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| Jessie Revell in 1964 |
Jessie Revell was once addressed by
‘Abdu’l-Baha in these words:
“O thou who art firm in the Covenant! ... Notwithstanding
the lack of time, I write thee this letter that thou mayest know how dear thou
art to me. As thou art brilliant and pure and hast no wish but to serve the
Cause of God and promulgate the divine teachings, I pray and entreat at the
threshold of God and beg for thee limitless assistance and bounty. ... Thou
must engage in those regions, day and night, in service. ... As to the children
with whom thou art speaking, thy pure breath will undoubtedly exert its
influence upon them. ...” (‘Abdu’l-Baha, Star of the West, vol. X, p. 317)
Jessie Revell’s brilliant record of service to the Cause of
Baha’u’llah, extending from early in the century, came to an end with her
passing in Haifa on April 14, 1966. Her story is best told in the words of her
devoted sister, Ethel Revell.
“My mother, my sister and I first heard of the Faith in
Philadelphia -- it was approximately 1906 -- through Mrs. Annie McKinney, and
attended the firesides of Mrs. Isabella D. Brittingham. On the evening when
Jessie first heard Mrs. Brittingham speak on the Faith, Jessie followed her to
the door as the speaker departed and said, ‘I cannot remember all you said
tonight, but I want what you have!’ When she accepted the Faith she wrote to
‘Abdu’l-Baha and mentioned that our father had passed away when we were very
young. The Master replied -- I believe in these exact words -- ‘The real
fatherhood is the spiritual fatherhood. Therefore rest thou assured that thou
art the beloved daughter.’
“In the early days of her Baha’i life, as there was but
little literature available to the friends, Jessie, who was then employed in an
office, would spend her evenings typing copies of Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Baha and
sharing them with the Baha’is, who in turn would recopy them and pass them
along to other believers.
“Jessie’s dearest wish was to be of service to the Cause.
‘Abdu’l-Baha visited Philadelphia in June, 1912. After speaking to the friends
on Sunday morning at the Rittenhouse Hotel where He was staying, the Master
took a short walk, during which time Jessie and a brother visited the various
newspaper offices with material on the Faith which appeared in the papers the following
day.
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| Ethel and Jessie Revell 1951 |
“During the meeting at the hotel, ‘Abdu’l-Baha said to our
mother that He would see us at nine o’clock the following morning at our house.
Excitedly, everyone spread the news and the humble home was crowded. The Master
spoke to the friends most beautifully and touchingly about the life of
Baha’u’llah. Afterwards He went upstairs, and each one had a brief interview
with him. When Jessie’s turn came, she said ‘I would like to be of service in
the Kingdom.’ ‘Abdu’l-Baha replied, ‘You are a smiling angel; you will be of
service in the Kingdom.’
“Jessie visited ‘Abdu’l-Baha in New York City a few days
before He sailed from America. As she was taking leave the Master said that He
would see her again. Jessie always lived in the thought of again seeing Him on
this earth. In 1921 she received a Tablet in which He told her she had
permission to make her pilgrimage in the winter of that year. Everything was in
order: the expense of her voyage was the loving gift of a Baha’i friend; her
employer consented to her leave of absence and agreed to hold open her position
until she returned; her plans were all made. When the news reached her of the
ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Baha she was completely heartbroken. Slowly, painfully she
reconciled herself to the realization that her meeting with the Master was not
to be on this physical plane. At the suggest ion of Mrs. Brittingham she
postponed her pilgrimage for a few years and was very happy she did so, because
when she arrived in Haifa she was able to meet the beloved Guardian which would
not have been the case had she gone at the time originally planned.
“One day during her pilgrimage Shoghi Effendi invited her to
stroll up Mount Carmel with him to visit the Shrine of the Bab. On that walk he
said that the Baha’is must make a superhuman effort. Jessie often said there
was something about the way the Guardian said ‘superhuman’ that engraved it for
all time in her heart.
“Jessie constantly searched for ways of meeting souls who
were longing for truth. With this object in view she had just completed a
course in public speaking when the invitation came to travel to Haifa to assist
the beloved Guardian. When she told of receiving this cable, she said she
believed she lost consciousness for a moment, it was so overwhelming.”
A tribute to Jessie Revell by Mr. and Mrs. Lyall Hadden
published in the Bulletin of the Spiritual Assembly of Philadelphia at the time
of her death describes her early services in that community:
“Jessie’s entire life was one of service to the Faith, first
here in Pennsylvania where she served for many years on the Spiritual Assembly
of Philadelphia and the regional teaching committee, and later in Haifa where
she and Ethel were summoned by the Guardian in 1951.
“Her years of service in Haifa, her many travels throughout
the world on behalf of the Faith, are well known to all, but we in Pennsylvania
have a deeper knowledge of, and a great love for, this little person who gave
of her time and energy so cheerfully and efficiently. No distance was too far
for Jessie to travel; no demand upon her time too great in service to
Baha’u’llah.
“When we first met the Revells back in 1936 both Jessie and
Ethel were carrying out ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s instructions in a most energetic and
able manner. We had just arrived in the Philadelphia area from New York where
we had been briefly introduced to the Faith. Almost immediately upon our
arrival Jessie, Ethel and their mother came to call upon us, and every week
thereafter these dear and faithful souls traveled the twenty miles to our home
to further our instruction in the Faith of Baha’u’llah. After we declared our
faith they, true to the Master’s wish, continued to visit every Saturday
morning to instruct our three small sons. So effective were their teaching
methods that at one children’s session at Davison Baha’i School our boys were
asked to refrain from raising their hands to answer questions and let some of
the other children have the opportunity. ‘Thy pure breath will undoubtedly
exert its influence upon them. ...’
