# Haney, Paul

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-18 — 1 clipping.*

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Richard Francis, Haney, Paul, bahai-library.com.
> ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
> 
> Haney, Paul
> 
> Richard Francis
> 
> 1998
> 
> Paul Haney was born to Mary (Merriam) Ida Parkhurst and Charles
> Freeborn Haney on August 20, 1909. His parents were active Bahá’is since 1900
> and had been married for seventeen years at the time of Paul’s birth. His mother
> accredited a portion of his spiritual development to being in the presence of
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá while a fetus.
> 
> Amatúl-Bahá Rúhíyyih Khánum wrote: "We know little of the
> effects of pre-natal influences on the soul and not enough about those of childhood,
> but the indications are that it would be hard to overstate them. Paul’s entire
> environment, from that first embryonic visit to the Master, was entirely Bahá’i,
> focused on the Center of the Covenant and later on the Guardian." [1]
> 
> In letters between his mother, Merriam, and Rúhíyyih Khánum it
> was indicated that the Master gave him his own name; it was 'Abdu’l-Bahá. He
> was also given the name Paul by the Master to be used in the outside world. In
> 1919, Corinne True was able to also confirm that the master gave Paul his name.
> 
> In several tablets, the Master refers to Paul:" The newly
> born babe is blessed., and accepted in the Divine Kingdom. He is a servant of
> the Blessed Perfection and belongeth to Him. Thank God for having been confirmed
> to attain such a blessing. . . I ask God that my namesake, 'Abdu’l-Bahá, may
> grow and develop day by day and that his radiant face may be illumined with the
> light of the greatest bestowal. . . It was also noted that. . . thy dear son,
> Paul, feeleth greatly attracted to the Kingdom of Abha. This news imparteth the
> utmost joy and happiness. . . Send Paul to school; I hope he will become a verdant
> and fresh plant in the Abha Paradise. . . " [2]
> 
> Paul’s father died when he was only ten years old. He was then
> raised by his mother, Merriam, with devotion, often under great financial difficulties,
> turning to the Center of the Covenant. Service to the Cause became his quest
> in life. At one point, when Paul was attending middle school, he had to assure
> his mother not to worry because there was no attraction to the wild life which
> so many youth feel to be necessary proof of their manhood. He enjoyed being decent
> and achieved a state of spiritual mindedness.
> 
> Paul took up an active part in conferences, conventions and summer
> schools. He was able to form a close relationship with Mary Maxwell, whom he
> met along with other Bahá’í children at the Green Acre Bahá’í School. His mother
> and he moved into a small apartment in Washington D.C. in order to assist in organizing
> the first Convention for Amity Between the Colored and White Races, held in May,
> 1921.
> 
> His first job was in a government office in Washington D.C.,
> while he attended night school. He became a member of the first National Youth
> Committee in the United States. Latter, he attended Northwestern University and
> received a MBA. He became a professional economist. When he was twenty two years
> old, he was appointed to the National Teaching Committee of the National Spiritual
> Assembly of the United States and Canada.
> 
> He published an article in the January, 1934 issue of the Bahá’í
> magazine: ‘The Economic organization of Society in the New World Order’.
> 
> He was first elected to the membership of the National Spiritual
> Assembly of the United States and Canada in 1946; in 1948, Canada formed its own
> National Spiritual Assembly. Paul served on the National Assembly of the United
> States as chairman from 1950-1957. He served in numerous ways, including as
> chairman of the Temple Trustees Construction Committee. He represented the National
> Assembly at the formation of the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada. In 1951,
> he represented the National Assembly at the formation of the Regional National
> Spiritual Assembly of South America, and in 1953, the Regional National Spiritual
> Assembly of Italy and Switzerland.
> 
> Paul married Helen Margery Wheeler, a Bahá’í he met at the Green
> Acre Bahá’í School, on July 15, 1942. They resided in Washington D.C., not far
> from Merriam, until moving to the Holy Land, in 1958. He became one of the founders
> of the Caesaria Golf Club and often would act as a judge in competition and tournaments;
> one was an annual event for a trophy presented by the Bahá’í community of Haifa..
