The stone that became the “Cornerstone” of the House of Worship in Chicago Posted: 10 Aug 2015 02:37 PM PDT When the idea of constructing a Baha’i Temple in America was first proposed in 1903 there were very few Baha’is in the United States and Canada. By 1906 it is estimated that Baha’is resided in approximately 150 cities and that there were twenty-seven Spiritual Assemblies, including one in Honolulu and one in Montreal, Canada. In preparation for this major undertaking, the Baha’is in various cities began holding meetings to increase support for the Temple, and several communities formed local treasuries to gather money for the project. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá continued to send letters of encouragement, expressing His wish for the friends to be united and supportive of this undertaking. One Baha'i who made a unique contribution to the Temple project in 1908 was Esther Tobin, known to her friends as Nettie. She was a loving, humble woman who earned a meager living as a seamstress. After her husband's death in Detroit in 1892, she moved to Chicago with her two small sons, brother, and half-sister. Yet once there she could barely support her children; oftentimes she would buy groceries for the evening meal with money she earned during the same day. She had not attended school, which may account for her peculiar habit of using words out of context, a trait that often sent herself and her friends into fits of laughter. Paul Dealy, an early Baha'i, invited her to several Baha'i meetings, including those at the True home. It was in that home that she became a Baha'i, probably in 1903. Shortly thereafter, she was employed by Corinne True as a dressmaker and visited the True home one or two days each week. Although Nettie Tobin worked actively as a member of the Women's Assembly of Teaching, she was troubled by her financial inability to contribute to the building of the Temple. After praying often that God send her something to offer as a gift, she reportedly heard a voice on several occasions that told her to find a stone. This is what she told her nurse Gertrude Triebwasser three and a half years before her passing: One day while sitting alone and busy with dressmaking in the home of one of the believers, I heard a voice questioning, “Do you believe in immortality?" I replied, “Yes, I do." The voice said, “Then, get a stone." A few days later the voice again came, but louder than before, "Do you believe in immortality?" Again I replied, "Yes, I do." And the voice said, “Get a stone." I delayed carrying out the request. Again the voice came a third time and commanded me to obtain a stone. Nettie also told her nurse that when 'Abdu'l-Baha arrived in Chicago she presented Him with a bouquet of white roses and some grapefruit. He requested one of His attendants to save the seed from the latter to be planted at His home in Haifa. She also contributed for the Shrine of the Báb on Mt. Carmel. 'Abdu'l-Baha promised that Mrs. Tobin, with her whole family would be blessed. Nettie’s inspiration most likely came from a letter written in June 1908 to the American Baha'is by Mirza Asadu'llah, a Persian Baha'i travel teacher who had apparently proposed the project to the Chicago Spirituality Assembly in 1903. In the letter Mirza Asadu'llah had written: "Now is the time for expending energy and power in the erection of the edifice, be it a mere stone, laid in the name of the Baha’i Mashrak-el-Azkar. For the glory and honor of the first stone is equivalent to all the stones and implements which will later be used there." Perhaps partly due to this letter and partly due to her own inspirational experiences Nettie began looking around and found a construction site near her home, just north of downtown Chicago. She sought out the project's foreman, toldhim about the Baha’i Temple project, and asked if he could offer her an inexpensive building stone. The foreman, enchanted with Nettie’s request, showed her a small pile of limestone rocks, damaged and unfit for use, and invited her to take one. Later that day Nettie with help from her neighbor wrapped one of the stones in a piece of carpet, tied clothesline around it, and dragged the bundle home. Two days later on Labor Day 1908 Nettie arranged with Cecilia Harrison and Corinne True to bring the stone to Grosse Pointe, on the north side of the city. She sought assistance from her brotherLeo Leadroot and Mirza Mazlum, an elderly Persian friend.  On their way to their destination point, the threesome had difficulty convincing the conductor of the State Street horsecar to allow the stone on board. Yet Nettie insisted, he gave in, and they placed the stone, still tied in the carpet, on the back platform. After traveling through Chicago to the north side of the city, they transferred to another car and rode to the corner of Central and Ridge avenues in Evanston, probably the station closest to the Temple site at that time. Because they were still six blocks away from the site, the stone would have to be carried the rest of the way by hand. But once they had gone about three blocks, the stone became too heavy to carry any farther, and they began dragging it along the ground. The trip took much longer than Nettie Tobin had anticipated. In the meantime, Corinne True and Cecilia Harrison, who had been waiting at the site, became worried and started back toward the station. They soon came upon Mrs. Tobin's group. At this point Mirza Mazlum, apparently inspired by photographs showing young men carrying stones from the quarry at Ashkhabad for the Baha'i Temple there, begged his companions to place the stone on his back. He managed to progress another half block to an old, unoccupied farmhouse, where they left the stone in the yard overnight. Very early the next morning Nettie returned alone to the farmhouse with a homemade cart and a fire shovel. When she tried to lift the stone into the cart, she broke the cart's handle and, in so doing, injured her wrist. A man nearby, responding to her difficulties, helped her to replace the stone in the cart and fixed the handle for her. After resuming her trek for a half block, she enlisted the aid of a newsboy, who helped her reach the west corner of the land. As they dragged the cart across the two lots, it fell apart, leaving the stone sitting amidst the rubble. Her deed accomplished, Nettie said some prayers and left for home. In the months ahead the stone provided a focal point for Baha'i gatherings. Although ‘Abdu'l-Baha had already sent a stone marker for the Temple site -- one possibly of the same material as the Bab's marble sarcophagus, a gift of the Baha'is of Rangoon, Burma, but it didn’t reach the Temple grounds. Nor were reached other stones reportedly sent by Baha'is from various parts of the world. So, on the first day of May 1912 when ‘Abdu’l-Baha broke the ground, only Nettie Tobin’s contribution of the “stone which the builders refused” would be available to serve as the marker dedicated by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. After placing the stone in the hole, the Master pushed the earth around it and declared that ‘The Temple is already built‘.  During the years following that Event and the building of the Temple, the stone was carefully preserved, and finally imbedded in the cement floor of the basement at the spot where 'Abdu'l-Baha dedicated it. As one visits that sacred place and gazes at the unpolished, rough piece of natural rock and remembers its significance coupled with the greatness of the One Who blessed it by His Word and Presence, one gratefully recalls the faith and effort of the humble soul inspired to bring it there for that unique and remarkable occasion.  (Adapted from ‘The Dawning Place, by Bruce Whitmore; ‘Mrs. Esther Tobin’, by Albert Windust, ‘The Baha’i World 1944-1946’; ‘’Abdu’l-Baha in Their Midst’, by Earl Redman; ‘Corinne True, Faithful Handmaid of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’, by Nathan Rutstein)

