William Bernard Sears (March 28, 1911 – March 25, 1992) was an American writer and a popular television and radio personality in various shows culminating in the 1950s with In the Park but left television popularity to promote the Baháʼí Faith in Africa and embarked on a lifelong service to the religion, for some 35 years as Hand of the Cause, the highest institution of the religion he could be appointed to. He wrote many books about the religion, with Thief in the Night and God Loves Laughter being his most popular.
Biography
Earliest life William Bernard Sears was born March 28, 1911, in Aitkin, Minnesota,* to the Irish American household of Frank and Ethel Sears. William was the youngest child of four, and Frank and Ethel's only son. The Sears raised their children Catholic. When young, William suffered a bout of jaundice, which affected his health later in life.
As a young adult during the Great Depression in the United States, Sears worked as a playwright under the name Bernard Sears, winning some awards in 1933.* Some of his plays were published in 1935/36, including Dad Cashes In, which has many of Sears' biographical aspects,*Dad Cashes in (under "Bernard Sears") –
The Cardigan kid; a comedy in 1 act ( under "William B. Sears"- The Undoing of Albert O'Donnell; a comedy in 1 act (under "William B. Sears") – and one play which was produced.Wisconsin community plays –
The plays did not generate enough income for him to continue writing full-time, so Sears got what would be his first job in a long career in broadcasting, at WOMT in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. His young wife, Kathleen Sears, died during the Depression, leaving him with their two young sons, William and Michael. Sears remarried, and he and his new wife, Marguerite Reimer Sears, raised the boys together.
Second marriage and the Baháʼí Faith William met Marguerite in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, when he attended the University of Wisconsin, and she Marquette University. She had only recently joined the Baháʼí Faith, hearing about it from her father after a meeting Mary Maxwell, wife of a prominent Baháʼís leader. Their relationship advanced but they did not immediately marry. William was working in Iowa for the now former WGRR radio station of Radio Dubuque. On the way to California for a job with KFBK (AM) the couple considered living in Utah because it was a goal area for the religion. They ended up living in Salt Lake City in spring 1939, (apparently as their contribution to Shoghi Effendi's call for Baháʼís to relocate to support the religion) where he was soon assistant manager of KUTA radio station (later KNRS (AM).)
When they decided to marry, Marguerite and William's wedding was arranged in San Francisco by Marion Holley during their visit out there for a radio broadcast Sears did in September 1940. Between them, there were two clear understandings. On her part, it was that the religion was a prominent part of her life, and he would have to work with it being a priority for her — affecting, for example, where they would live. On his side, it was that he had a year-old son with tuberculosis, and he needed someone to help care for him. Marguerite left the Baháʼí book The Dawn-Breakers out for him to read. After picking it up and setting it aside once, he read it three times in three weeks and by December 1939 was avowedly a Baháʼí, officially joining the religion in 1940.
Sears and Marguerite moved to San Mateo, California, about the summer of 1942, where a Baháʼí Spiritual Assembly had lapsed, and he gave an especially noted talk about using radio to promote the religion. In San Mateo, they were visible giving talks on the religion as late as February 1944. He embarked on a national tour in 1945, beginning with talks in the New York City area in February.* Then, after a break, he gave another 48 talks across August and September through Salt Lake City, Laramie, Denver, Omaha, Topeka, Kansas City, Independence, Milwaukee, Omaha, and into Canada in November, as well as Charlottetown. He was back in New York in December, giving a talk, and participated in a statewide conference of Baháʼís. During this period he was also on a committee that consulted on the religion's use of radio along with Mildred Mottahedeh, prominently appeared at a peace banquet with Dorothy Beecher Baker (also a future Hand of the Cause), gave talks in 1946 at a meeting back in Los Angeles with scholar Marzieh Gail, and helped produce a higher-profile radio segment in Denver. There is a gap in public coverage of any talks for the religion from 1946 until 1952, though his behind-the-scenes work continued and began to weave into his rising profile in the public eye and his service to the religion.