> 
> Paul Haney received the appointment on March 19, 1954, by Shoghi
> Effendi as a Hand of the Cause of God. Thus the next three years were complete
> service to the Bahá’í world community. He attended on behalf of the National
> Spiritual Assembly of the United States the Convention of South and West Africa
> in April, 1956. He represented the Guardian during the first Alaskan Convention
> that was held in Anchorage, in April, 1957.
> 
> The sudden passing of the Guardian, in London, on November 4,
> 1957, brought to all the Hands of the Cause of God the greatest hardship. Paul
> was elected to become one of the nine resident Hands of the Cause of God for the
> Holy Land, latter to be known as the Custodians. This was a great sacrifice for
> he would be far away from his beloved Merriam and had to turn down a very high
> and well paid professional position. He represented the Hands of the Cause of
> God at national conventions throughout the Bahá’í World and at the First World
> Bahá’í Congress in London’s Albert Hall in 1963.
> 
> The Universal House of Justice was first elected in 1963, and
> one of its first actions was to invite five of the Hands of the Cause of God to
> remain in the Holy Land as advisers and to carried out specific duties. Paul
> was one of the five, and his first appointments were to the Editorial Committee.
> He represented the Universal House of Justice at the fifty-sixth Annual Convention
> of the United States in 1965. He traveled throughout the world representing the
> Supreme institution. [3] He took part in all four
> International Conventions held during his lifetime and chaired the opening session
> in 1968.[4]
> 
> On September 1, 1965, Merriam Haney passed away to the Abhá Kingdom.
> This was indubitably a great loss for Paul. He entailed considerable sacrifice
> for his dedication to the Cause, pressing onward, being sound in his judgment.
> He again traveled throughout the world representing the Universal House of Justice,
> advising, instructing, and encouraging the friends with their activities. He
> attended diplomatic and governmental functions in Jerusalem as a representative
> of the Bahá’í World Center; he played a great part in the development of the Continental
> Board of Counselors and latter, the International Teaching Center. In 1982, he
> represented the Universal House of Justice at the Continental Conferences Quito,
> Ecuador, Costa Rica and Panama.
> 
> Paul Haney met death suddenly and instantly on December 3, 1982
> from injuries sustained in an auto accident in Haifa.
> 
> Notes
> 
> The Bahá'í World, vol. XVIII, p. 614. In memoriam, Paul Haney, by Amatúl-Bahá Ruhíyyih
> Khánum and David Hoffman.
> 
> The Bahá'í World, vol. XVIII, p. 614, Excerpts from Bahá’i Tablets taken from Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
> 
> The author first met Hand of the Cause of God,
> Paul Haney at the Intercontinental Conference at Marida Mexico in February, 1978.
> We had a conversation on the attributes of the Fund. "Ironically, I was actually
> trying to argue my point until I realized with whom I was going to be in the argument
> with." He was also a Resident Hand of the Cause of God in the Holy Land during
> pilgrimage in July, 1981. The author recalls how Paul Haney assisted him while
> being extremely ill on his first day in Haifa. He was too sick to stand when
> first entering the Shrine of the Báb, lying on the floor in front of the threshold,
> unable to even move. Paul Haney helped him to his feet and held him so that he
> could stand up, then read the Tablet of Visitation: " He just picked
> me up from the floor where I was in front of the Báb's holy threshold and the
> strength in my legs somehow returned so that I could stand during the entire prayer."
> He personally inquired about the progress of my recovery over the next several
> days. A few days latter we walked together through the gardens between the Western
> Pilgrim’s House and the Shrine of the Báb, without saying a word, just taking
> in its splendor.
> 
> For additional references
> to the activities of the Hands of the Cause of God during the Custodian period,
> see The Ministry of the Custodians 1957-1963, published by The Universal
> House of Justice, 1992. Also see The Bahá'í World 1954-1963, vol. XIII, published by The Universal House of Justice,
> 1970.
> 
> METADATA
> 
> Views12973 views since posted 2004-10-07; last edit 2016-05-03 20:31 UTC;
> 
> previous at archive.org.../francis_haney_biography;
> URLs changed in 2010, see archive.org.../bahai-library.org
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> — *Haney, Paul (Used by permission of the curator)*