http://bahaiheoresheroines.blogspot.com/2010/07/marion-jack-immortal-heroine-and.html

One righteous act is endowed with a potency that can so elevate the dust as to cause it to pass beyond the heaven of heavens. It can tear every bond asunder, and hath the power to restore the force that hath spent itself and vanished....  Baha'u'llah

Marion Jack – an “immortal heroine”, and a “shining example (to) pioneers (of) present (and) future generations (of) East (and) West”

Cablegram from the Guardian:

Mourn loss (of) immortal heroine, Marion Jack, greatly-loved and deeply-admired by 'Abdu'l-Baha, (a) shining example (to) pioneers (of) present (and) future generations (of) East (and) West, surpassed (in) constancy, dedication, self-abnegation (and) fearlessness by none except (the) incomparable Martha Root. Her unremitting, highly-meritorious activities (in the) course (of) almost half (a) century, both (in) North America (and) Southeast Europe, attaining (their) climax (in the) darkest, most dangerous phase (of the) second World War, shed imperishable luster (on) contemporary Baha'i history.

(This) triumphant soul (is) now gathered (to the) distinguished band (of her) coworkers (in the) Abhg Kingdom: Martha Root, Lua Getsinger, May Maxwell, Hyde Dunn, Susan Moody, Keith Ransom-Kehler, Ella Bailey (and) Dorothy Baker, whose remains, lying (in) such widely scattered areas (of the) globe as Honolulu, Cairo, Buenos Aires, Sydney, Tihran, Isfahan, Tripoli (and the) depths (of the) Mediterranean(Sea) attest the magnificence (of the) pioneer services rendered (by the) North American Baha'i community (in the) Apostolic (and) Formative Ages (of the) Baha'i Dispensation.

Advise arrange (in) association (with the) Canadian National Assembly (and the) European Teaching Committee (a) befitting memorial gathering (in the) Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. Moved (to) share with (the) United States (and) Canadian National Assemblies (the) expenses (of the) erection, (as) soon as circumstances permit, (of a) worthy monument (at) her grave, destined (to) confer eternal benediction (on a) country already honored (by) its close proximity (to the) sacred city associated (with the) proclamation (of the) Faith (of) Baha'u'llah.

Share message all National Assemblies.

-Shoghi

Haifa, Israel,

March 29, 1954.

Marion Jack, "immortal heroine," "shining example to pioneers," passed from this life on March 25, 1954, in Sofia, Bulgaria, where she had been living for twenty-four years as a pioneer of the Baha'i Faith. Her remains are buried in the British cemetery there. The Guardian's tribute, expressed in his cablegram of March 29, attests the high station which this "triumphant soul" has attained.
Marion Jack's services in the Baha'i Faith began early in the new century. Born in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, on December 1, 1866, of a prominent family, she received much of her education in England and particularly in France, where she studied art. Landscape painting was her special field. Some of her paintings are preserved in the Holy Land at the World Center of the Faith.

