Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Guy Barclay, The Story of Vivien Combe, bahai-library.com.
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625Vanalman Ave.
Victoria, BC.
January 27th, 1996.

The Baha'i Community
Victoria

On behalf of my family I would like to thank all
those who atterided and gave of their time to
arrange Vivien's graveside memorial.
Vivien's remarkable talents and love for all people
touched the heart of everyone she came in contact
with. Very few people have lived as full a life,
traveled so eztensively or had so many true
friends. She will be sorely missed.
I was very pleased and touched by the Baha'i
memorial ceremony as I am sure my family would have
been. The beauty and simplicity of the service was
ezactly as Vivien would have wanted it. Ber song
uFacination• made it all perfect.
Thank you again for your help, love and compassion.

Sincerely yours

,

Roger Barclay (Vivien's nephew)

The following account of Vivien's life was compiled
by my father a couple of years ago. We hope it
will be of interest and a help in your endeavor to
chronicle her contribution to the Baha'i movement.
If you do publish
copy. Thanks. p.
an article my family would love a

......
THE STORY OF VIVIEN
She was born on June 23rd 1903 in Lee, Surrey, England,
the elder daughter of Captain Basil Charles Combe, Master
Mariner and his wife Edith Neville, nee Rymer-Jones. At the
age of two she left with her mother for Honolulu via New
York and San Francisco to join her father whose ship the
"C.s. Restorer" was based there. Capt. Combe had assumed
command iri .Singapore on February 1905 for her new owner the
Commercial Pacific Cable Company and sailed across the
Pacific arriving in Honolulu in April of that year.
The ship's task was to maintain the company's telegraph
lines which ran from San Francisco to Shanghai and beyond.

The family cont~nued to live in Honolulu until 1908
when the "Restorer" was based to Esquimalt harbor and the
family moved to Victoria. Life in Hawaii was very different
in those days, there were very few tourists and the city of
Honolulu was quite a .small place. Young Vivien attended a
kindergarten at Punahou College in 1907. On arrival in
Victoria the family rented a house on Cook Street.
In 1909 Mrs. Combe and Vivien paid a six month's visit to
their English relations. On the trip over the, then seven
year old Vivien, performed for the first time on the stage.
Aboard "R.M.S. Canada" she sang a solo "Yip-Addy-i-Ay".
This was her first performance in a lifetime given to the
theatre.

It was in 1911 that the family moved into their new
home on Verrinder Avenue. Vivien received her education at
St. Margarets school and. it was there that she decided her
forte was the theatre. She took singing and dancing lessons
and started to take parts in ,plays. She was Hebe in "H.M.S.
Pinafore" in the .Old Victorii Theatre in 1912.

On November 2nd of that year her sister, Adele Laura,
was born. These were happy days. There were many visitors
to the family home on Verrinder Avenue. one of the early
ones was Harvey Combe, a second cousin, who was the Registrar
of the Law Society. He was an ardent golfer, one of the
original members of the Victoria Golf Club and many times
the B.C. champion. His daughter Lenora, who married Hew
Paterson, followed in his footsteps and his winning ways.
Another frequent visitor was Judge Stanley from Honolulu.
His two boys Desmond and Dermot were boarders at the
university School and his mother, Lady Heron,stayed with the
Combe's shortly after Adele was born.

Aboard the "Restorer" many parties were held and to
bring the guests to the wharf A.T. Goward, the then head of
the B.C.Electric Railway Co. and a good friend of Capt.
Combe, arranged that special street cars were provided.

Vivien was also having a good time at St. Margarets acting
in school plays and playing tennis and basketball.
Then in 1914 war was declared against Germany and the
"Restorer" sailed to Seattle and berthed at the
Bremerton Naval Yards. Until this time the ship had flown
the Union Jack but now, for the greater protection of this
vital and specialized vessel, she was to sail under the
neutral Stars and Stripes. She contiqued to carry that flag
for the rest of her life.

The family moved to Seattle and rented their Victoria
home. During the war years they lived in two Seattle houses.
Vivien started school in Seattle in September 1914 and it
was there that she· met Whilimena (Willie) Blankevoort who
became a very dear friend for many years. Vivier:. was unhappy
in Seattle, missing a~l her friends in Victoria ~n~ it was
not long before she was back at St 'Margarets as a boarder.
In 1919 the war ended and the family returned to Victoria
and found their home in a deplor~ble state. The ~Restorer"
with Capt. Combe in commaad remained in Seattle.
During the war years, while Vivien was a boarder at St.
Margarets she continued to interest herself in school plays
and spent her holidays with the family in Seattle. Here
she remembers spending her weekends on the ship with her
friend Willie.
On the family's return to Victoria she ~nd her sister
Adele, bot~ attended St. Margarets as day girls. In 1919
Vivien put on ci'nderella in the s_chool gym. She remembered
the vi~it of Edward, Prine~ of Wales, l~ter Edward VIII.
There was a splendid ball given ·for him at Government House
and her great friend Jean Donald received an invitation,
however she being several months younger was judged to be too
young and much to her chagrin was not asked. Several years
later the Prince again visited Victoria and this time she got
her wish and had the satisfaction of meeting him whil~ he
was with a friend of hers.
She graduated in 1920 and when her father asked Miss
Barton, the headmistress, what prdfession Vivien should
follow, he was advised interior decorating. Courses in that
field not being ·readily available, Vivien 'took a business
course at St. Ann's Academy. This was a shame as she proved
later dn in her life she had a natural flair for design ..
After completing the commercial course Vivien got her
first job in Spencer's Tea Room. There were many of her
school friends working there with her and they all had a
rather good time.· Lunch there then cost about 50 cents and
she recalls that she was once left a 25 cent tip! She spent
her first earned money to buy a copper coal scuttle which
her sister now has.

In March 1922 the "Restorer" returned t.o Victoria from
a repair job at Midway Island and it was to tie up there and
not in Seattle. From then until 1941 she was to berth in
Esquimalt or Victoria waters although sti~l retaining her
New York registry and the Stars and Stripes.

While anchored in Esquimal t Harbor in- 1922 the birthday
bf the Captain's elder daughter gav~ rise to one of the
gayest parties ever hel-0 on the ship. Paddy Heaton's
orchestra greeted the ·barge loads of guests who were fsrried
over to the ship from the wharf. Chief Steward Robb served
a sumptuous repast and dancing folltiwed until the small
hours.

Soon after this event the ship was to receive orders to
proceed again to -Midway Island where the cable had faulted.
On arrival at the island she ran into a vicious storm. Capt.
Combe,although he felt ill, was not able to leave the bridge
for several day·s. He became so desperately ill that he was
forced to give in and turn his command over to someone else.
The repair job took much longer than usual because of the
dreadful weather and when she finally docked in Honolulu the
Captain had to be taken to the hospital where he remained
for weeks. He never regained his health ~nd had to
relinquish his command after 18 years service. He returned
to his wife and children in Victoria where he lived on as a
semi invalid: until his death at the Royal Jubilee Hospital
on December 27th. 1926. During these latter years he had a
summer cottage built on the north shdre of Esquimalt Lagoon.
The family entertained their friends there and really
enjoyed the isolation whfch then existed beside; .that seldom
visited spot.
Vivien continued her acting career. She took part in
many amateur performances and joined the Victoria Little
Theatre. She recalled acting with the Campbell twins· and
with Eva Hart who was a popular singer in tho se days. 0
She
was given parts in many of the plays that were put on and
1 ~er work came to the notice of Mr. Reginald Hinks who was
producing shows at the Playhouse Theatre on Yates Street.
Vivien joined him acting in the plays he produced each week.

Hinks wrot~ ~11 the scripts and picked out ·the songs.
These were topical of the events of the day and were· very
popular with the public. Vivien's roles were her first as a
professional actress and she soon made a name for herself in
Victoria. She carried on at ,the Playhouse for the next two
years, usually taking the part of the comedienne.

