Dorothy Baker -- Hand of the Cause

Dorothy Baker and family

Dorothy Baker with daughter Louise Baker Matthias



Born in Newark, New Jersey, 21 December 1898, Dorothy was the granddaughter of Mother Beecher, herself a Baha'i, who took her to see 'Abdu'l-Baha in New York in 1912. Dorothy was too shy to speak during that meeting, although she wrote afterward to Him stating that she wished to serve the Cause. 'Abdu'l-Baha responded that He would pray that God would grant her desire. She developed into a most eloquent, persuasive, and convincing teacher for small groups or large audiences, and in addition to an inimitable charm she had a sincerity that was with her always -- she was an ardent Baha'i first, last, and at all times.

Dr. Arastu Hakim

Dr. Arastu Hakim

Dr. Arastu Khan Hakim belonged to the third generation of Baha'is. His grandfather, Hakim Masih was court doctor to Muhammad Shah and the first Jewish Baha’i. Hakim Masih's life takes us back to the very early history of the Cause for he had learned something of the new faith when he was in Bagdad through Tahirih herself, during the early days of the Bab's manifestation. From that time on he had searched for the source of her power. Later in Tihran, when Moslem doctors refused, he had offered to visit the prison and treat a Baha'i child. The father of the child was the famous Ismu'llahu'l-Asdaq and in the course of these visits Hakim Hakim Masih became a Baha'i and later achieved much fame in the Cause.

Vaeino Rissanen -- the first in Finland to become a Baha'i

Vaeino Rissanen (1909-1973)

He was the first in Finland to become a Baha'i in 1938 by Josephine Kruka, the "Mother of Finland". 
(The Baha'i World 1976-1979; Paragraph 171.3 footnotes of Messages from the Universal House of Justice, 1963-1986)