Rising to national awareness As early as 1946, Sears was more noticeable in public, working for various radio and television stations. He worked at WPEN AM radio, and by 1948 at WCAU-TV, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In between, in February 1947, Marguerite led a class in radio production at Green Acre Baháʼí School in Maine for which Sears acted as narrator and consultant before it airing on WHEB, and by June Sears produced a set of radio spot announcements and national radio shows for the religion. For commercial work he did various shows including The Bill Sears Show, while at the same time, his first booklet publication came out: The Martyr-Prophet of a World Faith, a 19-page work with quotes from A. L. M. Nicholas, Francis Younghusband, E. G. Browne, and then he worked for the WCAU show Kid Gloves, while at the same time Sears taped an interview of Hand of the Cause Corinne True about her pilgrimage in 1907. In December 1951 he began to host a television show In The Park initially on WCAU as a 15-minute program, which was picked up by WCBS-TV as a 30-minute live program. It featured conversations between Sears and puppets by Paul Ritts and Mary Donnelly with "… Sears (dressed in suit jacket, vest, string tie, and hat) as he sat leisurely on a bench and conversed with his puppet friends" in the Central Park Zoo. In July 1952 the show was advertised as costing $3250 to produce per week. At the same time as the show was coming along, Sears was included in a profile of thinkers by Edward R. Murrow in his This I Believe radio series though none of the participants were allowed to name their religion, (the series published as a book, with Sears' entry on pp. 167–8, and released on the internet .) Sears began to give more public talks for the religion covered in the newspapers, beginning with a funeral in Maine in the summer of 1952.* The Ten Year Crusade, a major initiative to bring the religion to countries around the world, was announced in October and would soon figure prominently in the Sears' plans. In the Park was noted in many newspaper stories in December 1952 related to The Ed Sullivan Show,* and actually appeared twice on the show — January and March 1953. Coverage of In the Park continued into May.*
Meanwhile, he was attending the May 2 dedication of the Baháʼí House of Worship in Wilmette. Progress in organizing the efforts of the Ten Year Crusade included the opportunity for Marguerite to attend the February conference of Baháʼís in Uganda. When Sears asked to leave his contract so he could go to Africa he was threatened with the fact that 56 people would lose their jobs. Meanwhile, the sponsor had a strike, canceled the contract, and the family left. The puppets went on to other shows.
South Africa
Arriving about July 18, Sears, his wife, and one of their children moved near Johannesburg, South Africa, on an initial six-month visa. They had intended to move on to Kenya, but they stayed in South Africa. This was during the period of Apartheid and just as some new laws segregating people were coming into play: Reservation of Separate Amenities Act and the Bantu Education Act. Sears suffered a heart attack a few days into their stay. After recovering, they stayed in Kampala, Uganda, at the home of Hand of the Cause Músá Banání just after Enoch Olinga left for Cameroon. In April 1954 the Sears went on Baháʼí pilgrimage, with quick stops by Marguerite in the States sharing that pioneering doesn't magically transform someone, and on return, their other son also moved to South Africa. Sears commented about what he learned on pilgrimage including that an attitude of service in pioneering: "Over and over again these general principles were reiterated: pioneers going to Africa must efface themselves, they must realize that in going to Africa they go to teach the native African people, not the Europeans or others who have migrated there. Pioneers must show by actions, not by words alone, that they love the Africans and have come to Africa to serve them and show their love for them.… and (reporting the words of Shoghi Effendi) "to select those taught carefully, teach them thoroughly, strengthen them in their understanding. Give them the message in such a way as to create in them a desire to teach. Then the task is accomplished. Then let the whites disperse."
After returning from pilgrimage, the Sears moved back to South Africa where they bought a farm. They helped elect the local assembly of Johannesburg, and he was appointed to the Auxiliary Board for Africa, under Hand of the Cause Músá Banání. Sears gained a job with the South African Broadcasting Corporation pre-recording radio programs, and using the free time for trips to support the religion. There was another brief trip to North America – Sears was in Canada possibly while adjusting passports for a longer stay, and gave a talk, while Marguerite was in Illinois. Returned in 1956, Sears was elected as chairman of the new regional assembly for the geographic region of South and West Africa. There were many trips he embarked on. Sears drove into Zulu territory seeking out a pioneer with John Quigley, and also managed a quick trip to the States for a July televised program on the religion for a Chicago educational television station where he served as an off-camera announcer as well as one of the interviewees. However, a new law in South Africa, the Industrial Conciliation Act, 1956, set a standard that organizations with membership of more than one race could only have one race governing the group. The Baháʼís chose to elect only black African leadership. While in South Africa circa September 1957, Sears finished off the preface to his first book – Release the Sun. Sears was briefly in the States in October, before returning to South Africa, and learning he was appointed a Hand of the Cause by Shoghi Effendi, along with Enoch Olinga and John Robarts, with responsibilities for West and South Africa.Messages to the Baháʼí World: 1950–1957, Author: Shoghi Effendi, Source:US Baháʼí Publishing Trust, 1971, p 127 The telegram arrived late in October from Músá Banání, just before Shoghi Effendi died November 4.
Hand of the Cause
Crisis of the death of Shoghi Effendi With the death of Shoghi Effendi the Hands of the Cause of God, now with its newest appointees, decided a select group would be voted on to act at the Baháʼí World Centre for the interests of the religion between the period of the leadership of Shoghi Effendi and promised election of the Universal House of Justice at the end of the Ten Year Crusade in 1963. These were called Custodians. In 1958 Sears attended the election of the French national assembly. During this period the Sears were apart for about a year until she was able to live in Haifa and then they traveled further together. Meanwhile, one of their sons had married and stayed in Africa.
Sears next appears in news in the States is 1959 following a redistribution of responsibilities and attended the national convention of the US community along with Corinne True and Horace Holley. He then undertook a long tour of talks across the United States and into Canada through to Spring 1960.*
but he didn't make them all — see ʻ*