Madge Featherstone (far right), pictured in Vanuatu with her husband Collis Featherstone and fellow Australian Baha’i Bertha Dobbins
Madge Lilian Featherstone, who died in Brisbane this week aged 97, made historic contributions to the Australian Baha’i Community and also served the Faith throughout the Pacific and in many other countries around the world.
In a tribute, the Universal House of Justice praised Mrs Featherstone’s sacrificial service to the Baha’i Faith in Australasia for over six decades.
The international governing body also cited her service on national Baha’i institutions and her “unfailing support” to her husband, Collis, an official international representative of the Faith.
From the time she became a Baha’i in 1944, Mrs Featherstone devoted her winning charm and selfless service to fulfilling the Baha’i goal of a just world society based on the oneness of humanity.
When there was a 10 year plan to take the Baha’i message around the world, Mrs Featherstone, together with her husband, ensured that those Australians who arose to answer the call were not cut off from news from home. As members of the Asian Teaching Committee they sent out a newsletter called “Koala News” together with personal letters.
When they went on pilgrimage to the Baha’i Holy Places in Haifa, Israel, they also had the privilege of meeting the head of the Faith, Shoghi Effendi (1897-1957) in 1953. They were spiritually inspired and they spoke about that experience with thousands of Baha’is who they visited over the years.
When Mr Featherstone (1913-1990) was appointed to the high rank in the Faith of Hand of the Cause of God in 1957, Mrs Featherstone continued to be a pillar of support.
She devoted herself to raising their five children, Kaye, Margaret, Joan, Mariette and Geoffrey, looked after their business while her husband was travelling for the Faith, and in later years accompanied him on his travels and worked for the development of the Baha’i community.
In 1961, Mrs Featherstone was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Australia.
Mrs Featherstone served as her husband’s secretary, and with him she visited remote villages in the Asia-Pacific region and elsewhere under the most arduous circumstances of climate, food, transportation and accommodation. During their travels, they often also met heads of State.
Mrs Featherstone often addressed women’s gatherings and, with her trademark encouragement, wit and love, spoke about the role of women and the education of children.
Mr Featherstone died in Kathmandu, Nepal in 1990. In the years that followed, Mrs Featherstone kept travelling for the Faith.
In her 80s, Mrs Featherstone visited Baha’is in such countries as the Cook Islands, Fiji, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Vietnam and Sarawak.
In 2003, when she was in her 90s, Mrs Featherstone travelled to Vanuatu to attend the celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the Faith there.
At the conclusion of an eloquent tribute, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Australia said: “Her record of service testifies to her obedience, steadfastness, persistence, devotion and self-sacrifice.”