May 13. On this date in 1976, Doris Richardson, who served on the first NSA of Canada and was named a Knight of Bahá’u’lláh for pioneering to Grand Manan Island, died.

 

May 13. On this date in 1976, Doris Richardson, who served on the first NSA of Canada and was named a Knight of Bahá’u’lláh for pioneering to Grand Manan Island, died.

Doris Richardson was born in 1901 in Ontario. When she was sixteen she married Mr. Richardson, an American from a strong Catholic family. She investigated Christian Science in her youth.

She was introduced to the Bahá'í Faith by Howard Colby Ives and Mabel Ives, and became a Bahá'í in 1939. She moved to Scarborough, Ontario, and was a member of the cities first Local Spiritual Assembly, and she held firesides every Saturday which became the center of teaching activity. She served on the first Teaching Committee of Ontario and traveled to visit communities across the Province throughout the 1940's, and she also traveled to other parts of Canada, teaching at the Maritime Summer School in 1947. In 1948 she was elected to the first National Spiritual Assembly of Canada.

In 1951 she pioneered to the Maritime region of Canada and served on the first Local Spiritual Assembly of Moncton, New Brunswick. At the beginning of the Ten Year Crusade in 1953 she pioneered to Grand Manan Island for which she was named a Knight of Bahá’u’lláh. She managed a summer hotel, the Marathon Inn, on the island from 1953 to 1974 and later became a girls' school matron.

In 1957 the first Grand Manan Island local declared due to Doris's teaching. In 1958 she attended an Intercontinental Bahá'í Conference in Chicago and wrote an article about it which was published in a local Grand Manan paper, the first article on the Faith published in the area.

Doris passed away due to cancer on Grand Manan in 1976. The Universal House of Justice conveyed the following message after her passing:

ASSURE PRAYERS SHRINES PROGRESS SOUL ABHA KINGDOM KNIGHT BAHAULLAH DORIS RICHARDSON HER DEVOTED SERVICES CAUSE ENRICH ANNALS FAITH CANADA.

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 Grand 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.