A Short Summary on the Life of Florence Mayberry

In 1954 Florence Mayberry, along with eight others, were appointed to the first Auxiliary board that would serve the Western Hemisphere. Her area included western Canada, two-thirds of the United States from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, plus Alaska and Hawaii.

While serving as an Auxiliary Board Member, Florence was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States in 1959.

Florence and her husband David pioneered to Mexico in 1961, where she was also elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of Mexico while still serving as an Auxiliary Board Member in the United States. Later in 1963 she voted in the first International Convention to elect the first House of Justice. She also attended the World Congress in England.

In 1968, the House of Justice appointed Florence as member of the North American Board of Counselors, which was then part of the newest of developments in the Faith.

In 1973 she was appointed as one of three Counselors of the newly established International Teaching Center. For Florence, this was the beginning of 10 years of service at the Bahá'í World Center in Haifa, Israel.

In her service to the Faith, Florence made 18 trips to Alaska, plus every continent except Antarctica. She went around the world, visited Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, India, Africa, Iran, London, China, Russia, and many more places. She traveled by covered wagon, on foot, by horse, buggy, train, car, ship, jeep, two-passenger planes, and even jet liners.

Florence was born in the Missouri Ozarks region of the United States. At 3 months of age, she was brought by her parents to Conway, Missouri. She lived in Conway until she was 7 years old. In their later years, after her marriage, Florence and David would eventually move back to Conway.

As a child of 6, during a trip to the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, she pushed through the scrubs and saw a small crowd of laughing, exhilarated people. They called her, "Come! Please! Come see him!" Her mother called her back. Florence replied to her mother, "But my people want me. They want me to come back!" She always felt and thought of people as "my people".

At age 9, she often questioned adults about God, and over the years tried out different churches. As a senior in high school she was invited to teach a Sunday school nursery class. She could not believe nor teach the flat, literal viewpoints in the teachers guide. The story of Jonah and the Whale did her in. She quit and told the minister, "I will never join any church which leaves out any people. Because I believe God made the whole world and all the people in it. I will only join a church that does not divide by denominations, color, heathens, nothing. [There should be] just one for everyone."

Florence prayed silently, ardently, and constantly for guidance and truth. She asked for God's will as to if she should marry and if so, help in finding the right man. Several weeks later, she met and soon married her husband, David Mayberry. Later on, Florence and David were members of the very first local Spiritual Assembly established in Reno, Nevada, USA.

Florence one time had a dream/nightmare about a hospital. A white cot and a Doctor were saying, "You’re going to die in three months." Later, when she actually had to go into a hospital, she thought she would be out before the beginning of the coming month. She wasn't. Instead she and the doctos were fighting for her life. During that time, she realized that she hadn't totally accepted God's will. On one paticular night, she refused a sleeping pill, and was totally willing to accept Gods will, even if it meant her earthly death. When she finally again awoke, it was well past the beginning of the month.

In the spring of 1953, she was asked by the American Spiritual Assembly to take a teaching trip through the Southern United States. In the same spring, she also attended the Bahá'í National Convention, the Bahá'í Jubilee and the All-America Inter-Continental Teaching Conference. There she saw Amatu'l-Baha Ruhiyyih Khanum and viewed the Portraits of the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh.

The next year, David moved his business. Since he could not afford an office clerk, Florence took on the job. She then received a letter from the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada asking her to spend a month in Western Canada as a traveling speaker.

When she showed David the letter, she said she wouldn't go since she promised to work in the office. He replied to her, "I actually forgot, until now, a promise I made to God when you were dying. I prayed that He would let you live and if He would, we would dedicate your whole life to the service of His Cause. So if you don't go to Canada I’ll have to break my promise to God."

For a minute Florence was quiet. Then she said, "All right, David, I'll go."

Every time she took one of those journeys, she recollected David and his promise traveled with her. She never spoke one time about the Faith that David did not share whatever platform it was, be it in a jungle village or in a city auditorium. David never wavered one instant from his promise, and Florence tried her best to follow his example.

For further information about the life of Florence Mayberry, it is recommended to read "The Great Adventure" as authored by Florence Mayberry herself.