Also he would appreciate your sending him a brief account of Mrs. Thornburgh-Cropper’s Bahá’í life and services together with her photograph for publication in the same issue of the Biennial.
The passing away of these two long-standing believers has indeed robbed the Cause in England of two of its most distinguished members, and the English Bahá’í Community is certainly the poorer now that it has been deprived of their ready and invaluable support.
The departure of Sitárih Khánum in particular is to be deeply mourned, not only by the members of the Faith throughout England, but by so many of her fellow-believers abroad, and the Guardian himself feels most keenly the loss of so precious and faithful a co-worker, who, in the early days following ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s ascension, had proved of such invaluable assistance to him in the discharge of his heavy duties and responsibilities....
[From the Guardian:]
Dear co-workers,
I wish to reaffirm my deep sense of gratitude and admiration for the splendid manner in which the English believers are discharging their duties and responsibilities in these days of increasing peril, anxiety and stress. Their tenacity, courage, faith and noble exertions will as a magnet attract the undoubted and promised blessing of Bahá’u’lláh. They have, at a time when the basis of ordered society itself is rocking and trembling, laid an unassailable foundation for the Administrative Order of their Faith. Upon this basis the rising generation will erect a noble structure that will excite the admiration of their fellow countrymen. My prayers for them will continually be offered at the Holy Shrines.
Gratefully,
Shoghi