Footnotes
All of the messages in this book are numbered sequentially for the convenience of the reader and as an aid in indexing. The numbers appear before the date of each letter. The Editors.
(Letter No. 1) Honor Kempton was the first Pioneer to Alaska under the first Seven Year Plan.
(Letter No. 2) Janet Whitenack (Stout) was the first person to enroll in the Faith in Alaska during the first Seven Year Plan.
(Letter No. 4) Janet Whitenack (Stout) had secured a school teaching position in the village of Tuluksak on the Kuskokwim River.
(Letter No. 5) Melba Call (King) was the first Eskimo to become a Bahá’í. While she was born and raised in Alaska, she was residing in New Mexico when she heard of the Faith and became a Bahá’í.
(Letter No. 17) Based on these directions from the Guardian, the first Hazíratu’l-Quds was purchased inside the City limits at 810–8th Avenue. At that time (1955) the population of Anchorage was less than 25,000 concentrated around what is now downtown Anchorage. Following the earthquake in 1964, it was necessary to abandon the original Hazíratu’l-Quds. The property was sold for $20,000 and a diligent year-long effort was made to find a suitable replacement. Nothing appropriate could be found inside the city limits within the price range. Guidance was requested from the Universal House of Justice. In a letter dated May 11, 1965, they stated the following, “...we feel that it is more important that you should acquire a national Hazíratu’l-Quds for Alaska without delay. Preferably is should be within the civic limits of Anchorage but if you cannot find a suitable building which can be purchased for the $20,000 which you have available, you should look for a location in the immediate suburbs of Anchorage....”
(Letter No. 27) Mrs. Sarah Mary (“Granny”) Roberts was 87 years old when she became a Bahá’í.
(Letter No. 27) Joyce Anderson Combs was the first Tlingit Indian to become a Bahá’í in Alaska. The first Alaskan Native to become a Bahá’í while living in Alaska was Agnes Parent (Harrison).
(Letter No. 29) Joyce Campbell (Baldwin).
(Letter No. 35) Martha Brown (Reed).
(Letter No. 44) Arthur and Wilma Gregory and Vern and Evelyn Huffman.
(Letter No. 50) This ringstone was given by the Greatest Holy Leaf to Mrs. Marie Lowell of Santa Barbara, California who gave it to Frances Wells. Mrs. Wells gave it to the Alaska National Archives.
(Letter No. 57) Miss Honor Kempton served in Luxembourg after leaving Alaska.
(Letter No. 57) Miss Dagmar Dole came to Alaska shortly after the first Local Spiritual Assembly was formed. She pioneered to Europe and is buried in Switzerland. The Guardian said she was a “distinguished consecrated pioneer.”
(Letter No. 69) Seward was opened by the pioneering of the Edgar Russell family.
(Letter No. 70) This letter so encouraged the friends when it was re-read a year and a half later that it changed attitudes from one of discouragement to confidence and enthusiasm which resulted in the formation of the first Local Spiritual Assembly of Ketchikan the following Ridván.
(Letter No. 76) Janet Johnson (Smith) later became the Secretary of the Alaska National Spiritual Assembly.
(Letter No. 76) The Bahá’í Center at Unalaska was dedicated by Florence Mayberry at the first public meeting in February, 1958.
(Letter No. 76) Aleutian Islands.