Born in England in 1896 she moved to Canada in 1928 where she accepted the Faith in 1941. She first pioneered from St. Lambert to Moncton and then from Canada to England with her young daughter in 1946 to settle in Blackburn, Lancs. From there to Norwich and Bournemouth in the Six Year Plan and then to Edinburgh and Portsmouth. In 1959 she pioneered to Luxembourg and then in the Nine Year Plan, to Guernsey, to Chelmsford, Essex and again overseas to the Canary Islands. In 1969 she returned to England to pioneer in Hereford and St. Austell and then back again to the Canaries where she was on the first Spiritual Assembly of Arucas. For over thirty years she served the Cause with utter consecration; carrying out at least sixteen pioneer projects in three continents. She passed away in Birmingham, England on 12 July 1974. (“Bahá’í World”, Vol. XVI, p. 534.)
JOHN LUDLOW MARSHALL
“Johnny” was a Scot, born in 1876, went to work as a tinsmith at the age of eleven and later, after marriage, settled in Birmingham to pursue his trade. He was confirmed in the Faith by the Master, Whom he met in 1911 and 1913, when he was, for many years, the only Bahá’í in Birmingham. Johnny kept excellent records of visits and lectures by some of the early visitors to Birmingham, including Martha Root, Dr. Esslemont, Mountford Mills and Helen Bishop. At the age of 71 he retired from work and pioneered to Edinburgh where he died as a result of an accident in January 1948, only three months before the first Spiritual Assembly was formed there.
MARY OLGA KATHERINE MILLS, Knight of Bahá’u’lláh
Born in Germany in 1882 with a German father and English mother she grew up with an insatiable love for travel. In the United States she married an Englishman. It is not certain when she accepted the Faith but she was on pilgrimage in 1930 and stayed for a month as companion to Effie Baker. She was later a great help to the friends in Berlin and Leipzig and gave much support to Adam Benke who pioneered to Sofia. After suffering many privations during the war in Germany she wrote to the Guardian in 1947 and he encouraged her suggestion to pioneer to England. She arrived in early 1948 and settled in her first pioneer post in Nottingham. Within nine months she was again on the move in response to pioneer calls. Belfast, Edinburgh, St. Ives, Brighton, and Bournemouth, making six moves in just over two years by a lady in her late sixties. In 1953 she responded immediately and was enrolled as a Knight of Bahá’u’lláh for Malta where, after numerous vicissitudes and a small but painful accident which affected her for many months, she was able, some twenty years later, to witness the formation of the first Spiritual Assembly in Malta. She passed away, after twenty-seven years of dedicated pioneering which covered four territories, in May 1974, when the Universal House of Justice cabled: “PASSING NOBLE SOUL OLGA MILLS GRIEVOUS LOSS BRITISH BAHÁ’Í COMMUNITY. HER LONG STEADFAST DEVOTION BAHÁ’U’LLÁH SHEDS LUSTRE ANNALS FAITH THAT COMMUNITY. ISLAND MALTA HISTORICALLY FAMOUS CLASSICAL CHRISTIAN ISLAMIC ERAS RECIPIENT NEW SPIRITUAL POTENTIALITIES THROUGH HEROIC SERVICE KNIGHT BAHÁ’U’LLÁH DEDICATED BAND PIONEERS. EXPRESS FRIENDS RELATIVES LOVING SYMPATHY ASSURE ARDENT PRAYERS PROGRESS SOUL.” (“Bahá’í World”, Vol. XVI, p. 531.)