The pictures are of a sterling silver baby rattle engraved with the words “Baha’i Baby”.  Family lore is that it was given to my mother by Mrs. Roberta K. Christian (see below). Roberta and her husband, W. Kenneth Christian, were given the title of Knights of Baha’u’llah in 1954 for their pioneering service in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), Africa. They had lived in Lansing, Michigan prior to their answering the Guardian’s call for international pioneers and became friends with my parents, Eva and William H. Smith, who had one of the first interracial Baha’i marriages in Michigan.

My mother and Roberta often exchanged letters and Roberta would commonly ask “How are the children?”  It was during a visit to the US in 1957 that Roberta gave my mother this baby rattle for me. The rattle doesn’t have my name probably because Roberta hadn’t heard the news of my name when she had it engraved. 

It seems Roberta loved children and was the author of one of the first Baha’i children’s songbook and from which I still remember several simple and beautiful songs. This “Baha’i Baby” rattle is important to me as a connection to physical and spiritual ancestors—those who pioneered geographically and those who pioneered socially—and is a reminder of the courage and faith with which they walked through their present-day, as well as the hopes they held for the children of the future. 

-Marianne Smith Geula

Chicago, Illinois  December 2022

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Passing of Roberta Christian Knight of Baha'u'llah:

“Grieved Tragic Passing Knight Baha’u’llah Roberta Christian Her Devoted Services Alaska Nine Year Plan Worthy Addition Laurels Garnered Pioneer Efforts Rhodesia And Greece Company Late Husband William Kenneth Christian During World Crusade Convey Family Assurance Prayers Progress Her Soul Abha Kingdom”  - August 9, 1971 —Universal House Of Justice

The foregoing cablegram from The Universal House of Justice was sent to the National Spiritual Assembly of Alaska on receipt of the news of the tragic passing of Mrs. Roberta Kaley Christian, on July 30 in an early morning burning of the apartment building in which she lived in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Mrs. Christian will long be remembered for her valuable services to the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh with her late husband, William Kenneth Christian, who died suddenly in Djakarta, Indonesia, on May 4, 1959. She pioneered in Rhodesia and Greece in the early years of the Ten-Year Crusade and more recently in Alaska.

Mrs. Christian was the author of the popular, widely used Baha’ Child’s ABC, and the first Bahá’í children’s songbook. Her son, Roger, and his wife, Kandie, live in Fairbanks.