Marion Elizabeth “General Jack” Jack

In memoriam

Born and raised in Canada, Marion Jack had become a Baha'i while an art student in Paris. In 1908 she spent some months in Acre where she had the privilege of being with 'Abdu'l-Baha. He admired her sense of humor, joviality, and spiritual certitude, and He gave her the affectionate nickname of "General Jack." During her stay in the Holy Land, she taught English to some of His grandchildren and met another of them, the young Shoghi Effendi. Some of her paintings done at that time are now on display in the Baha'i holy places in Israel, including the Mansion of Bahji. Inspired by the guidance of 'Abdu'l-Baha , Ms. Jack took the message of the Faith to Alaska 1919-20. More than a decade later, when revisiting the Holy Land, Shoghi Effendi, then the head of the Faith, asked Ms. Jack, 65, to go as a Baha'i pioneer to Bulgaria. She went there directly from the Holy Land, arriving in 1931. In cooperation with just a handful of other Baha'is, she helped establish thriving Baha'i communities in places such as Sofia and Varna. In that first decade of her stay in Bulgaria, she lived through the world economic depression sustained only by a meager pension that afforded her basic accommodation and food. Then, during World War II, her living conditions became immeasurably worse. Shoghi Effendi suggested she leave the country for Switzerland. However, he accepted, with great admiration, her plea to remain at her post. She had told him there was nobody there at the time who could replace her as a Baha'i pioneer. Living in a city subject to aerial bombing and facing the possibility of internment by a pro-Nazi government, Ms. Jack demonstrated persistence, fearlessness, self-abnegation, and generosity. During the Stalinist-style political era that followed the war, she suffered from inadequate food, heating, and clothing. She lived in dank rented rooms -- once in a damp cellar with no windows. Among the other difficulties she faced were serious health problems, an inability to master the Bulgarian language, theft of her belongings, extreme cold, plagues of bedbugs, and the irregular arrival of her pension. Yet she remained cheerful and steadfast. Shoghi Effendi said there was never a "more inspiring pioneer." When she passed away, aged 87, on March 27, 1954, he urged the building of a suitable grave that was destined to "confer eternal benediction" on Bulgaria. It would, he said, become in the future a place of visitation, a prediction that is being borne out by such visits as the one last month. An extract of the tribute Shoghi Effendi paid her on her passing appears on the headstone of her grave: "Immortal heroine...Greatly loved and deeply admired by 'Abdu'l-Baha. A shining example to pioneers...Her unremitting, highly meritorious activities...shed imperishable splendor on contemporary Baha'i history...Shoghi." Marion Jack's legacy lies in a Baha'i community now established in 100 localities throughout the country -- and in beautiful paintings adorning the meeting chamber of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Bulgaria and some of the walls of the Baha'i holy places in Acre and Haifa. (For more information on Marion Jack, see the book "Never Be Afraid to Dare" by Jan Teofil Jasion, George Ronald, Publisher, 2001. http://www.grbooks.com). http://news.bahai.org/story/385

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