After Capt. Combe's death the family was left with very
little money. His pension ended at the date of his death
and hospital bills had consumed most of the family's
savings.

Vivien, now 24, realized she would have to earn her own
living and do what she could to help support the family. Her
talents were theatrical, and while she had done well in
Victoria and was highly thought of, the scope there was not
great and the rewards were small.
She decided she would try for success in England where
the scope was much greater. Therefore she travelled to
London and found a place to live at the ·Theatre Girls Club
on Greek Street. She did achieve some success but the
competition was fierce. She found living in a big city with
very little money was very discouraging and was homesick for
the free ~nd easy life in Canada.
During this period she visited a number of her English
relations and made many friends. She ,was always very good
at meeting people and keeping in touch. For instance through
a friend she received an invitation to a reception at South
Africa House where she met Elizabeth, the Duchess of York,
now the Queen Mother. Among her memorabilia is a copy of the
invitation signed by Elizabeth and others who attended
including Vivien Combe.

She was a prodigious letter writer and fortunately for
the producer of this account some of her letters and those
she received have survived, as have some of her diaries.

Meanwhile in Victoria her mother came to the conclusion
that, as Vivien was in England and as her relations lived
there , she and Adele should go there too and perhaps stay
on to 1 i ve. Therefore she rented the Verrinder .house and
booked passage on the Royal Mail freighter "Loch Kathrine"
sailing to England via the Panama Canal. She carried 12
passengers and the trip lasted six weeks. They stayed in
England for six months but found life there so different
from the one they had grown to love in Canada that they
decided to return. Vivien agreed feeling she would be able
to get work there.

They booked retu~n passage, again on the "Loch Kathrine"
via the Panama Canal. The trip was a happy one and the two
sisters got on famously with the cadets and officers aboard.
On the way they enjoyed a stop over in Jamaica.
Back in Victoria Vivien was welcomed back at the
Playhouse but unfortunately the theatre soon closed and she
had .to f;ind another job. She learned to master the art of
riveting china and glass and worked for antique stores and
Monty Bridgeman's china shop.
Mrs.Combe and a neighbour Mrs Treherne started a little
store they named . "Cornbetree" sel 1 ing B. C. handicrafts on
commission. Combetree was -ndt profitable and did not last
long.

Then friends of the family asked Mrs Combe if she would
consider boarding young girls from out of town while they
attended art school, business cqurses etc. This was a happy
arrangement and many of these girls became their dearest
friends, namely, Betty Johnstone Shaneman, Poppy Beale
Glaspie, Joan Proctor Morris, Madie Innes Hewlett, Issa
Jones Dobell and Dodie Tremayne Hamilton. Verrinder became a
meeting place for young people, among them were, Alan King,
Les Hardie, Jack and Roy Shadbolt, the.Leeming boys, yours
truly and other current beaus. We had sing songs around the
old player piano, acted out charades, played parlor games,
went on hard-time country dances and scavenger hunt~. On
saturday there was the dinner dance in the Crystal Ballroom
at the Empress Hotel, with Billy Tickle's orchestra and
later Len Acre's. The cost was $2.50! The girls always
wore evening gowns and the boys dinner jackets. It was a
formal age and during the "Big Depressio~" we all had to
work hard for our money, but we did have a lot of fun and no
regrets.

Vivien was very active in theatricals, producing and
directing, sometimes with Mrs Dorothy Wilson of the Russian
Ballet School. The costumes and sets were always
outstanding, she could make anything superbly and was very
good at organizing work parties to become involved. Her
Christmas Pantomimes and other big productions were very
popular. I remember particularly, Alice in Wonderland,
Cinderellla and Dick Wittington and his Cat all performed at
the old Victoria Theatre. She also enteied plays in the
Dominion Drama Festival, often with success. The Naval
Officers put on a hit production 0£ "The Mi~dle Watch" in
which Vivien played a leading role. In fact she was very
well known and admired in Victoriaa and many old timers will
remember her as Daisy with Al~n King in their "Bicycle Built
for Two" which they performed many times for various
occasions.

As well as her theatrical activities Vivien found the
time to work for Peggy Napier in her Murdoch's Antiques on
Fort Street and was Peggy's bridesmaid when she married
Victor Bartholomew. The two girls had a keen sense of humor
and we thoroughly enjoyed their stories ab6ut some of their
customers. One we remember was about a w.oman who was walking
in one of the display rooms and spotted ,the Three Feather
Coat of Arms of the Prince of Wales with the motto Ich Dien.
She called to Vivien saying, "I've forgotten my "La£in" but
can you tell me what the sign says". When Vivien told her
it means "I Serve", the woman called to her friend saying;
"Emma Jane come over here and look at this sign it says "I
ServQ", gee wouldn't that look cute above our bar"!

In June 1933 Adele and I became engaged and were
married in October of the following ,year. Vivien was much
involved in the arrangements for our wedding. ·we were wed by
Archdeacon Nunns at St. Mary's Church, Oak Bay and the
reception was at the family home on Verrinder.
World war II started in September 1939 and Vivien felt
she should become involved and travel to England. However
her'mother and friends dissuaded her saying that as she
suffered from hay fever and such severe bouts of asthma,
~6metimes endirig in hospital, she couid easily prove a
greater hindrance than help. So off she went to Montreal and
stayed with her father's younger brother Aubrey, a civil
engineer, who lived in Westmont. There she found work in the
china department of the Henry Morgan Co. She worked there
for about three years.
I had returned from England and Adele had joined me in
Kingston in the_ spring of 1941. We were living in the staff
quarters of the Royal Military College. We soon contacted
Vivien in Montreal and it wasn't long before she came down
to Kingston to meet her new nephew Roger then about nine
months old.
Vivien had not been really happy at Morgan's because
she did not speak French and found that many of the customers
resented this. Therefore she decided to leave Montreal for
Toronto where she had applied and been accepted for work at
Eaton's. She left Morgan's, travelled to Halifax for a visit
with a childhood friend Jean Donald Gow who had married a
naval officer and was stationed there. Then on for a short
visit with us before reporting' to Eaton's in Toronto for
work in their china department. Vivien continued working at
Eanon's for the next fourteen years.
While we remained in Kingston we saw Vivien fairly
often. She had Christmas with us in 1941. Came to visit us
after Patrick was born and was his godmother at his
christening. She lived in several apartments in Toronto,
made many friends there and seemed to live quite a gay life.
In 1943' I was posted to England to command a R.C.E.M.E.
workshop and Adele, her mother and our two boys returned to
Victoria. I should have mentioned earlier that mother·combe
had been with us in Kirigston from shortly after we had moved
from R.M.t. to an ap~rtment in the town.

Meanwhile Vivien had been promoted to the Display
Department where she arranged flower and table displays in
the store and in outside locations such as the Canadian
National Exposition. Later she moved on to the Fashion
Bureau.

Here with a number of other quite senior st'aff members she
had responsibilities for fashion- decisions, gave lectures
and arranged displays. She attended seminais arid was sent on
courses to Parson's school of interior design in New York
city. In 1952 I was sent on a business: trip to Washington
D.C. Adele was with me and we 'met Vivien in New York on our
way home. She was staying there on one of her Fashion Burea
assignments. We gathered she was doihg well, wa• enjoying
her job and was well thought of by her company. In fact she
was now on a first name basis with the senior staff
including David Eato~.

While 'living in Toronto Viv_ien. had made many friends
with people who had simiJ.;ar ar·tistic . interests and it was
with Aileen Adams and her, friend Myra that she took off on a
trip which lasted six months and took them over a gobd part
of Europe.

