Unfolding Destiny

It has not been possible to trace exactly when Mrs. Slade became a Bahá’í but she did tell the story of how she heard of the Faith from a visiting American believer and wished to go on pilgrimage to see the Master. Before her plans were made she heard of His passing and she went in the early 1920s. In the year 1926 there is a record of her being a “substitute” member of the National Assembly elected to “represent” the London community. From the following year the delegates elected the National Assembly from the national electorate and Mrs. Slade served as a member for fourteen of the following nineteen years. She was, in different years, Chairman, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer and Assistant Secretary. She was a “last ditch” pioneer to Edinburgh to form the first Assembly there in 1948. To the end of her long life she would delight her visitors with fascinating stories of her experiences in the early days of the Faith in the British Isles and she passed away in September 1972 at the age of 471 98. The Universal House of Justice cabled: “PASSING ISOBEL SLADE SEVERS ONE FEW REMAINING LINKS EARLY CAUSE BRITISH ISLES DEPRIVES COMMUNITY OUTSTANDING BELIEVER STOP HER UNFLAGGING SUPPORT CAUSE GOD MORE THAN HALF CENTURY COMPRISING MEMBERSHIP NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY PIONEER VISITING TEACHER SIX YEAR PLAN CONSTANT DEVOTION DUTY HIGH MORAL STATURE RENDER HER SHINING EXAMPLE FUTURE GENERATIONS STOP EXPRESS RELATIVES FRIENDS LOVING SYMPATHY ASSURE PRAYERS SACRED THRESHOLD AMPLE REWARD PROGRESS SOUL ABHÁ KINGDOM.”