Obituary: Antonella Khursheed (1958-2000)
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Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Anjam Khursheed, Obituary: Antonella Khursheed (1958-2000), bahai-library.com.
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Obituary
Antonella Khursheed (1958-2000)

Antonella Khursheed, the secretary of our Singapore Association Bahá'í
studies group, lost her life on 30th July in a motorway accident while
vacationing in Italy. The cause of the accident was a burst tire. She leaves
behind her husband Anjam, and 6 year-old daughter Sarah.

Antonella enthusiastically served our Singapore Association of Bahá’í
Studies group from its very beginning in 1996. She helped found it, and
was one of the three key people always involved in it. Antonella desktop
published all four volumes of the Singapore Bahá'í Studies Review
journal published so far and managed its distribution to various Bahá’í
institutions around the world. In 1996, Antonella wrote a paper entitled
“Jesus the Son of God and the Incarnation Doctrine”, which was
subsequently published in our first Singapore Bahá'í Studies Review. She
had a deep interest in the history of Christianity, and its relationship to the
Bahá’í Faith. Antonella organised our annual Singapore Bahá'í Studies
conference. Practically all the conference organisation was managed
single-handedly by Antonella. She arranged all the usual conference
details with great love and enthusiasm, from providing the food,
welcoming our participants and speakers, through to the printing of the
programme of Abstracts. She did all this in a great spirit of service, and
she is for us, quite simply, irreplaceable. Words cannot describe our
feeling of loss for Antonella.

Antonella was an Italian from a Catholic background, bom in 195 8 . in
Rome. When she was 15 years old, she investigated and discovered the
Bahá’í Faith, and was the first in her family to become a Baháfí. Later her
sister and mother also became Bahd’is. In 1992, she married Anjam
Khursheed, a Pakistani of British nationality. In September 1993, her
daughter, Sarah, was bom in Torino, a city in the Northern part of Italy.
The family moved to Singapore in January 1995 where Anjam Khursheed
took up an Associate Professor post in the Electrical Engineering
Department at the National University of Singapore.
172        THE SINGAPORE BAHÁ1 STUDIES REVIEW

Antonella Khursheed was well known in the Singapore community for her
altruism and inspiration and she leaves behind a living legacy of good
deeds and charitable works. She was the past president of Faculty Link, an
organisation in the National University of Singapore that co-ordinates and
helps newcomers settle down. Antonella always made herself available to
anyone in need and readily offered a helping hand to all who asked. She
worked tirelessly to create a sense of unity and involvement within this
diverse community and initiated charity projects and fundraising events.
Antonella was also a keen crusader for the environment and was
responsible for starting the glass bottle and ‘green bag’ recycling projects
at Kent Vale (condominium for university lecturers), for which she
recently received a community award. She also initiated the ‘Books at
Home’ project which allowed residents to browse and buy quality
children’s books in the comfort and convenience of her own home.

Antonella was a very active member of the Singapore Bahd'i community.
Apart from being secretary of the Singapore Bahá'í Studies group, she
most recently served as Secretary of the Local Spiritual Assembly of
Queenstown. Antonella believed deeply in the underlying unity and
equality of all people and devoted her life to making this belief a reality.
She and her husband held regular dinner talks in their home to promote
mter-religious and multi-racial harmony. She was also the editor of her
daughter Sarah’s school newsletter and still managed to find time to
volunteer weekly at the Rotary family community centre. Antonella was
enthusiastic and tireless in her pursuits and her generous spirit and warm
heart will be greatly missed by all those whose lives she touched. Her
compassion, generosity and enthusiastic spirit of service will not be
forgotten and is an inspiration to the many people she came into contact
with. She will always be with us ~ her belief in people and her desire to be
of service to humanity ~ these are living legacies that we can continue in
our own lives.

Anjam Khursheed
-- Obituary: Antonella Khursheed (1958-2000) (Used by permission of the curator)