May 27. On this date in 1967, Mildred Eileen Clark, named a Knight of Bahá’u’lláh for the Lotofen Islands. died in Turku, Finland.

 

May 27. On this date in 1967, Mildred Eileen Clark, named a Knight of Bahá’u’lláh for the Lotofen Islands. died in Turku, Finland.

Born in Manchester, Illinois, on May 24, 1892, Mildred Clark chose pioneering as her field of service from the earliest days of her conversion to the Bahá’í Faith.

In the first Seven Year Plan (1937-1944) assigned to the United States she pioneered to Denver, Colorado, and there married George Clark. In 1946, at the inception of the second Seven Year Plan (1946-1953), she offered to go to Europe and was requested by the European Teaching Committee to settle in Norway where, in 1948, she assisted in the formation of the first Spiritual Assembly of Oslo.

In January 1950, she pioneered to the Netherlands and in 1952 she was asked to go to Luxembourg to assist in making the necessary arrangements for the European Teaching Conference held there in September 1952. Following this she returned to Oslo and actively resumed her service there.

While attending the European Intercontinental Teaching Conference held in Stockholm in July 1953, Mildred Clark volunteered to serve in Svolvaer, Lofoten Islands. She was one of the first to arise in the Ten Year Crusade, arriving at her post in August 1953. For this service she was named a Knight of Bahá’u’lláh by Shoghi Effendi. She remained at this distant post for more then ten years, later returning to Norway. When the need for pioneers became apparent in Finland, she moved to that country, her final pioneering goal.

On May 27, 1967, Mildred Eileen Clark died in Turku, Finland.

What has always struck me about the designation of Knights of Bahá'u'lláh is the arbitrariness with which the "virgin territories" were defined. For example, the Cook Islands and Tonga Island, both part of the Realm of New Zealand have distinct sets of Knights, while Niue and the Chatham Islands, also part of the Realm of New Zealand, are Knightless.

Several islands off the coast of Alaska have distinct Knights, like Baranof Island , Kodiak Island, and the Aleutian Islands. Yet other Alaskan islands, like the Pribilof Islands are Knightless.

The Brazilian state of Amapá has its own Knights (for Portuguese Guiana), while the other Brazilian states are Knightless.

Crete and Rhodes have Knights distinct from the Knights of mainland Greece, yet other Greek islands, like Santorini and Samos, are Knightless.

Key West has its own Knight, yet the other Florida Keys are Knightless.

Tiny islands, like Great Manan, have their own Knights. St. Thomas Island has its own Knight, yet the remaining Leeward Islands have one set of Knights, representing numerous politically and geographically independent islands. Similarly, the Windward Islands have one set of Knights, representing numerous politically and geographically independent islands.