They left Toronto, in January 1953 and sailed from New
York aboard the "s . s United Sta te·s" for London. On . arr i va 1
they stayed at the famous Gore. Hotel which had recently been
refurbished and the. Elizabethean room opened for the
Coronation. They dined there and found it quite an
experience, guests friends and strangers sat' 'at long
refractory tables and waitresses dressed in Elizabethean
garb served food as it was eaten in -th'at period on pewter
plates. Later they came around with very large bowls ,for you
to scrape your leavings into, for the pbor! "Two young men
were sitting opposite me and one said to the other, how do I
get· the attention of the waitress? His friend replied. "As
she passes pinch her bottom, that was the way they did it in
Elizabeth's time!" "An older man was sitting next to me and
I remarked to him I seem to know you. Do you work for
Eaton's in Toronto?" With a smile he said, no I work in
Morgan's in Montreal."! am Henry Morgan." The right boss in
. the wrong,shop!

This incid~nt was typical of Vivien. Everywher~ she
went all over the world, she would soon spot an
- acquaintance. She had an extraordinary memory for faces and
an interest in people that made this possible.

Continuing I quote frbm Vivien•s·diary: "On our first
day in London we took the bus to Picadilly and had our lunch
in Lion's Corner House. Then went to Canada House and got
tickets to the Garden Party at Buckingham Palace. I went to
see my dear Aunt Ada, actually mother's aunt, who was
nearly blind. She lived in a big apartment house with an old
friend Miss Willowby. 11

"Murray Rymer-Jones and his wife Molly asked me to
lunch at the United Services Club. The last time I haa seen
him was in 1927, when I had been staying with his mother and
fl\th,~,--, .J,.r,n, ;-.-....1 ~·1·,-c.••df.::\\"t,c,,:C,
'
,1c.·.,.;,·,~··,-1·
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b,{·Tt,c,-.

"I then went to stay with Aunt Ada and came down with a
terrible cold as I invariably did in London. Next I visited
Genieve Millman .(Irving), whose bridesmaid I had been many
years ago in Victoria. I also went to see Miss Barton my old
head mistress at Sb... Margarets Schoo! .. I ,found time as well
to go and see Nessie Bell at the Theatre Girls Ulub where I
had lived on my previous stay in London."

"Aileen and r went to view a dress collection. Oliver
Messel was there. We talked to him about his wonderful White
Bedroom which:all had raved about in one of the big revues.
He is Anthony Armstrong-Jones uncle."

The preceding paragraphs illustrate Vivien's usual
activity in looki,ng up old friends and seeing the sights in
the places she visits. Knowing that she did not have the
time to travel around the country to visit -11 her Combe
relations she wrote to them and invited them to come to
London and have lunch with her. Uncles Leonard and Herbert
the latter with his ~ife Millie ~nd Aunt Mildred met her at
Victoria Station for ' lunch. She .was still suffering from
the cold and had a· bad attack of asthma. She felt awful and
had to call a doctor, who gave her shots.

"Myra was ill too and we had to cancel our plans to
attend the openings of several Paris Fashion Houses. Aileen
went by. herself. The doctor.'s bill was 12 pounds 12
shillings. We gave. him a tin of crisco! He had come to the
hotel. three times .."

In February they went to the airport and took a plane to
Lisbon. They found rooms in the Mira Parque Hotel. "We
spent our first day walking around the city ahd visiting
the Marques de Pombal park. Here we saw the famous Estufa
Fria greenhouses with displays of e~otic tropical pl~nts."

"Next day we took the train to Estoril. We met a very
nice couple from California who persuaded us to move to the
Atlantico Hotel facing the ocean. our friends picked us up
with our luggage and took us there. We booked rooms at $2.00
per day including meals·! I.Aileen arrived from Paris and joined
us. Here we spent our remaining stay in Portugal. Estoril,
at that time was the home of a number of disposed European
royalty. We saw the ex~king of Italy and the lrchduke of
Austra-Hungry and took ~hotos of all the royal houses."

They drove· to Sin tr a where they visited the Royal
Palace and the Pena Palace atop the rocky hill above the
town. They spent another day visiting the old quarter of
Lisbon, the Alfama, the Castelo Sao Jorge and the area along
the banks of the Tagus. Altogether they were three weeks in
Portugal before travelling down the west coast, crossing the
Spanish border and continuing to Seville.

"We left Seville the next morning, stopped in.Jerez to
visit a winery. This is where the fimous sherry is produced.
Then we went on to Algeceras and crossed over to
Gibralta by ferry. We tried to find somewhere there to stay
without success. Aileen and I walked over the hills and saw
the apes. We had to return to Algeceras to spend the night.
rt was an unattractive town and I.suffered from a bad attack
of asthma, dogs were everywhere! We took a bus to Seville
and I went right to bed. We were staying at the hotel
Christina and I had a comfortable room overlooking Marie
Louise Park. My throat was very sore so I went out to try to
buy a gargle, as I did not know the Spanish word for it I put
my head back and pantomimed gargling. They understood and I
returned to my bed and slept most of the next day. While in
Seville we visited the Alcazar, the fabulous Cathedral and
the Macarena where they keep the famous religious treasures
used for the Easter Parade. our Lady of Esperanza was there,
she is the Virgin for the bull fighters."
"On March 9th we left for Grenada and arrived· at the
Alhambra Palace Hotel. In Grenada I visited the Alhambra,
the Generalife ~ardens and the old Arab Market •. It was cold
there as you are at the foot of the snow capped Sierra
Nevada mountains."
"l took the train to Madrid and met Aileen and Myra at
the Emperado.Hotel, We took an excursion to Toledo where we
saw El Greco•s·house and the Cathedral. On March 16th we
took the train to Barcelona. It was a pretty trip." Vivien
noted in her diary that she went for a walk, saw the
magnificent cathedral, the market and then on to the zoo,
where she met five little girl~ who asked the time. she took
the children into the zoo to see the monkeys which they
called monos. "I tried to talk to them in Spanish and did
well enough for them to direct me to the right bus for my
hotel.It was a delightful experience I would not have missed
for anything."
The following morning they went by ship to Genoa, where
they spent the night. Vivien noted that they saw the house
where Christopher Columbus was born. They left for Rome the
next day and stayed at the Hotel National. Vivien had run
out of money and had wired her mother to send some to the
American Express in Rome. It had not arrived but this did
not prevent her ftom seeing the sights. She saw the
Colosseum, Hadrian's. Villa, the Vatican and the Catacombs.
The others decided to head north but as Vivien's money had
still not arrived she borrowed some from. Myra and went by
bus to Naples. She carried on to Sorento by train. Luckily
travel was·very inexpensive in Italy at that time! Here she
met some youths who wanted a passenger to help pay the fare
for the Amalfi drive a nd on to the Isle of Capri.

"On the way we stopped at small town of Revello and saw
that a-movie was being shot at the cathedral'~quare. I went
over to see who was in the cast and recognized Peter Lore,
Robert Morley and John.Houston. the director. The movie was
Beat the Devil. Later on at the Garden Party at Buckingham
Palace I saw Robert Morley again. That time elegantly
dressed in a frock coat and topper!n

"The followin~ day we went to the Isle of Capri. The
ride out to the island was very rough and it had started to
rain. Nevertheless we· had a terrific day seeing· the lower
town and having'a most.memorable boat ride through the Blue
Grotto. Next day the lads and I went by train to Pompii where
we spent a fantastic two hours touring the ruins. There was
so muc~-. to see; the house of ill-repute, the lovely wall
murals, the mosaic of a. dog, the stone ovens and the
petrified loaf of bread!" We returned·~o Rome via Naples
and I was delighted to find that my money had arrived and I
was able to repay Myra."

