Interview: Jeanne Barzydlo by Diane Findlay, September, 2022
I interviewed Jeanne Barzydlo via Zoom on Thursday, September 1, 2022. Jeanne has been pioneering in the Marshall Islands, on the island of Majuro, since 2009 and is currently staying in Rochester, Minnesota, working with the Mayo Clinic on some health concerns.
Jeanne learned about the Faith from her husband, Ronald. Jeanne felt a strong need to be certain she believed independently so she studied Baha’ullah and the New Era and read Baha’i World Faith and found that the Faith had the answers she had been looking for. Particularly addressing her serious concerns with the teachings she learned from her firm Catholic family – original sin, confession to a priest and purgatory. In her understanding, Baha’u’llah’s writings explained that infants are born innocent, God is aware of your doings and His forgiveness is all encompassing, debasing yourself to confess to others is against the nobility for which you are created, and on death you are aware of the state of your soul and your nearness to God or regrets. She was certain when she realized that His explanation of progressive revelation allowed her to continue to love the life and teachings of Jesus and she declared in 1969, in Lincoln, Nebraska.
The couple lived in Lincoln, Nebraska, gave birth to Tobias Jerome in 1970,and then pioneered to South Carolina in 1972 to help consolidate the gains of the successful mass-teaching. Diona Nicole was born soon after arrival in Cottageville, SC. There followed several adventures, moves to Summertown, Frogmore, and Goose Creek, and visits to the Louis G. Gregory Institute just as the Dormitories there were being built. They, returned to Omaha, Nebraska in 1973. Of this time Jeanne says, “It’s a good thing we were young!”
A year later, the couple separated and Jeanne stayed with the Kraeders and babysat Aaron and Melissa during the day while Becky and Larry worked, until she arranged to receive nursing training and had to move to Kearney, Nebraska with the children as the nursing schools in Omaha were full. She has fond memories of the Baha’i community there. They moved to Council Bluffs, Iowa in 1982. A highlight of her time there was the opportunity to host, with fellow Baha’i Sherry Neal, a weekly radio show featuring music and information about the Faith. The show aired at 6 AM Sunday mornings for twelve weeks. Jeanne also participated in the Southwest Iowa Institute, mentioned in a piece shared earlier by Priscilla Hofert.
Jeanne struggled with her health issues, including multiple sclerosis and a back injury. But with her children grown and health significantly improved, a fact she attributes largely to healing prayers offered by the Macy, Nebraska Baha’i community, she studied massage therapy and helped teach classes in anatomy, physiology, and pathology at the school for three years.
Jeanne had the bounty of pilgrimage to the World Center in 2007 and on returning, applied to work in Haifa. God had other plans, however; when her job at the school was phased out, and there were no current openings for her in Haifa, Jeanne decided to pioneer. She attended a workshop for pioneers at Louhelen Baha’i School, and during which she was asked to consider applying to a position that had just opened up in Majuro, Marshall Islands. She agreed to apply to both Tuvalu and Marshall Islands and go to whichever responded first. Her thought was, fine, “Let God choose,” which resulted in her moving to the Marshall Islands, where a job awaited her at the office at the Baha’i National Center.
The interview picks up as Jeanne is arriving, for the first time, in Majuro.