Editing Mason Remey (section)

==Background==
[[File:Western Pilgrims early 1901-1.jpg|thumb|Western Baháʼí pilgrims in [[Akka, Israel|Akka]] in early 1901. Seated left to right: [[Ethel Jenner Rosenberg]], Madam Jackson, [[Shoghi Effendi]], Helen Ellis Cole, [[Lua Getsinger]], Emogene Hoagg; standing left to right: Charles Mason Remey, Sigurd Russell, Edward Getsinger and [[Laura Clifford Barney]].]]{{clear|left}}

Born in [[Burlington, Iowa]], on 15 May 1874, Remey was the eldest of six children from Rear Admiral [[George C. Remey|George Collier Remey]] and Mary Josephine Mason Remey.{{sfn|Stockman|1995}} The Navy destroyer [[USS Remey]] (1943–1974) was named after his father. His maternal grandfather, [[Charles Mason (Iowa judge)|Charles Mason]], was the first Chief Justice of Iowa and candidate for governor in 1867.{{sfn|Johns Hopkins University|2021}}

Remey's parents raised him in the [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal Church]].{{sfn|Remey|1960|p=2}} He studied [[comparative religion]] in college, including a course on Buddhism, which made him receptive to other religions.{{sfn|Stockman|1995}}

Remey studied architecture at [[Cornell University]] (1893–1896) without completing a degree, and the [[École des Beaux-Arts]] in Paris (1896–1903).{{sfn|Johns Hopkins University|2021}}{{sfn|Stockman|1995}} From 1904 to 1908, he became an instructor of architecture at [[George Washington University]].{{sfn|Fairfax Genealogical Society|2021}}

While studying in Paris Remey learned of the Baháʼí Faith from [[May Maxwell|May (Bolles) Maxwell]], the first Baháʼí in Paris, and he accepted it on 31 December 1899, becoming the third Baháʼí in the city.{{sfn|Smith|2000|p=242}}{{sfn|Johns Hopkins University|2021}} A few months later, the Persian Baháʼí teacher `Abdu’l-Karím-i-ihrání came to Paris and taught the new Baháʼís more about the faith. From Paris, Remey went on pilgrimage and met ʻAbdu'l-Bahá first in February 1901, then in spring/summer that year [[Mírzá Abu'l-Faḍl]] visited Paris and taught the Baháʼís there.{{sfn|Stockman|1995}}

===Baháʼí service, 1903–1950===

After embracing the Baháʼí Faith in Paris, Remey returned to Washington, D.C., and became a prominent author, public speaker, and organizer.{{sfn|Smith|2000}} Remey proposed the idea to the Baha'is in Washington to organize the first local [[Spiritual Assembly]] in the city, which he was elected to on 14 March 1907.{{sfn|Stockman|1995}} He made a second pilgrimage to see ʻAbdu'l-Bahá in 1907, and returned in 1908, 1909, 1914, and 1921.{{sfn|Stockman|1995}} He traveled extensively to lecture in the interests of the faith,{{sfn|Johns Hopkins University|2021}} visiting Iran, Russia, and Central asia in 1908, and in 1910 became the first Baháʼí to circle the globe on teaching trips, along with his companion Howard Struven.{{sfn|Effendi|1944|p=261}}{{sfn|Garlington|2008|p=113}} [[Robert Stockman]] wrote of his journeys:{{sfn|Stockman|1995}}
{{blockquote |text= In November 1909 Charles Mason Remey and Howard Struven began the first Bahá’í teaching trip to circle the globe. Leaving San Francisco, they traveled to Hawaii, four cities in Japan, Shanghai, Singapore, three cities in Burma, at least eight cities in India, and Palestine; they returned to the United States in June 1910. In 1914 Remey and George Latimer crossed military lines to teach the Faith in France, England, and Germany. Lesser known traveling teaching trips occurred in 1919, 1943, and 1944, to the American south; 1945, to the Northeastern United States; 1945–46, to Latin America; 1946, to the Midwest; 1947, to the American south, Europe, and Latin America; 1948, to Germany, Austria, Italy, and England; and 1949, to Europe.}}

According to William Garlington, Washington D.C. became the third most influential group of American Baháʼís in the first decade of the 20th century (after Chicago and New York), because of "its talented membership, which included leaders such as Laura Barney, Mason Remey, and Pauline Hannen."{{sfn|Garlington|2008|p=91}}

At the first national convention of American Baháʼís in March 1909, Remey was the delegate representing Washington, and was elected to the executive committee of the "Bahai Temple Unity", a precursor to the [[National Spiritual Assembly]].{{sfn|Stockman|1995}}{{sfn|Garlington|2008|p=113}} In 1917–1918 Remey chaired a committee investigating the Chicago Reading Room, a study group that combined the teachings of Baháʼu'lláh with those of a Bostonian occultist, ultimately expelling its members as "violators".{{sfn|Garlington|2008|p=97}} Remey's loyalty brought him praise from ʻAbdu'l-Bahá and later Shoghi Effendi mentioned him as one of the most eminent Baháʼís in America.{{sfn|Garlington|2008|p=114}}

Remey was also a prolific writer, and published several volumes on Baháʼí history and teachings.{{sfn|Johns Hopkins University|2021}} His first pamphlet was published in 1905 and was among the first material on the religion available to American Baháʼís.{{sfn|Stockman|1995}} In part due to his fear of global cataclysm, Remey compiled much of his records and in 1940 he provided copies to several public libraries, requesting them not to be opened until 1995.{{sfn|Johns Hopkins University|2021}}{{sfn|Stockman|1995}}

===Marriage===
According to [[Juliet Thompson]]'s diary, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá suggested that she marry Remey, and in 1909 asked her how she felt about it. They were engaged for a time but did not marry. Thompson anguished over her decision, which she felt would cause ʻAbdu'l-Baha disappointment.{{sfn|Thompson|1983|pp=71–76}}{{sfn|Stockman|1995}}

During the 1930s, Remey lived in Washington, D.C. where he enjoyed an active social life.{{sfn|Johns Hopkins University|2021}} He was briefly married to heiress Gertrude Heim Klemm from 17 July 1931 until her suicide on 5 August 1932{{sfn|Stockman|1995}} (Klemm's gravestone gives the Paris wedding as 11 July{{sfn|Fairfax Genealogical Society|2021}}). They had no children.