“Many times we met the Revell sisters and drove them to
Reading where they had engaged a room in order to hold Baha’i meetings. Whether
one person attended, or a dozen, or no one at all, those two devoted believers
were always there on the designated night, and our own knowledge was
strengthened and deepened.”
It is fitting that Jessie Revell’s services in the Holy Land
be glimpsed through the eyes of one of the countless pilgrims whose hearts she
won. An account of her passing appeared in the Alaskan Baha’i News, September,
1966:
“Late in 1950 two self-effacing little ladies from
Philadelphia, Ethel and Jessie Revell, received a cablegram: WELCOME YOUR
PRESENCE HAIFA -- SHOGHI. These two lovely souls were overwhelmed and puzzled,
but they soon began to pack. ...
“For Jessie, this was a return to the land of her heart’s
desire. ... What kind of woman was this ‘little giant’, barely five feet tall,
who earned the trust, love and admiration of Shoghi Effendi, and became a loyal
companion of Amatu’l-Baha Ruhiyyih Khanum and the friend and counsellor of
every pilgrim? The beloved Guardian received many letters from American
believers but it was the rare Baha’i who, like Jessie, would write to him, as
she did in 1948, to thank him for his peerless translation of Prayers and
Meditations.
“En route to Haifa the Revell sisters found an additional
opportunity to proclaim the Faith. Three hundred miles east of the Azores, a
floating observance of World Religion Day was held on the S.S. LaGuardia by
Jessie and Ethel. Fifty people of various nationalities attended in response to
the invitation listed in the ship’s calendar.”
Jessie Revell’s services in Haifa were manifold: she was
entrusted by the Guardian shortly after her arrival with the task of sending
and collecting all his mail; this was a task to which he attached great
importance as during his absences from the Holy Land no one had access to him
except his “postman” whose integrity must be of the highest order. Even after
the Guardian’s passing she continued to collect the mail, in spite of her age,
until the election of the Universal House of Justice.
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| Elected International Baha'i Council 1961 |
“How Jessie loved to be with the pilgrims,” Ethel Revell
testifies. “She loved to look after their comfort and received them with a
loving welcome, visiting with them, helping them on their shopping trips. At
times the pilgrims arrived very late at night from certain countries. On one
occasion a group of dear pilgrims came at about eleven-thirty at night. It was
raining heavily. They were shown their rooms and made comfortable by Jessie.
The next morning Jessie awakened to find she had slept peacefully all night in
a wet raincoat!”
A pilgrim writes, “She won the hearts of all the pilgrims
and saw the best, the true Baha’i, in everyone. In her quiet, unassuming way
she would seek every avenue to serve her beloved Faith. No task was too great
or too small. Pilgrims around the world treasure the picture of ‘Abdu’l-Baha in
Philadelphia or some other small token from the Revell sisters. Dearly loved by
the people of Haifa, they would voice concern: ‘Please talk Miss Jessie into
getting a car -- a little one will do; she goes back and forth so much; I worry
for her.’ A friend of ‘Miss Jessie’s’ would get a special price in the souvenir
shops. Everyone in Haifa knew her; everyone loved her. Her calm, assured
manner, regardless of the turbulence about her, seemed to be in natural setting
in Haifa. While the Shrines, of course, stand apart as the very core of
pilgrimage, Haifa unfailingly brings to mind Jessie Revell.”
Before his passing Shoghi Effendi had himself announced that
Jessie Revell would attend the Intercontinental Conference to be held in the
United States in 1958, in addition to the Hand of the Cause he had delegated to
represent him on that occasion. In 1961 she accompanied Amatu’l-Baha Ruhiyyih
Khanum on her trip to Australia to open the Mother Temple of the Antipodes to
public worship. When Amatu’l-Baha was taken ill, Jessie Revell, at her request,
visited the New Zealand Baha’i community in her stead, bringing the spirit of
the beloved Guardian to all the friends there.
“I trust and pray that some day you may be enabled to visit
Persia, and there render a distinct service to the cause,” Shoghi Effendi wrote
to her on December 17, 1928. “Wherever you are, the Beloved will watch over you
and sustain you, and you must feel encouraged to realize that your services,
your faith and constancy, will in time be fully rewarded.”
Ethel’s words describe the joy her sister experienced in
realizing this long-held hope:
“Persia and Turkey were the last countries which Jessie
visited. She traveled to Iran just seven months before she passed away. To be
in the land of Baha’u’llah was such a joy to her, to visit all the Holy Places
such a sacred experience. Then too, the believers were so thoughtful, kind and
hospitable in a quiet and efficient manner that she really felt at home. It
seemed to me that with that accomplished, she in a way relaxed somewhat. A few
days before she departed she said to me, ‘Since I went to Persia, I seem to be
living there all the time.’”
Advising the Baha’i world community of her passing, the
Universal House of Justice cabled:
WITH PROFOUND GRIEF ANNOUNCE PASSING JESSIE REVELL HER
TIRELESS STEADFAST DEVOTION FAITH SINCE BEFORE MASTERS VISIT AMERICAN CONTINENT
EARNED LOVE TRUST ADMIRATION SHOGHI EFFENDI CROWNED BY APPOINTMENT
INTERNATIONAL BAHAI COUNCIL DISTINGUISHED BY SERVICE TREASURER BOTH APPOINTED
ELECTED COUNCILS STOP URGE NATIONAL ASSEMBLIES HOLD MEMORIAL GATHERINGS TRIBUTE
UNFORGETTABLE EXEMPLARY SERVICES FAITH. ...
(the Baha’i World 1963-1968)