The preceding paragraphs illustrate that Vivien never
let a temporary shortage of funds interfere with her plans.
In fact we could never understand how she could manage so
well on so little! •

"Solvent again I took the train to Florence. I stayed
at a pensione to save money . It was cl~an and cheap. In
Florence I visited the Uffizi GaJlery, the· Convent of San
Marco and Michael's statue of 1 David. I went to see Mrs
Coskell and had lunch in her garden. Then was shown over her
lovely 14th century house with its wonderous collection of
Chinese paintings. I spent another day yisiting San
Gimugnano a~d $ienna by _'bus. Then on to ~enice and
travelled up the Grand Canal to San Marco square, the
Basilica and the Doge's Palace._ I went for a gondola ride
with an Australian girl~-took photos of a ~edding party in a
gondola and saw the Bridge of Sighs". •

"April 26th I left for Nice by train passing through
Milan and Genoa enroute. On he train I met a young Norwegian
Publisher and we had drinks, the next day we met again,
dined together and walked to the old part of Nice. I went on
a bus tour to Monte Carlo. A very nice Englishman who was
sitting next to me in the bus accompanied me to the gaming
tables in the casino. We had drinks'and then danced for
awhile. Another day I bussed to Canne~ and--walked along the
front, then visited the Garabaldi Museum. I travelled to
Paris by train the next day. In my carriage there were two
old spinsters. After awhile one turned to her friend and
said "She is an actress I think!" Vivien stood out iri a
crowd. Her clothes, ~any of which she had designed and made
herself were always 1n qood taste and she knew how to wear
them to enhance her app~arance. .

"It was May when I arrived in Paris and on every corner
lily of the valley were being sold. It was beautiful. I
went up to the top of the Eiffel Tower, then walked past the
Ecole Militaire, the Palace of Chaillot and up Ave. Kleber
to Place de la Concord. I saw an exhibition of modern art
at the Petit Palace and then back to my hotel in the rain.
The next day I took in the Louvre and then visited the
Museum du Jeu de Panue to see the Impressionists paintings.
On my third day in Paris I took a bus to the Bois de
Bologne. I wanted to see what I had been singing about so
many years ago at the Playhouse on Yates Street; "As I
walked along the Bois de Bologne with an independent air,
etc, etc." After this I followed the left bank where the
artists sell their pictures. I bought a Tolouse Lutrec for
2500 francs! I visited Notre Dame. On my last day in Paris
I went to Versailles and wandered around the gardens."
On arrival back in England Vivien still had several
weeks before her scheduled trip back to Toronto. She stayed
in London looking up old friends and visiting places she had
missed earlier. In her diary she mentions the Chelsea
Flower Show, Gre~nwich and Kew Gardens, also a number of
theatres, one of which was the Haymarket with Noel Coward in
Blythe Spirit.
Another entry in her diary describes the Buckingham
Palace Garden Party that she and Aileen attended. " We
passed through a large reception hall out into the gardens
to the rear. There were hundreds of people milling around.
The Queen looked very regal as she received her guests.
Princess Ann was there and looked very nice. It was a really
memorable occasion."
"While at Eaton's in Toronto I had used Wedgewood china
for a number of table displays and had a letter of
introduction to one of their London executives. I phoned him
and he arranged a luncheon and a tour of their factory at
Stoke-on-Trent. we saw the china being made, painted and
fired and I found it all very interesting. When I asked my
guide why the town was so foggy he replied, there would be
something wrong if it wasn't, as that would mean the
potteries were shut down." In fact during the war smoke
from the kilns had camouflaged Stoke from the German planes
and saved many lives.
As Vivien still had time before leaving for Canada she
did some travelling around England. These trips took her to
Bath and, as she added, to see the baths and buy bath buns!
Warwick Castle was visited, the famous earl was an ancestor.
On she travelled to Stratford-on-Avon, Oxford, Bristol and
many other places.

Uncle Leonard was her godfathe, she visited him and
his wife in Horsham. They had been married in Ceylon and
Leonard gave her three delightful paintings of Ceylon
flowers. Today these hang in our dining room in Vancouver
and are much admired.

Murray Rymer-Jones invited her to a meeting at Scotland
Yard to see the police dogs perform. Vivien was enormously
impressed with their training. Murray had been the first to
introduce working dogs to the Metropolitan Police. He was a
very senior officer in the force.

It was now time to say her good byes and be off to
Southampton to board the "S.S United States" for New York.
As they left the docks they saw the ships of the Royal Navy
lined up for the Spithead Revue.
She was back at the Fashion Bureau in June. It had
been a very eventful trip where she had seen and learned a
great deal and met many new friends. Her work under Dora
Mathews continued as it had previously, arranging displays
at such locations as the Canadian National Exposition. She
lectured on such subjects as table settings. She took a
course on photography and worked with photographers and for
relaxation attended an art course in Kitchener.

Vivien retired from Eaton's in 1955 after 14 years
service with the firm. She told Adele she felt she was
getting a "diamond E brand on her brow" and was considering
going into business for herself. However after casting
herself adrift, she decided to spend that winter with a
friend Torchy Faulkner in Mexico. They left Toronto in
November by car, with Torchy's two children, and drove right
across the U.S.A. and on down to San Miguel Allende in
central Mexico, where they arrived ten days later. Here they
rented a house and attended classes at the Institute. Vivien
took up pottery, wood carving, jewelry and photography.
In December she and Torchy went on a trip which took
them to Mexico City, Taxco, Veracruz and Orizaba. "My visit
to Orizaba was one of curiosity and sentiment. I had always
wanted to see the place I had heard so much about from
mother! My grandfather, Alexander Manson Rymer-Jones, a
civil engineer, had arrived here in 1871 with his young 22
year old bride Ernestine. In 1872 their eldest son was born.
A nanny was sent from England with a complete layette for
the baby. The child was very fair and the Spanish people
named him nino blanco (little white boy). In those days
Mexico was a wild and dangerous place and the young couple
slept with revolvers under their pillows.
Adele and I visited San Miguel in February 1956 and the
three of us went on a short trip to Morelia and Patzcuaro.
Vivien seemed to be very happy in San Miguel where she had
made friends with other artistic people at the Institute.

•••.
She left Mexico in March and returned to Toronto as she had
to find another job.
After her return from Mexico Vivien and a partner
Margot started a business they called ''Flair". They rented
space on the second floor of a building on Young Street.
Here they set up a display room with tables on which there
were settings of china, silver, table cloths, flowers etc.

"We had people come to lecture on the correct win~ to
be used with various foods, Margot lectured on flower
arrangements and I on correct etiquette; the placement of
silver, china, napkins, ash trays, etc. for various
occasions. We hired a model to demonstrate how to walk, sit
and what to wear." The business was not profitable. It was
probably before its time and it did not last too long.
It was during this period that Alan Edwards who was
originally from Victoria and had been employed by Eaton's
became a close friend of Vivien. He was an artist and
inteiior decorator. Thei became engaged.
"It was Alan who persuaded me to leave Toronto and join
him and his mother in Dallas Texas where he had 1 work. He
said it would be a good place, for someone with my talents
and there was greater scope in the U.S.A. tha·n in" Canada".
Vivien accepted his advice, went to Dallas and became a
landed immigrant. She worked there for the nex~ two'years.
First for the Nieman Marcus departmental store and-then for
Lambert 1 s landscaping. From one of her diaries we noted that
while in Dallas she attended A.A. meetings and as she
certainly never had a drinking problem we suspect it must
have been because of Alan.
Early in 1958 she left Dallas for Puerto Rico. Aian had
proceeded her and had a good job doing interior decorating
for the Caribbean Hilton Hotel. He got Vivien work making
dresses for the waitresses at the hotel. These were very
well received, so it was decided that they would start a
business they named Carrib Casuals. Alan did silk screening
with Puerto Rican motifs and Vivien des'igned sports wear
which they sold to the shops. "I soid one outfit to Mrs.
David Eaton". We hired a young boy to help with the silk
screening and a woman to do the machining of the' dresses.
Their local help proved to be very unreliable and Vivien
became frustrated. Alan drank too much and Vivien could not
get along with Mrs. Edwards. She decided to leave Puerto
Rico and return to B.C. Her engagement broke off.·
When she arrived in Vancouver, Vivien was at a very low
r-'0 1'nt lo her career. She was broke and very depressed. • We
r'e,,, ~
,..Y 6 c..- 1-i·.,_.,..mother saying Vivien has lost all of her
-; pa. v- k <!_

She rented an apart~ent in the west-end of the city
and landed a Christmas relief job at the General Post
Office. She also worked as a census taker, and found the
work extremely tiring in the wet cold winter weather.