She first learned of the Faith at a social gathering during her student days in Paris. Charles Mason Remey writes of this first introduction :

"My first remembrance of Marion Jack was when we were students in the Latin Quarter in Paris. She was studying painting, I, architecture, and I used to see her in the 'Quarter' along the boulevard on Mont Parnasse. In the Quarter lived a Mme. Philippe who kept a Pension where a number of girl students lived. Mme. Philippe gave dancing parties at infrequent intervals. It was at one of these affairs, a fancy dress dance, that I met Marion. She was dressed in a fiery red costume that she had made herself of crinkled tissue paper topped off by an enormous 'Merry Widow' hat decorated with large yellow paper flowers . . . It was as we danced and sat out between dances that I told Marion of the Baha'I Faith. She was, as many were in those early days, afire with the Faith then and there, all at once. Marion met the Baha'is, came to meetings in my studio and elsewhere, and that was the beginning of her belief."

From this time forward, her life was dedicated to the service of the Faith. She spent some time in 'Akka and was there in 1908, where she taught English to 'Abdu'l-Baha's grandchildren. She continued her painting while she was there.

By 1914 she had returned to North America. She was one of the first to respond to the call of the Divine Plan of 'Abdu'l-Baha, performing pioneer service in Alaska and teaching in Toronto, Montreal, and many other places. She also spent a good deal of time in Green Acre, Eliot, Maine, helping with the teaching work at the Baha'i School and continuing her painting.

Many friends remember this joyous, wholly dedicated soul from those days. Impressed by her gracious charm, her understanding, her twinkling sense of humor, everyone who recounts some association with her does so with a smile which seems to spring spontaneously from the mention of her name. "Jackie," as she was affectionately called, was ageless in her complete at-home-ness with young and old alike, was beloved wherever she went, drawing all to her and to each other through the quality of her faith, love and devotion to the Cause and to her beloved Guardian.

One of her Green Acre friends writes:

"She was such a lovely person-- so joyous and happy that one loved to be with her. Her shining eyes and beautiful smile showed how much the Baha'i Faith meant to her . . . We used to love to go to her studio and talk with her, also to see her paintings of the Holy Land and familiar Green Acre landscapes. . . . She always entered into any plan with zest. . . . If we could all radiate happiness as did Jackie, I am sure we would attract more people to the Faith."

In 1930 Marion Jack returned to Haifa and following this visit went to Sofia, Bulgaria, where she spent the remainder of her life. During the earlier years of this period she attended the German Summer School and undertook teaching missions to Vienna and Budapest. In Sofia she held frequent meetings that were well attended by people of prominence and capacity. As World War II approached, and all who could fled the country, the Guardian suggested that she go to Switzerland or to some safer place. She pleaded to be allowed to remain at her post, preferring, as she put it, to "remain at the switch." Living on a small pension, which did not always reach her in recent years, suffering serious deprivation, aged and in poor health, she remained at her post. It was not without reason that 'Abdu'l-Baha used to call her "General Jack."

One of the friends writes of these days: "She was much sought out and beloved everywhere she went. As the so-called Iron curtain dropped, fewer people attended her meetings because of fear of the government. Towards the end of her life even her closest friends no longer went to see her, except one Baha’i. . . . During the last months of her severe illness, I wrote Miss Jack almost every week and in her last letter she bade me goodbye, hoping for a reunion in the Kingdom. When Miss Jack still corresponded, her letters were always cheerful, most spiritual and even humorous. . . . The British Consulate called her 'our friend.' . . . She was a consecrated Baha'i teacher, full of charm, understanding, gaiety and humor."

One of her devoted students, who became a Baha’i through her, writes of the later years in Sofia:

"I met Miss Jack in June, 1938, in Sofia. I had left Austria when Hitler took over and found a temporary position in Sofia, waiting for my visa to the United States. I noticed her in the restaurant where I took my luncheon and she impressed me immediately with her friendly smile that she had for everybody. One day when her regular waiter who spoke English had his day off, the hostess asked me to serve as interpreter and from that day on, I shared the luncheon table with her regularly. It did not take long before she invited me to join a small group of her friends with whom she had discussions in her hotel room, and that was how I met the Faith.

"Her room was a museum, full of her pictures, books and papers all over. We sat wherever there was some place-on 'the' chair, the bed, on the floor, and she always had some refreshments for her guests. The discussions on the Faith were handicapped by the complicated language question. Marion had no Baha’i literature in the Bulgarian language, few people understood English, and her favored book, 'Abdu'l-Baha’s Paris Talks, had to be translated by one person from French into German or English and by somebody else into Bulgarian. It was fun, but how much of the original spirit remained was questionable.

