The Passing of Howard MacNutt

In its issue for January 1927, the Star of the West carried the obituary of Howard MacNutt of Brooklyn, New York, "widely known throughout the Bahá'í world for his thirty years of devoted service to the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh." He had died in Miami, Florida, on the 26th of December, 1926, at the age of sixty-seven, from injuries received in an accident. His wife, Mary J. MacNutt, had died only one month before, also from injuries received in an accident. "Thus husband and wife," the obituary said, "having rounded out their long life of service, entered the realm of the Kingdom almost together."

The MacNutts had been among the first groups of Americans to visit 'Abdu'l-Bahá, making a pilgrimage to 'Akká in 1905; notes of their conversations with Him were included in the book Ten Days in the Light of 'Akká. Early in his Bahá'í life Howard studied Persian and Arabic, and he assisted in the translation of Bahá'u'lláh's Book of Assurance (the Kitáb-i-Íqán).

For eighteen years their spacious home in Brooklyn was devoted to the service of the Cause. 'Abdu'l-Bahá made a brief sojourn there during His visit to America in 1912; it was there that the moving picture film of Him was taken, and there that the recording of His voice was made.

The obituary named another of his most important accomplishments: "the compiling and preparing for publication, at the request of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, of His addresses delivered in America." Those addresses had been published in two volumes under the title The Promulgation of Universal Peace.

MacNutt had been connected with Green Acre, at Eliot, Maine, from early in its history, and he kept that connection to his last days; many of his best lectures were given at its summer conferences. About six years before his death he and his wife left their Brooklyn home and travelled the country to spread the Bahá'í teachings. They spent their winters in Miami and other Florida cities, except for one year given to a tour of the United States. He was often invited to lecture on other subjects, the Star noted, but he declined every platform except those where he could speak openly of the Bahá'í teachings. The obituary went on:

What a magnificently rounded life to have lived in the service of the Bahá'í Cause, passing on at the age of sixty-seven to the heavenly Kingdom!

A retelling based on the Star of the West, Volume 17, Issue 10 (January 1927), obituary of Howard MacNutt. For the fuller account, see the original.

Editors, S. O. T. W.. (1926). *Star of the West*. Bahai News Service. https://bahai.works/Star_of_the_West/Volume_17/Issue_10/Text