She heard of ~ possible job with the Canadian
Broadcasting Commission, applied for it and was hired for
their costume department. Here she designed and made
costumes for their productions. While with the C.B.C.she met
Josephine Boss who became a great friend.

For the surnme~. mopths Vivien travelled to Banff Alberta
and worked in the Toggery Shop. It was here she made her
first contact with the Bahai Faith that was to have such a
great influence in her life later on.
In the spring of 1961, while in Victoria, Vivien met
Desmond Stanley. The Stanleys had been great friends of the
Combes in Hawaii many years ago and Desmond and his brother
Dermot had been .educated at the University School in
Victoria. Desmond persuaded Vivien to come to Honolulu
where he would sponsor her. She decided to go and Desmond
met her on her arrival in April. She soon got a job as a
nursing aid at the Monalaui Hospital.
In 1962 Adeie and I travelled to Honolulu to see her.
She was. still working at the hospital and owned a little
while volkswagen. She had settled down and made many
friends in the city. The warm tropical climate of the
islands ~mi ted her and she was her old self again,.

In December that year her mother became critically ill
and Vivien came to Victoria to be with her. On January 9th.
1963 her mother died and after the funeral Vivien returned
to Honolulu. During the past year she had again come into
contact with the Bahai Faith and had been attending
meetings. The ne~ religion had a great appeal and she became
a convert.

Bahaiism is based on :the teachings of a Persian
prophet, Baha'u'llah. • He taught that religion must be the
cause and source of love and unity of all the people of the
world. He believed in the oneness of mankind, the oneness
of religion and the individual's personal search for truth.
His objective was to unite the people of the world under one
religion and one social order. There were to be no churches,
no clergy and the faith was to be spread by informal talks in
the homes of the people,

Vivien felt that the life she had been living had
little purpose. She wished to bring her new religion to
others and in order to do so she felt she must learn a great
deal more about it.

She therefore planned to go on a pilgrimage to Haifa in
Israel where the House of Justice, the headquarters of the
Bahai Faith was located.
In the autumn of 1964 she purchased an airline ticket
that would take her around the world. She planned to travel
across the Pacific to Japan, then across Asia to Haifa, from
there to Greece, then through Europe and home by the
Atlantic. It was her aim to meet Bahais in the countries
she visited and learn more about the faith so as to be
better able to spread her new belief.

She left Honolulu in November and flew to Tokyo. Spent
some ten days in Japan, traveling as far south as Osaka with
a stop off in Kyoto. In these centers she was ~et and
entertained by local Bahais. She saw.puppet shows and was
impressed by the stories that were told by this means. Later
on Vivien was to use puppets in her missionary work.

From Japan she continued to Hong Kong, came down
with a very bad cold and spent four days in bed. Her next
stop was Bankok, where the weather was warm, and she
recovered from the cold and thoroughly enjoyed the sights.
Vivien never went anywhere without meeting interesting people.
While in Bankock staying at the very posh Oriental Hotel she
met and went sightseeing with The Hon. Charles Strutt, a
cousin of the Duke of Norfolk,
Next on to Delhi where she took a side trip to Agra to
see the Taj Mahal. Next to Teheran and was met by Bahais,
staying with a wealthy family who had interests in Pepsi Cola.
They arranged a trip for her to Isfahan and on to Shiraz.
It was in the latter city that the Bahai Faith got its start
and Vivien visited some of the holy sites and also had time
to see the wonders of Persepolis.
Returning to Teheran Vivien flew to Tel Aviv and took
the bus to Haifa. Here with a number of other pilgrims she
stayed at the Pilgrim House and visited some of the shrines.
At Akka (ancient Acre) she visited· the place where
Bah'u'llah the prophet had been imprisoned and died.
Her next stop was Athens. Here she visited many of ·the
famous sites; the Acropolis, Delphi, Corfu, etc. She fell in
love with the country and found a special spot on the small
island of Porus in the Agean which she felt would be the
ideal place to retire to. English people were buying land
there and were planning to build. Vivien was so impressed
that she signed an agreement and made an advance payment to
purchase her dream home. More about this later.
From Greece she flew to Rome which she knew well from
her stay there in 1953. It was so cold, then midwinter, that
she headed south to Palma Mallorca and remained there for the
month of January. In February she was in Zurich, then on to
Frankfurt. In Hiedelberg nearby she saw Josephine Boss'
sister. Then Amsterdam in March and from there on to
Honolulu via Toronto and Vancouver.

On h€r return to Honolulu Vivien continued acting as a
companion to elderly ladies. First there was a Mrs. Judd, a
member of on~ of Honolulu's oldest families. After her came
a Mrs. McCoy, a wealthy woman with a large estate and a
staff of about fifteen. She treated Vivien as a daughter .

. Vivien also spent a lot of her time at the Bahai Center
and regularly attended the weekly meetings known as
"feasts", although they had nothing to do with. dining. They
were feasts for the soul!

Time was passing and by July 1968 Vivien would be 65
years old, She planned to retire and build a home on the
property she had purchased in Greece. For living expenses
she had a life interest in her mother's estate and after her
sixty fifth birthday would be eligible for the Canadian old
age pension and a U.S. social security pension that she had
been contributing to from the time she had become a landed
immigrant in Dallas Texas. However in order to receive the
Canadian pension she had to prove she must have lived in
Canada for at least 25 years and had been a resident for one
full year immediately prior to her 65th birthday. To meet
the latter condition she returned to B.c. and obtained
employment at the Toggery shop in Banff where she had worked
previously.

After working for the summer months in Banff she and a
friend Margaret Cornelius flew to Prestwich Scotland, hired
a car, visited Glasgow and Edinborough, then headed south
for London. On the way they made a number of stops to visit
friends and relations. They arrived in London in October and
Margaret returned to Canada. Vivien spent several more weeks
in England. She mentions seeing her aunts Dorothy and
Mildred and visiting her'cousin Jack Combe, his wife Barbara
and their son Gerald, a lad of 19 who had recently graduated
from ''H.M.S. Worcester" to embark on a career in the
merchant navy. A Combe tradition! She also travelled to
• Greenwich to see Murray Rymer-Jones and his wife Molly.

