the mother. I then got accepted into the PhD in Sociology program majoring in Aging and Family at Iowa State and we moved to Boone Iowa. During the five years at Iowa State we adopted a boy named Matt. We were his third family, at age 7. Then we adopted a baby, Jessica, from Evanston. She was 6 months old when we adopted her. I taught 3 courses at Iowa State and a night course at Drake to survive while I was working on my PhD at Iowa State, taking 5 years to complete it. In Boone, Barb Coglan declared. After graduating from ISU I got a job as Director of Gerontology at the University of Louisiana, one of the racist areas of the U.S. We moved into one of the few interracial neighborhoods in that city. Then Marsha’s mother moved into our house and we took care of her until her death, including taking care of her two sisters who moved to Monroe. This would be a challenge for anyone. My ex-wife and I divorced and she moved to Kansas. We both remarried. I have been happily married to my wife Roxann for 31 years and we have lived in Monroe, Iowa and Austin, Texas.