Martha's unnumbered
admirers throughout Bahá'í world lament with me the earthly extinction of her
heroic life. Concourse on high acclaim her elevation to rightful position in
galaxy of Bahá'í immortals. Posterity will establish her as foremost Hand which
'Abdu'l-Bahá's will has raised up in first Bahá'í century. Present generation
of her fellow-believers recognize her to be the first, finest fruit which the
Formative Age of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh has as yet produced. Advise hold
befitting memorial gathering in Temple to honor one whose acts shed
imperishable lustre on American Bahá'í community. Impelled share with National
Assembly expenses of erection of monument in symbolic spot,[1] the
meeting-place of East and West, to both of which she unsparingly dedicated the
full force of her mighty energies.
- Shoghi Effendi (Cablegram
October 3, 1939, ‘Messages to America’)
[1 Honolulu]
To Martha Root, that
archetype of Bahá'í itinerant teachers and the foremost Hand raised by
Bahá'u'lláh since 'Abdu'l-Bahá's passing, must be awarded, if her manifold
services and the supreme act of her life are to be correctly appraised, the
title of Leading Ambassadress of His Faith and Pride of Bahá'í teachers,
whether men or women, in both the East and the West.
- Shoghi Effendi (‘God
Passes By’)