In November she flew to Athens and got a room at the
Greek House Hotel. She got in touch with Adrienne Allison, a
cousin of Patrick's wife Margaret .. Her husband Steven was
with Canadian External Affairs and they had two children.
In order to complete the purchase of her property in
Porus she traveled there by ship to pay the balance of the
purchase price and legal fees. There was some delay in
waiting for a draft from Yorkshire Trust. However the money
arrived and the deal was co~pleted. Vivien then had a
meeting with George Kelyvas, a local architect, whom she had
selected to design and supervise the construction of her
house. She was very disappointed to learn that the cost
would be a great deal more than .she had bargained for.
Kelyvas' fee alone would be $2000. She would have to delay
construction for at least two years to save sufficient
funds.
After several weeks in Porus, with visits to other
islands nearby she returned to Athens and the Greek House
Hotel. The weather had turned wet and stormy and Vivien
found that Greece in the winter was not, the idealic place
she had pictured. She suffered from a bad attack of asthma,
spent Christmas with the Allisons, travelled aro~nd southern
Greece and even considered the possibility of going to Crete
or southern Italy. It got colder and colder, ice formed on
the puddles in Athens and Vivien was coming to the
conclusion that the idea of retirement in Porus was a
mistake. Perhaps she would be better off in Canada or
Hawaii! She wired Adele and asked her to find her an apt.
to rent in Victoria from February 1st saying she would be
arriving in Vancouver in one weeks time.
On her arrival she confirmed that she had given up her
plan to build on the island of .Porus and retire there. Later
she was to donate the property to the Canadian Bahai
National Assembly.
She moved to Victoria to stay with an old friend Jose
Godman on Saxe Point Esquimalt and was to remain in
Victoria until September 197Z when she went to the island of
st.Helena as a Bahai missionary.

These were the years when Vivien started to make
puppets and put on shows. She had been se~king a medium to
spread her Bahai religion and became convinced this could
best be done with puppets. She would design and make the
puppets then using her experience in the theatre, write the
scripts and direct the plays to illustrate the principles of
the Bahai faith. As always Vivien went all out on this new
project. She joined the Puppetiers of America and attended a
number of seminars in various centers in Canada and the
United States. She took a course in carpentry and learned to
make very excellent puppets out of balsa wood. She also made
a stage on which to operate them.
IQ
(_ I

She rented a studio and wrote plays to demonstrate the facts
she wished-to 'portray and tried:to enlist and train
assistants :to work the.puppets~ The lattet proved to be ·her
greatest prob!~~ ·as she found it m6st diffi~ult'.to keep them
motivated.
Her first venture was with the B.C. Coast Indians. She
had read George Clutesits ~Son of Raven Son of Deer" and had
based her scripts on the fables of the Coastal tribes.

She then set out with her Indian puppets to put on
shows for Indian Bands up and down Vancouver and the Gulf
Islands. Her shows drew good audiences in the villages but
she was disappointed when they did not produce many
converts. However, in spite of the lack of positive results
she persisted with her puppetry and put.on shows in Victoria
for mixed audiences. Adele and I attended one of these at
the 'War Amps hall on Fort Street and Oak Bay Junction.
As well as her work with puppets Vivien became very
interested in the Victoria Maritime Museum and became a
docent.
In the summer of 1969 She accompanied. Jose Godman to
England. Vivien visited a number of places in Wales and
attended a Bahai school held at Harleck Castle. She was also1

in Ayrshire Scotland, crossed over to nublin Ireland where
she took in a performance at the Abbey Theatre and went by
car through County Wicklow. She also mentions staying with
Combe relations and with Angela Beanlands the daughter of
Cannon Beanlands one of B.C's early clerics.

On her return to Victorij?ihe rented an apartment at
1418 Newport Avenue and broUght'out.some of the postessi6ns
she had left in Toronto in 1957 when she went to Dallas.
She lived here for the next three years and regularly held
meetings for her Bahai friends. She also entertained her
wide circle of friends from her earlier days in Victoria in
'her tastefully furnished iuite. There were also frequent
trips to Vancouver when she stayed with us or her many
friends on that side of the straits.
One interesting evefit that took place in Augu~t. 1972
was a tea at Vivien's apt. for Eva·Hart, who she had often
acted with some sixty years ago. For this event Vivien had
gathered together many of those from the theatrica1·world of
those days. To name a few; Eva, Noel Cusack, Archie
McKinnon, Eva Petch, Pierre Timp, Len Acres, Billy Tickle,
( ., C' C l ~-' . j /~ I I....; '' .• - l i
In the summer of 1972 while attending a Bahai meeting
in Edmonton Vivien volunteered to become a ''Pioneer" (Bahai
missionary) on the very isolated island of St. Helena in the
Atlantic Ocean. This remote island located some 1500 miles
west of the African continent and 1000 miles south of the
equator is a British possession and is administered by a
Governor who is also responsible for Ascension Island 800
miles north west and the Tristan da Cunha group far to the
south. It has no airport and can only be reached by ship.
It is served by ships of the Castle Line which sail between
London and Cape Town and call at Jamestown its only port
about every three weeks.

The island's population is approximately 5000, of very
mixed racial origins. There is practically no industry and
very little agriculture so most of the food and all supplies
must be imported. In days gone bye it was the port of call
for many ships traveling to the far east but today it is a
backwater and the islanders have little opportunity. Some are
employed by the cable and wireless service that has a station
on the island and a few others find work on Ascension Island
where the Americans have an airport and satellite tracking
station. The British Government attempted to start an
industry growing hemp but it did not prove to be a commercial
success.

The most noted event in St.Helena 1
s history was it was
the place of exile for Emperor Napoleon after his defeat at
the battle of Waterloo, until he died there in 1821.

Vivien rented her apartment in Victoria in September
1972 and traveled to England. Just after she got there her
aunt Dorothy died and she was present at her funeral. Then
she flew from London to Johannesburg and after a short stay
there traveled on to Cape Town as she planned to leave there
by ship on Sept.27th.for st. Helena. This was not to be and
it was not until November 15th. that she could get passage
to the island as all ships were fully booked. However she
made the most of her time in Cape Town. She was very
impressed with the beautiful country, visited the wine
growing area at Paarl, traveled to the Cape of Good Hope and
viewed the city from the top of Cable Mountain. The only
thing she took exception to was the treatment of the blacks
and colored which she found very wrong and so much in
conflict with her Bahai belief.

On November 15th. she finally set sail for St.Helena.
Vivien described her departure in a letter home; "The docks
at Cape Town were stretched out for miles it seemed, we
finally found our ship, the "Good Hope Castle", with
accommodation for 12 passengers. We sailed at noon and as
we headed out to sea we looked back to Table Mountain, then
stood on deck till Cape Town disappeared into the distance.
We weren't to see land again for three and a half days".

She found herself in very good company as among those on
board were the newly inaugurated Archbishop of South Africa
and a Chief Justice who was going to St.Helena to take five
court cases. "My cabin mate was a girl from Tristan da Cunha
who was going to the island for a course in midwifery. The
trip was a pleasant one, the weather fine and the sea calm.
We seemed to be always eating or sitting out on deck
enjoying the sunshine."

"On the 18th. we were all up on deck straining our eyes
to see the first outline of the island. Finally we saw a
large rock corning out of the mist. St.Helena appears a
foreboding place with its massive crags rising abruptly like
a huge black castle from the ocean. As we neared our
destination we could see what we had viewed in pictures; two
towering rocky bastions on either side of a beautiful green
valley in which the small town of Jamestown is prettily
nestled. We turned into the harbor and anchored. I could
now see the people on the quay. Nearly everyone comes down
there to see a ship enter the harbor. Soon small boats were
corning alongside to take us to the dock and as I landed I
looked into a sea of faces and then saw a young girl holding
onto a baby carriage. She said" Are you Vivien Combe". and
I knew it must be Barbara George. She introduced her husband
Basil. It was unbelievable! Here I was on the island of my
dreams at last and had just met the couple that were to
become two of my greatest friends."
Prior to Vivien's arrival there were only three Bahais
on St,Helena. The Georges and Cliff Huxtable, who was
Superintendent of Schools. It was her aim to seek converts
using puppets to create interest in the faith. The first
objective was to form a Local Spiritual Assembly which
requires nine members. There was a considerable opposition
from the Anglican Clergy on the island to her missionary
work and she had to be very careful not to publicly preach
her faith. However by putting on puppet shows and teaching
the making and operating 0£ puppets to the children in the
schools she was able to reach her initial objective in six
months and by the time she left St.Helena in August 1974
there were some twenty active Bahais on the island attending
their weekly "feasts" (meetings).

