Saturday, August 26, 2017

Myrtle L. King (1918 - 2012)- Obituary

Myrtle L. King

Myrtle L. King, long-time resident of Las Vegas (Manuelitas), recently living in Albuquerque, passed quietly in her sleep into the next life at the age of 93, on Oct. 28, 2012. 

Myrtle was born Nov. 11, 1918, ending the First World War, in Dunkirk, N.Y., where she grew up. 

She received a teaching degree from Buffalo State Teachers College, and married Clifford Hall. They lived in Honeoye Falls, N.Y., and later Avon, N.Y., before deciding in 1949 to move to Alaska with their young sons, to become teachers for the Bureau of Indian Affairs Alaska Native Service. 

Clifford became ill and preceded Myrtle in death in 1951. 

Liking the environment in Alaska, Myrtle continued teaching in Alaska until 1959. She married Rex King in 1958. 

She became a member of the Baha'i Faith and was active in the Tarbiyat Baha'i Community until her death. 

The King family moved to Geyserville, Calif. in 1959, and to Largo, Florida in 1962, where Myrtle continued her teaching. 

In 1963, the family moved to Las Vegas, N.M., where Myrtle taught and was later a Librarian at Memorial Middle School until her retirement. 

Her husband, Rex, preceded her in death in 1977. 

Always adventurous, she took up skiing in her 70's and often went skiing with her grandchildren. 

She was active for many years in the Alta Vista Regional Hospital Auxiliary until her age precluded driving. 

She is survived by her sons: Ted, Gene (Linda), and Tom (Debbie) King; eight grandchildren: Deirdre, Randall, Robin, Mark, Roger, Brendan, Jessica, and Rex; and four great-grandchildren: Alex, Merle, Nathan, and Tristan. Many family and friends wear the products of her prolific knitting skills, and she collected materials to assist teachers in their creative projects. 

Memorials may be made to the NMHU Foundation Scholarship Fund, Box 9000, Las Vegas, NM 87701. 

The Present State of the Tarbiyat Baha’i Community

The Council of Regents assumes ultimate direction of the faith on a world-wide basis, but does not concern itself routinely with day-to-day operations. It sits at the National Center, located in Tarbiyat, San Miguel County, New Mexico. The National Center consists physically of sixty-five acres of ranch land, nestled in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo range of the Rocky Mountains. It includes a substantial building for administration and worship (constructed mostly by members of the Faith), a ranch house refurbished for use as a guest house, and several residences.
Under the Council of Regents, the governance of the Tarbiyat Baha’i Community operates through Houses of Justice. The National House of Justice of the United States and Canada convenes regularly at the National Center. Local Houses of Justice may exist wherever at least nine believers live in proximity to each other.
The regency considers itself to be a temporary regime, its function being to maintain the integrity of the Cause of Baha’u’llah until such time as the Second Guardian makes himself known and claims his rightful office. In the meantime the believers teach the Faith and support the concept of the institution of the Guardianship. A few words must be said regarding the relations between the Tarbiyat Baha’i Community and the Baha’i World Faith. In the first place, as mentioned at the start of this article, we have no differences in our fundamental beliefs; we are all followers of Baha’u’llah. However, the “Sans-Guardians”, as we call them, do not recognize the existence of the Tarbiyat Community.
In fact, soon after the death of the first Guardian, the Hands assumed the prerogative to declare “covenant-breaking” and to excommunicate believers (a right Shoghi Effendi had always reserved to himself alone). They then commenced to remove from the Faith anyone who questioned their actions, especially the discontinuance of the Guardianship.
Membership figures are not published for either group, but the Wilmette/Haifa organization is much larger than the Tarbiyat Community. Members of the Tarbiyat Community, being apostate in the eyes of Wilmette, are not welcomed there. Nevertheless, we do from time to time visit the Wilmette Temple, and also the Shrine of the Bab in Haifa, but without identifying ourselves as Tarbiyat Baha’is. After all, both of these buildings were constructed and dedicated prior to the death of Shoghi Effendi, and are the property of all Baha’is, whether the present custodians recognize this or not.
In contrast, the Regents have not asserted the right to declare covenant breaking. The Tarbiyat Baha’i Community welcomes Sans-Guardian Baha’is and others to meet with us and investigate our stance on the Guardianship. As the Regents have repeatedly stated, our community exists to uphold the validity of the Covenant, and its principle defender, the Guardianship.
Tarbiyat Baha’is look forward to the day when the second Guardian arises to reestablish the spiritual leadership of the Faith and reunite its followers under one banner: the Cause of God. In that day there will be no more difference between our communities. The Faith will once again move forward with the Covenant of Baha’u’llah made whole and its sacred institutions restored.
That is our goal. We invite you to join with us.