"Marion had to be very careful in the choice of her guests. Bulgaria had one official State Religion, the Greek Orthodox Church, and only a few other religions were permitted, like Catholic, Jewish, Lutheran, Baptist, Seventh Day Adventist and Islam. Every Faith that was not permitted was forbidden and meetings like ours were illegal. State employees had to sign loyalty oaths stating their adherence to the legal Faith and we had one girl who worked for the government.

"When World War II broke out, Marion had to discontinue her meetings. Sofia became the center of European spy systems. Neither she nor I (a German citizen of secondary quality) could dare to be seen together. I kept contact with her indirectly through 'neutral' Bulgarian citizens. She was in financial difficulties because her funds did not get to her. But her spirit was unbroken.

"In October, 1940, when I finally got my visa for the United States, I dared to call her on the phone and even to see her. She had moved to a cheaper hotel. Her room was probably too small for two people and we met in the hotel lobby. I told her of my plan to go to the United States by the complicated way, crossing the Black Sea to Odessa, through Russia on the Trans-Siberian Railroad and across the Pacific from Japan to the United States. I invited her to come along and promised that I would take care of her. But she declined. She told me that the Guardian had permitted her to go to Switzerland rather than to wait for the German invasion in Bulgaria which was expected daily. She considered it her duty to stay in Sofia and would neither seek security in Switzerland nor in her native Canada, nor the United States.

"We exchanged letters until Bulgaria became part of the Iron Curtain and she indicated that it was too dangerous to receive my letters and to write to me."

In a letter dated June 17, 1954, to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the British Isles, the Guardian, through his secretary, extols the standard set by Marion Jack as a pioneer:

"To remain at one's post, to undergo sacrifice and hardship, loneliness and, if necessary, persecution, in order to hold aloft the torch of Baha’u'llah, is the true function of every pioneer.

"Let them remember Marion Jack, who for over twenty years, in a country the language of which she never mastered; during war and bombardment; evacuation and poverty; and at length, serious illness, stuck to her post, and has now blessed the soil of the land she had chosen to serve at such cost with her precious remains, every atom of which was dedicated to Baha'u'llah. Perhaps the friends are not aware that the Guardian, himself, during the war on more than one occasion urged her to seek safety in Switzerland rather than remain behind enemy lines and be entirely cut off. Lovingly she pleaded that he would not require her to leave her post; and he acquiesced to her request. Surely the standard of Marion Jack should be borne in mind by every pioneer!"

In a letter to the European Teaching Committee, dated May 24, 1954, through his secretary, the Guardian also stressed the quality of Marion Jack's services to the Cause and the heroic conditions under which she lived and worked:

"He would suggest that, when writing to the European centers, you share with the believers the glorious example of the life of Marion Jack. Young or old could never find a more inspiring pioneer in whose footsteps to walk, than this wonderful soul.

"For over thirty years, with an enlarged heart, and many other ailments she remained at her post in Bulgaria. Never well-to-do, she often suffered actual poverty and want: want of heat, want of clothing, want of food, when her money failed to reach her because Bulgaria had come under the Soviet zone of influence. She was bombed, lost her possessions, she was evacuated, she lived in drafty, cold dormitories for many, many months in the country, she returned, valiant, to the capital of Bulgaria after the war and continued, on foot, to carry out her teaching work.

"The Guardian himself urged her strongly, when the war first began to threaten to cut her off in Bulgaria, to go to Switzerland. She was a Canadian subject, and ran great risks by remaining, not to mention the dangers and privations of war. However, she begged the Guardian not to insist, and assured him her one desire was to remain with her spiritual children. This she did, up to the last breath of her glorious life. Her tomb will become a national shrine, immensely loved and revered, as the Faith rises in stature in that country.

"He thinks that every Baha'i and most particularly those who have left their homes and gone to serve in foreign fields, should know of, and turn their gaze to, Marion Jack."

As requested by the Guardian, a Memorial gathering was held for Marion Jack in the Baha'i House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois, the program prepared by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States in association with the Canadian National Baha'i Assembly and the European Teaching Committee, on July 3, 1954. Among the over two hundred Baha'is attending were representatives from the Canadian Baha'i Community. To permit more of the Canadian Baha'is to share in a Memorial to Marion Jack, a time had been set aside at the Canadian National Baha'i Convention, on May 1, 1954, for the Canadian friends to gather for commemoration and prayers.

In their tribute to Marion Jack, published by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Canada as an insert to their Baha'I News of April, 1955, are cited the following Words Baha’u’llah (Gleanings, p. 319):

"When the victory arriveth, every man shall profess himself as believer and shall hasten to the shelter of God's Faith. Happy are they who in the days of world-encompassing trials have stood fast in the Cause and refused to swerve from the Faith." (The Baha’i World, volume 12)