Vivien's first residence was at Yon's Cafe, but it
wasn't long before she found a house to rent and moved to
Adam's House on Market Street where she was much more
comfortable. She moved several more times before she left
the island. Vivien soon started to work on her puppets and
in order to put on shows she needed a stage. With the help
ot- Ri·c~c,,,..,1 ·1vc1n'f<'r-C<- L),-,hn ,· vJhv h,,d c:,rili\'C c·,,'l}-,,e_ 1s./qnJ
they constructed one out of packing cases. It was made so
il-.a1'-it":eor.-~.-1c..\·,:t>_-:.;.,l--r b~ T-.:cv,<2-i t:ip-.,r-t c,....,,1 >'r1('.,'c-Jlt..-c,V1p\c,ccTZ-
place by car.

Tranter was not able to stay on st.Helena for long as
he could not find work there. Vivien had started to give
classes in the schools on puppetry to both the teachers and
the older children and soon she was putting on shows for
both adults and children. She was able to use a large hall
in the ballroom of the old Consulate Hotel which seated 400
for her adult show,s. These were often packed.

She also put on shows for children in a big room in her
house. The youngsters sat on the floor. Very often there
were knocks on her door and she would find children who
would ask the "Puppet Lady" when there was to be another
show.
The themes Vivien used for her shows were quite varied.
She did a historical play about Napoleon's life on the
island and went to very considerable trouble to dress the
puppets in authentic costumes and produce background scenery
for the period. In this connection on the invitation of the
French Consul to St.Helena she visited Longwood the estate up
in the island's center that had been where the Emperor had
lived. She was taken through the buildings and shown
pictures and records of Napoleons stay and the Consul agreed
to record on tape an introduction to her play.

For the children she used traditional small plays
based on nursery rhymes and biblical stories and for her
Friday firesides she attempted to portray basic Bahai
beliefs.
Her social life on St.Helena was very limited and was
almost entirely with her Bahai fellow believers. There was
little social contact with the official v.r.Ps. who tended
to treat her as a rather unwanted missionary whose work
would unsettle the islanders. As for the islanders
themselves, who were very like children, there was of course
no intellectual bond.
After Vivien had achieved her aim of forming a Local
Spiritual Assembly in May 1973 she began to think her work
was complete and the time had come to plan her return home.
She had to renew her visitor's permit at that time to
November 1973. However she decided to stay on. She
continued her work, saw her Bahai flock increase until there
was a solid group that would persist in spite of the
opposition of the Anglican Church. When her visa expired
again she actively tried to seek a passage to England. This
became quite difficult as one of the Castle ships serving
the island was lost by fire. It wasn't until August 1974
that she finally left the island for London and then home
to Canada.
She arrived in Vancouver in September and stayed with
Adele and me for about two months. During this time she
traveled to Victoria, gave up her apartment there, sold
her furniture and belongings and then headed for Hawaii,
where she had decided she would make her home.

Vivien continued to live in Hawaii, from the spring of
1974 until early in 1986 when she returned to Victoria.
During this period she embarked on two more missionary
expeditions. The first to the South Pacific from September
1978 to March 1979 and the second to the island of Malta
from February to October 1984. More about these two trips
later.
In Honolulu she continued her work with puppets,
putting on shows to promote her Bahai faith. She also spent
a great deal of her time at the Bahai Center, where she
handled the mailing out of information to Bahai centers
throughout the world and also occupied herself with
maintenance including flower arrangements. Vivien kept up
her prodigious correspondence with close Bahai friends whom
she had met during her travels and from time to time
attended important Bahai conventions in Canada, the U.S.A.
and around the world. For instance in 1977 she made a second
pilgrimage to Haifa and during the trip stopped off in
England to visit Barbara George and family with whom she had
shared so many experiences in St.Helena. As well Vivien
visited her friends and family in B.C. In 1983 she took in
the 75th anniversary of the founding of St.Margarets
School where she had been one of the earliest pupils. There
she met many of her friends of many years ago.
Adele and I visited Vivien in Kaneohe Oahu in 1977. She
was sharing a house with a friend, Kay Ruggles. We found her
in good form, still very much occupied with her good works.

It was in the next year that she started off on her
second missionary trip to teach her faith using puppets.
This was to the islands of the South Pacific, Australia and
New Zealand. She flew to Pago-Pago in American Samoa then
crossed the straits to Western Samoa where she took part in
the laying of the foundation of the first Bahai House of
worship in the South Pacific. She traveled to Tawara, in the
Gilbert Islands to stay with a couple Sam and Lynde Tranter.
Sam was the brother of Richard Tranter who she had known in
St.Helena. They had a lovely home built after the style of
the Gilbertese Murishas (meeting houses), with the sides
open to the lagoon beach. She spent a week with the Tranters
who were Bahai pioneers and put on three puppet shows. In
the Gilberts she traveled to different atolls and villages
with eight other Bahais to give concerts that included
singing, dancing, guitar playing and the puppets, which the
villagers called "dollies".

"They joined us in the maurishas to listen and watch."
Vivien wrote. "Then they entertained us with their singing,
guitar playing and old and new dances." She added l ~ I
slept outside on the deck of the catamaran. It was simply
beautiful. I have never seen so many stars!"

At one time when the catamaran went off to another
island, the rest of the group traveled from place to place
by motorbike, by truck and once by bulldozer.
Bahai friends in the villages brought them gifts of
coconuts, papaya, bread and fish. Some of the fish were bony
and some not good to eat but the Gilbertese knew which were
good and how to cook them.

It was in the Gilberts that Vivien gave a radio talk on
her puppets. Sometime later a young Gilbertese university
trained school teacher, who heard the talk, came to ask her
how to make puppets and how they worked,as he wanted to
teach maths with them.
Leaving the Gilberts Vivien went to Australia where she
did some teaching in Sidney and Melbourne, before visiting
Norfolk Island about 1000 miles east of the Australian
mainland. Norfolk was originally settled as a penal colony
but later the "Mutiny of the Bounty" people were resettled
there from Pitcairn Island. Vivien wrote that she met Peter
Christian, a direct descendent of Fletcher Christian of
Bounty Fame and put on a puppet show for the school
children of the island in their only school. She also did a
puppet show in Peter's home for his family and invited
friends.
Next came five days teaching puppetry and giving a show
at the Bahai summer school in New Zealand before continuing
on to Nuku'alofa Tonga. She spent a month here. It was
quite frustrating at first as she did not receive much
assistance from the local Bahais. Adele and I paid her a
visit there in February 1979 and found her staying at a
guest house run by an islander named Sela. We remained in
Tonga for three weeks and spent our time exploring the
island with Vivien and hearing all about her experiences in
the South Pacific. After we left for home Vivien was able
to find more help in her teaching with the puppets and did
shows on Tongatapu and some of the outer islands. She left
Tonga at the beginning of the second week of March, spent a
couple of days on the island of Nauru and arrived back in
Honolulu on the 13th. She had found her South Pacific
experiences stimulating. She had taken a great number of
photographs and on her return to Hawaii was able to assemble
these and lecture about her successes in teaching with
puppets.
Vivien moved into an apartment on Ala Wai Terrace and
resumed the life she had lived before her South Pacific
trip, continuing her work at the Bahai Center and attending
the weekly feasts. There were however changes taking place
with the Center's administration. Younger members of the
group were becoming more active and were taking over
responsible positions and oldsters like Vivien were feeling
rather left out.

