Maureen was born on 27 September 1936, in Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire, 40 hours after her twin brother Jeffrey. Her family later moved to Norwich.Maureen’s secondary school was a convent where she was badly treated, firstly because her open-minded parents had not had her christened, and secondly because she had ballet dancing lessons after school. Her family had a busy war, her father was editor of a regional paper, was a fire-watcher, and frequently brought home U.S. serviceman who had missed the last transport back, to stay the night. Maureen, her brother Jeffrey, and their mother spent every night of the war in the air raid shelter in their Norwich garden.

Post war, Maureen’s evenings were spent as part of a dance troop in shows or acting. After a series of secretarial jobs, she finished up as a presenter with Anglia TV.  Maureen met Michael, an RAF pilot, at a dance. (It was a blind date). There were four of them – an RAF friend with his girlfriend, Michael and Maureen. Maureen said to herself “I’m going to marry this man” and she went home and told her parents that night. They were married in 1962, and his work took her away from a promising TV career, because marriage came first. During the first five years of marriage they had two sons, Timothy born in 1964 and Jonathan in 1966.

In 1967 they moved to Ireland where Michael flew with Aer Lingus. At a Humanist conference in the North, Maureen met Jane Villiers-Stuart who invited the family along to a Bahá’í Summer School in Dublin for a day. There they met Charles Macdonald and Keith Munro.

The Dublin Bahá’ís were wonderfully friendly; John and Val Morley travelled by bus from the Bahá’í Centre on the south side of Dublin, to Sutton on the North side where the Melville family lived. Keith was also a frequent visitor. Maureen and Michael both met the lovely Adib Taherazadeh, and were invited to his wedding to Lesley Gibson. Realising that they were both interested in the Faith, Maureen was wise enough to say that they needed to investigate and declare independently. Michael declared in Dublin in 1971.

The family left wonderful Dublin and moved to Macclesfield in 1972. They often visited the Manchester Bahá’í Centre, where Maureen declared her belief in Bahá’u’lláh in 1973, which meant that the first Spiritual Assembly was established in Macclesfield. As well as bringing up their two sons, who were at school at the King’s School Macclesfield, Maureen was a member of a busy Local Spiritual Assembly (LSA) and also hosted many Nineteen Day Feasts. The Macclesfield Spiritual Assembly fundraising events at Handforth Youth Centre were legendary in Stockport and South Manchester.

The whole family went on pilgrimage in March 1980, having a tour around Israel to start with. Of course, they all loved the wonderful variety of people they met, and the lovely Hand of the Cause Mr Furútan in the Pilgrim House in the evenings.

In July 1981 Richard St Barbe Baker, environmentalist and founder of the organisation ‘Men of the Trees’, stayed with them in Macclesfield and planted a tree in South Park.

In 1982 the family pioneered to Vale Royal, opening it to the Faith, living in Cuddington outside Northwich. Here Maureen became deeply involved in local drama groups, acting in scores of plays, and was secretary of the Cheshire Theatre Guild for 30 years.

In August 1984 Maureen and Jonathan produced a drama workshop at Llandrindod Wells Summer School in Wales.

In 1986 the whole family went to Panchgani in India, where it was wonderful to see the Bahá’í-inspired New Era school in action, attend a Feast and help with a health project.

In October 1989 Maureen and Michael went on a second pilgrimage. They were thrilled to meet Adib Taherzadeh again, by then a member of the Universal House of Justice. They also spent a few days in Tiberias.

During the 1990s Maureen spent a few years as Chairman of the Vale Royal Environmental Network, long before environmental issues came to the fore. On the Bahá’í front she ran art classes during Cheshire Bahá’í Community days at the Delamere Forest Centre. Maureen was constantly in demand as a producer at Ardingly Summer school in Sussex. In July 1996, she produced an excellent one-hour version of Our Day Out with the Youth Group there. Maureen featured constantly at Welsh Spring and Summer Schools producing Joseph, and a play The Ancient Beauty, about the life of Bahá’u’lláh, written by Maureen and Michael.

In November 1992 the family attended the Bahá’í Satellite Conference in Moscow for the Holy Year Celebrations. Maureen produced the play Ancient Beauty, with Philip and Lois Hainsworth taking part. In March 1993 the same play was performed in St. George’s Hall, Liverpool, with an audience of 600, at the Festival of the Covenant.

In June 1993 Maureen and Michael were in Singapore and Maureen produced the play Ancient Beauty there too. She also wrote a one-woman play about the life of Dorothy Baker, which was performed at the Scarborough Festival and at several weekend schools.

Jeremy Fox recalls how, at one of the Welsh Spring Schools, his wife Carolyn wrote a play entitled As a Candle about the life of Jeremy’s first wife Denise. This is largely a monologue and Jeremy recalls that Maureen played the whole thing magnificently, by heart, reducing their non-Bahá’í landlord and lady from 1963-4 to tears.

In 2017 Maureen and Michael moved to Chester to be close to their son Jonathan and his family. Maureen had numerous hospital visits in her life, but kept them quiet and to the last said she was “OK”.  She died of cancer on 2 February 2020, with her husband Michael and sons Timothy and Jonathan holding her hands.

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Written by Michael Melville

Chester, February 2020

 

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