Shamsi Navidi – memorial gathering for a Baha’i

There must have been upwards of 300 people at the memorial gathering for the much loved and sadly missed Shamsi Navidi in the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington yesterday. Ambassadors, journalists, Rotarians, inter-faith people, friends from many parts of the world whose lives she had touched, and, of course, many many Baha’is from the UK came to pay their respects to a Baha’i whose remarkable life and spirit had uplifted them.

Shamsi Navidi (left) with one of her granddaughters (Photo: Baha’i International Community)

A vignette:

Tebby Hinton was stewarding the queue of people waiting to sign the Book of Condolence. There were two young black women behind me in the queue. Tebby, who’s from southern Africa, came over to them and said, “I’m sure these are African faces”. Indeed they were both from southern Africa. Why had they come? Because they had met Shamsi in Africa and she had inspired them and lifted their vision – as she did for all whom she met.

Amongst those who gave eulogies were Sir Sigmund Sternberg, co-founder of the Three Faiths Forum, who spoke about Shamsi’s involvement with Rotary, Lord St John of Bletso, and Lady Gilda Levy, who spoke about Shamsi’s inter faith work and her links with the Women’s Interfaith Network. They were all close to Shamsi and greatly respected her capacity to bring a sense of spiritual reality to meetings.

The troubled Lord Levy sat in the front row and left soon after the memorial programme had finished.

Apart from readings from the Baha’i scriptures and prayers, the programme included an audio-visual presentation of photographs of Shamsi throughout her life and quotations from tributes paid by a wide range of people. I particularly liked this one by Dr Rosemary Keenan, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Catholic Children’s Society (Westminster):

She radiated a peace that came from within. It is this peace, manifested amongst other things in a most beautiful smile, that conveyed a closeness to God and a personal relationship with the Divine.

Shamsi’s family, her daughter Guilda, son-in-law Graham and her granddaughters, is her greatest memorial. Guilda carries on her mother’s work with diplomats and journalists and is a splendid hostess in her own right.

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