In July Vivien left on a visit to B.C. arriving in
Vancouver on the 11th. and leaving for Victoria the next
day. Betty Shaneman met her at the ferry and they drove to
her flat at Dunsmuir House on Esquimalt Road. As Betty was
leaving for Denman Island the following day she left Vivien
in charge. Vivien stayed on for the following eight days
and looked up a number of her old friends. Nora Paterson had
suffered a stroke and Vivien went to see her at the Jubilee
Hospital. Nora didn't seem to know her. Jose Godman was
also at the Jubilee and Vivien saw her too. Michael
Johnstone drove her out to John and Liz Barclay's to collect
two portraits of her that had been stored in their attic.
One was of her as a child and the other by Mike Orr showed
her with a low neckline, smoking a cigarette. We have never
been able to trace these portraits. On the 20th. she took
the train to Courtney where Betty met her. They drove to
Betty's home on Denman Island and stayed there four
days,visited Hornby Island and then drove back to
Victoria. Vivien stayed on in Victoria, visiting other
friends and attending Bahai feasts. Then back to Vancouver.

Early in August she left for Akron Ohio for a puppet
seminar. On her return learned that Nora Paterson had died
and together with Adele and I attended the funeral. After
this she returned to Honolulu.
In 1980 her old friend Eileen Stanley died. In May 1981
Vivien again came to B.c. and left for Chicago to attend a
large Bahai convention.
Vivien was in Vancouver again in August 1982 staying
with her great friend Josephine Boss. Patrick, Margaret and
the children were staying with us at the time. We had
arranged that Vivien would meet the rest of us at Mother
Tucker's restaurant for supper and this was the first time
we realized that Vivien had become quite forgetful and
confused. She stayed on in Vancouver until September then
traveled to Montreal for a Bahai meeting.
In May, the following year she was staying with
Josephine again and we began to hear rumors that she
intended to go to Malta as a pioneer. This was the most
disturbing news as we felt she was now rather too confused
to head to this far off spot.
Back in Honolulu Vivien was able to return to her
apartment in Ala Wai Terrace,
In June/July 1985 she spent a month in Victoria and
Vancouver trying to decide if she should continue to live in
Honolulu or return to B.C. Her choice was Hawaii where the
climate suited, where she had so many friends and got so
much enjoyment and comfort from her religion.
We however were becoming very concerned. For her age
she was in excellent shape but mentally her memory was
failing badly. We did not oppose her return but I wrote to
her great friend Lil Hollinger to ask her to keep us advised
if Vivien's condition worsened.

By the following winter Vivien was finding that living
alone in a small apartment in Honolulu was becoming
difficult for her. Her rent had increased dramatically and
she became worried that she had sufficient funds.
In February she gave up the apartment and returned to
B.C. On her arrival we noted how badly her memory had
deteriorated. She had a friend in Nanaimo and thought she
might live there but after a visit decided no.

We took her to Victoria and found an apartment that she
liked in Beckley Manor on the Dallas Road. Here she was
beside the sea, not far from Beacon Hill Park and within
walking distance of a shopping mall. She moved in.

In Victoria Vivien had a host of old friends and there
was an active Bahai Community. We believed she would be
happy there. She remained in Beckley Manor for the next two
years.
During this period she made one short visit to Honolulu
to see her old friends there.
Her problem became her continuing loss of memory. She
became lonely. She often forgot invitations and so saw less
and less of her old friends. Her Bahai involvement became
less also.
we consulted the Social Services people who advised she
should move to a home where she would be with more people
and have her meals and other services provided.

Roger found a vacancy at Glenshild Lodge, a residential
hotel on Douglas Street near the Parliment Billdings and not
far from the City center. She moved there in May 1988 and it
remained her home for the following two years.
She got on quite well at first but as time went on she
began to need more care and this the hotel could not
provide.

Roger again took on the job of finding a home where
more services were given. Through Social Services he
obtained a vacancy in the James Bay Lodge on Simcoe Street
and Vivien moved in on April 1990. She is there today. Her
physical condition i~ still very good but her memory has now
quite gone. She recognizes Roger, Adele or me when we go to
see her but does not connect our relaionships to one
another. However she is happy there and her disposition
remains friendly and caring. The staff like her and she is
very considerate and kind to the other patients who know her
as the "nice lady".
Vivien is still cloths conscious. One day Adele bought
her two nightdresses, warm ones with ruffles at the sleeves
and neck. Vivien took one look at them and remarked; "These
are the kind that little old ladies wear!" However she
remembers nothing atall about her exciting and adventurous
life and to us this is so tragic.
Here lives a woman who was so talented. Someone with a
host of friends all over the world, someone full of life
and always willing to accept challenges. She is now
spending her final days in a place where there is only
monotony and sameness. However we must be thankful that, in
spite of other problems, she retains her sense of humor and
can still whistle beautifully the favourite tunes of days
gone by.

God bless you" VING TWINKLE"
ADDENDUM

About five years ago Vivien broke her hip and consequently
spent about a month in the Jubilee Hospital. She was next
moved to the Mount St Mary's Hospital on Burdkt Street.
Here she was much less mobile and spent her time in a wheel
chair. Gradually her condition deteriorated and her mind was
more confused.About 2 years later she did not recognized us
However one day, at lunch time she was sitting at a table in
the dining room. Adele came and stood in the doorway looking
for her. Vivien suddenly looked up and on seeing her said.
"There is Adele''· We were amazed and Adele went over and
gave her a big hug and sat beside her. On the other side was
a nurse feeding a patient. She pointed across Vivien at
Adele and said;"Miss Vivien who is that?" Vivien replied;
"Dont point it's rude!" That was the last sensible remark we
heard her make! Since then she only garbled nonsense. It
was tragic to see her in such a state but we were thankful
that the staff took such good care of her and always kept
her immaculately groomed. No one could have been kinder. She
had been in hospital for five years when we were informed by
her doctor that the end was near. We could only feel it
would be a merciful release for her.

Vivien died at 3 a.m. January 16 1996

Mr Guy Barclay
3216 West 27th Avenue
Vancouver BC V6L 1W8
DATE: May12, 1981.

To: Local Spiritual Assembly of the
---------------
Bahn'is of Honolulu, Hawaii
It is cy specific and carefully considered request that in the

event of my death I be buried in the Baha'i Garden of Light in the

Hava11an Memorial Park, Koneohe, Hawaii or nearest burial place within one hour's travel
time from place of death I furthur request that

all Beha1 i laws and directives on death and burial be dutifully

observed.

o~ all arrs.ne;ecents with respect to services, funeral, and burial and
.•• that the Local Spiritual Assembly ca.rry out this request with lovinc
''
care in accordance with Baha'i Scriptures and customs and that all

. well oca.ning and interested :f'riends and relatives refrain from inter-

. ference n.nd deviation from r:ry ovn wishes which arc:

Flowers or Contributions fl1wers frem n1n-lihi 1 is; c1ntriauti1ns frem laha'is.
--------.--------------'
Music, if desired Yes, •sweet Scented Streams•
. • '··~·.••
.....
'~ •
'
'• ..
______
,

Type casket desired -----------
cheapest ,Precessien, if desired No ,
"
Open or closed coffin display cl1sed , Single or joint burial with
no
----------------
graveside ,
, Service (chapel, r,raveside or

------------
oeoorial) Nnoes and addresses
Mrs. GuyBarclay, 3216 27th Ave., Vancouver,B.C., or Yorkshire Trust Co.,
be notified: W.
of persons to

Victoria, B.C., or Mrs. E. Hollinger, NSASecretary, Hawaii, Tel. 595-3~14
Other instructions: Musical selection •Fascinatio! .'

I Leave all unspecified details and all unforseen events to your

d,iscretion, knowina and requcstine tho.t the u,cal Spiritual Assenbly

will execute them in oy best interests and in o.ccordance with your

_•_d_~----
duties.

Signed __ ft_~_•
,:.._u_ /,L.oL'4 .-.J(i c~. _

I - Be) 8 -- 3 7 3 - 2 +<o7

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