Marion Carpenter Yazdi (née Marion Bernice Carpenter; October 9, 1902 at Marcellus, Cass County, Michigan,Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1897-1957; National Archives Microfilm Publication T715; Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service; National Archives, Washington, D.C. – February 2, 1996 at Natick, Middlesex County, MassachusettsState of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Death Index, 1970-2003. Boston, MA, USA: Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Health Services, 2005. or at Wellesley, Norfolk County, Massachusetts)Social Security Death Index, Master File. Social Security Administration. was an American and the first adherent of the Baháʼí Faith to attend the University of California at Berkeley, and at Stanford University.Yazdi, Marion Carpenter. 1982. Youth in the vanguard: memoirs and letters collected by the first Baháʼí student at Berkeley and at Stanford University. Wilmette, Ill.: Baháʼí Publishing Trust, 1982. She was a daughter of Crowell E. and Elizabeth Carpenter, natives of Michigan and Ohio, respectively, who moved from Schoolcraft, Kalamazoo County, Michigan to Santa Paula, Ventura County, California between the 1910 and 1920 censuses.U.S. Bureau of the Census. Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910, NARA microfilm publication T62; Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C., and Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920; NARA microfilm publication T625. Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.
She married in 1926 to Ali M. Yazdi (1899–1978), a native of Persia (now Iran) who immigrated to the United States in 1920.U.S. Bureau of the Census. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, T626; California, Alameda County, Berkeley, Enumeration District No. 1-203, Sheet 12A, Lines 37-38. He was a civil engineer,U.S. Bureau of the Census. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, T626; California, Alameda County, Berkeley, Enumeration District No. 1-203, Sheet 12A, Lines 37-38. and a noted Baháʼí writer and lecturerYazdi, Ali M. 1986. "Memories of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá", published in The Baháʼí World 1979-1983, Vol. XVIII, Haifa: Baha'i World Center, 1986, , pp. 907-11 who served in the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baháʼís of the United States and as chairman of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Berkeley, California for 30 years.Memories of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá by Ali M. Yazdi, Baháʼí Library Online, http://bahai-library.com/yazdi_bw18_memories_abdulbaha, accessed 14 Dec 2010. His life and service were commemorated by Marion in her 1982 book, Youth in the Vanguard: Memoirs and Letters Collected by the First Baháʼí Student at Berkeley and at Stanford University.Memories of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá by Ali M. Yazdi, Baháʼí Library Online, http://bahai-library.com/yazdi_bw18_memories_abdulbaha, accessed 14 Dec 2010.
The Ali and Marion Yazdi Building at 2910–2912 Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, California is a registered Berkeley Landmark (no. 324) since July 7, 2016.
See also Marion Holley, another Baháʼí student of Stanford and Berkeley
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