If you would like to reach us for more information, or simply for discussion, we welcome you to contact us in the following ways:
By email: TarbiyatBahai@gmail.com 
By mail:
Tarbiyat Baha’i Community
P.O. Box 1423
Las Vegas, NM 87701
By phone: 505.435.9675
We would be happy to hear from you!

The Station of Rex King

      Rex King was a Baha’i of long standing, having been active in committee work and teaching under the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States prior to the passing of Shoghi Effendi. He had also been a Baha’i pioneer and teacher in Alaska and elsewhere. Rex had had personal correspondence with Shoghi Effendi, and following the Guardian’s death, Rex felt strongly that the Hands were in error in their action terminating the Guardianship as an institution and in their attempts to stamp out independent investigation of truth with respect to Mason Remey and others. Hence Rex was moved to support Mason’s claim to the Guardianship. 

As Mason Remey grew older, however, it became evident to many people, including Rex, that his utterances were becoming incompatible with the office of Guardian. He made several untenable “interpretations” of the sacred writings of Baha’u’llah and Abdu’l-Baha. Such interpretations are the prerogative of the Guardian, but in no event can he contradict a statement from the Holy Writings, as Mason did. Therefore Rex King, accompanied by two other believers, traveled to Florence, Italy, in 1969, to visit Mason Remey. He wanted to ascertain the state of Mr. Remey’s physical health and to discuss the meaning of his apparently conflicting interpretations. 

As a result of that visitation, Rex King concluded that Mason Remey was no longer the Guardian. Mason had created a Second International Baha’i Council, named Joel B. Marengella as its president, and then without warning dissolved that body. This appointment follows essentially the same pattern by which Mason himself had assumed the station of Guardian, hence Rex acknowledged Joel as Third Guardian, as did other members of the Guardianship community at the time. Within the space of a few years history began to repeat itself. Joel Marengella proceeded to make a number of inadmissable “interpretations” of the Writings. 

These events, and other additional factors that need not be recounted here, convinced Rex and others that Joel, too, had ceased to fulfill the requirements of the office of Guardian. As a result of these occurrences, and supported by several dreams that Rex interpreted as constituting mystical contact with the Master, Rex King was led to announce on January 15, 1973 that he was rightfully assuming the station of Regent of the Cause of Baha’u’llah. It is interesting that in his announcement he refers to Mason Remey and to Joel Marengella as the Second and Third Guardians, respectively. 

He claimed the regency with the understanding that he, as Regent, was not endowed with infallibility, as is a Guardian, and that he was not qualified to interpret the Writings. However, he claimed to be given clarity of sight to recognize the next true Guardian, when that individual should make himself known. A considerable number, but not all, of the Baha’is who had formerly acknowledged Joel Marengella as Guardian, expressed their support of Rex King as Regent. Subsequently, after much further though and prayer, Rex became convinced that neither Mason Remey nor Joel Marengella had in truth ever been Guardians. This was largely because of the lack of lineal descendancy from the Holy Family. In the case of Joel, clearly if Mason had not been a Guardian, Joel never could have been. (The same logic applies to the claim of Donald Harvey to the Guardianship.) Furthermore, the International Baha’i Council could be considered to be an interim organization, intended to exist only until the Universal House of Justice should be activated. Hence Mason, as president, was actually fulfilling the function of a regent, not a Guardian. 

As a result of all these factors, Rex King came to the realization that he was in actuality the Second Regent, Mason Remey having been unknowingly the First Regent of the Cause of Baha’u’llah since the death of Shoghi Effendi. Rex King made due provision in his Will for the continuance of the regency. He passed from this life, the victim of an apparent heart attack, April 1, 1977, near Baltimore, Maryland. By the terms of his Will, the office passed to a Council of Regents, consisting of his sons Theodore, Eugene, and Thomas, and his daughter-in-law, Ruth Lopez-King. They are, as of this writing, continuing the governance of the Faith along the lines established by the Second Regent.