Document: Gayle Abas-Woolson, first Bahá’í teacher to visit Cedar Rapids

Description: A typewritten document, written in all capital letters. The transcription has been made lowercase. The first page has a large black and white picture of a young Gayle Abas-Woolson. Part of the children’s public speaking materials has been uploaded and transcribed here: https://iowabahaihistory.org/document-childrens-public-speaking-project/.
A PDF of the original document is reproduced below

The first Bahá’í teacher to visit Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Mrs. Gayle Abas-Woolson, as of November 1938, from St. Paul, Minnesota. She made her mission known by lecturing at several places and by newspaper publicity. On that first visit she met Mrs. Marie Beals who was very receptive to the Bahá’í message and accepted immediately and eagerly, thus becoming the historica first Bahá’í of Cedar Rapids. Among the various Bahá’í talks that Gayle gave, one was to a group of professors of Coe College. She made several teaching trips to Cedar Rapids between 1938 and 1940. One one of those journeys she was accompanied by her mother, Mrs. Mihdiyyih Hider-Abas, a Bahá’í. Her father, Hassen Abas, was the first Bahá’í to settle in the state of North Dakota as of May 1934. Gayle went to pioneer in Latin America in 1940 where she served for 29 years. (More data on the back.)

(For the reverse side of the photograph):

Within the period in which Gayle was pioneering in Latin America, she authored a small book about the progressive succession of the Messengers of God entitled “Divine Symphony”. It has a chapter on each of the major divine messengers of God: Krishna, Abraham, Moses Zoroaster, the Buddha, Christ, Muhammad, The Báb and Bahá’u’lláh. A manuscript of an expanded version of this title has also been completed by her entitled “The Great Religions of the World and Their Fulfillment”. (Not yet in print as of 1999.) She is also preparing a booklet based on this title.

Gayle has also prepared a public speaking project for children and youth based on the words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá that read:

“Encourage ye the school children, from their earliest years, to deliver speeches of high quality so that in their leisure time they will engage in giving cogent and effective talks, expressing themselves with clarity and eloquence.”
(Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, p. 134)

Although this project is not yet in print, Gayle makes available free of charge photocopies of the material she has developed which includes speeches from the Bahá’í Writings for different age levels of children and youth, and suggestions about how to help children to memorize. Gayle is dedicating her project to the memory of Hand of the Cause of God, Dorothy Baker, who exemplified so beautifully the powerful effect of eloquent speech. The eloquence comes from the beauty of the Bahá’í teachings. Dorothy Baker’s eloquence combined with the power of her spirituality, had great influence upon numerous lives, including Gayle’s life to a large degree.

During Gayle’s pioneering years in Latin America from 1940 to 1970, she resided consecutively in Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, and El Salvador but she did travel teaching work in the majority of the Latin American countries. Her activities included an audience with the presidents of three different republics: Honduras, Costa Rica, and Ecuador to convey the Bahá’í message. The vice president of Venezuela gave her a letter authorizing her to speak at any of the high schools of that country which she may desire. Wide newspaper publicity was received wherever she traveled.

Gayle was appointed on the first Auxiliary Board of the American Hands of the Cause of God for the Americas: Dorothy Baker, Horace Holley Amelia Collins, and Corine True. As of 1951 she was elected on four National Spiritual Assemblies consecutively of four different jurisdictions in Latin America. Part of that time she was employed by the United States Government under the State Department working as Foreign Service staff for the Agency for International Development. In 1954 she participated in the world spiritual crusade launched by Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, and became a “Knight of Bahá’u’lláh” for the Galapagos Islands. From 1970 to 1975 she worked for the Universal House of Justice at the Bahá’í World Center in Haifa, Israel. Within that period she made a teaching trip to Spain where she did travel teaching in ten cities. The highlight of Gayle’s life was the honor of meeting the Guardian in 1956 when she made a pilgrimage to the Bahá’í World Center and visited the Holy Sanctuaries in Haifa and Bahji.

As of 1975, Gayle has been residing in the United States.

(Prepared by Gayle Abas-Woolson)

Official Baha'i Websites