Martha's unnumbered admirers throughout Bahá'í world lament
with me the earthly extinction of her heroic life. Concourse on high acclaim
her elevation to rightful position in galaxy of Bahá'í immortals. Posterity
will establish her as foremost Hand which 'Abdu'l-Bahá's will has raised up in
first Bahá'í century. Present generation of her fellow-believers recognize her
to be the first, finest fruit which the Formative Age of the Faith of
Bahá'u'lláh has as yet produced. Advise hold befitting memorial gathering in
Temple to honor one whose acts shed imperishable lustre on American Bahá'í
community. Impelled share with National Assembly expenses of erection of monument
in symbolic spot,[1] the meeting-place of East and West, to both of which she
unsparingly dedicated the full force of her mighty energies. (Shoghi
Effendi - Shoghi Effendi (Cablegram October 3, 1939,
‘Messages to America’)
To Martha Root, that archetype of Bahá'í itinerant teachers
and the foremost Hand raised by Bahá'u'lláh since 'Abdu'l-Bahá's passing, must
be awarded, if her manifold services and the supreme act of her life are to be
correctly appraised, the title of Leading Ambassadress of His Faith and Pride of
Bahá'í teachers, whether men or women, in both the East and the West.
- Shoghi
Effendi (‘God Passes By’)
[1 Honolulu]
