Great American Mother Nurse Helen of Tus: Her Odyssey from Idaho to Iran the first American to marry an Iranian in the United States
Helen of Tus Her Odyssey from Idaho to Iran.
A true tale, the odyssey of 22-yr old adventurous American nurse who defied the norm, by marrying a 55-yr old Iranian doctor in 1927, New York. Despite her conservative Protestant upbringing in Idaho, Helen boldly moved to Iran in 1931. Incredibly, she helped open the first private hospital in Iran, as an anesthesiologist and mother of 7 children. Later Helen became a naval officer with President Truman's Point 4 program, travelling by jeep to remote villages of Iran, convincing the clergy of the need to educate women about healthcare, and journeying with the legendary Bakhtiari tribe on their annual migration through 12,000 feet snow-capped mountains. Helen born an American, raised in Idaho in-bred by the American "where there is a will-there is a way," sensed this paradigm as a calling.She applied her American values in the ancient culture of Iran, values of hard work, sacrifice, understanding, and identifying with other peoples sufferings. Helen died in 1973 and didn't live to witness the Iranian Revolution and what that would do to her two beloved homelands. Helen is buried in Tus, Iran near the tomb of the legendary Persian poet Ferdowsi.
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Great Iranian Father M.D. First Iranian Graduated From Medical School in Syracuse University, USA, Who Returned to Iran in 1931 and had become Dean of the Tehran University Medical School, is the best model of hard work, endurance, perseverance and Greatness for new generation of Iranian.
A Bakhtiyari from the village of Borujen, Chahar Mahal, Persia, he was a man of great physical strength and character who struggled to obtain knowledge, loved science and poetry, a spiritual warrior of high moral character. Abol Ghassem died in 1971 at the age of 99. He is buried in Tus, Iran, because of a dream he had that one day his earth would mix with the earth of Ferdowsi, the great epic poet of Iran, and a hero would be born to save Iran.
Abol Ghassem came into the world with nothing of material value,
inheriting a Sufi cloak and a dervish bowl from his father. He evolved from a peddler, to a shopkeeper, to a tutor, to a student,to an M.D., to a hospital director, to Dean of the Tehran University Medical School, to Chief Surgeon for the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. He was the first Iranian to complete medical school in the United States and return to Iran in 1931. He and his American wife, Helen Jeffreys, the first American to marry an Iranian in the United States and go to Iran, had 7 children.
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The result of this love story is the Great Son Jamshid Bakhtiar M.D. with 1957 colorful nicknames as “The Iron Iranian” and Winner of 2006 ALL-AMERICA FWAA Alumni Award
Editorial Reviews
Review
"Helen had peace of mind, lack of prejudice, and love of humanity respecting and serving her adopted land." -- Admiral Abol Ardalan, CEO, Iran Electronics Industries
"Her adventures are in the spirit of all great female adventurers, from Isek Dinesen to Freya Stark." -- Jacki Lyden, author Daughter of the Queen of Sheba and National Public Radio Senior Correspondent, winner of the Gracie Award, 2002
Description:
This is not a typical book and one should not expect to read it as such. First, the style of the book is very different than what we typically read in English, and it is only after you begin, that it's faint familiarity begins to awaken in you. Told in the naqqali (Storyteller) style, this book is structured similarly to our rich tradition of storytelling depicted in such books as the Shahnameh (Book of Kings, Ferdowsi). Second, the book is full of photos, each captioned, so you can begin to somewhat digest the book that way. Third, is to read the excerpts from the more than 300 letters, written in Helen's wonderfully American style, as a whole other way to enjoy the book. And finally there are the explained perspectives that puts everything into context and fills in the family's viewpoint as described by Helen's equally talented and inspired daughters.
It is the story of Helen Jeffreys, an American from Idaho, who came to Iran as a nurse in the thirties. Who came to raise a family, but also came to serve and love Iran beyond anything we can imagine today. The book is an assemblage, a transcript, a story taken from the letters that Helen wrote to her children during her incredible life. The family's photos and mementoes were used to bring the words to life by 2 of her daughters and Rose (Shireen). and Mary Nell (Laleh). In 1927 Helen met and married an Iranian, a dapper Abol Bakhtiar who had come to America to seek his fortune. The Wild Wild West meets the Wild Wild East.
Helen Jeffreys originally came from Idaho, of strong Scottish, Irish and English stock. Helen's family, like many steadfast American families of the time, were hardy, tried and true blue Americans, who originally came to the lands of the Nez Pierce Native Americans in Idaho, traveling along the famous Oregon Trail as pioneers. They fought in the Civil, Spanish-American, and First World wars. After World War II, Truman proposed what became known as the great "4-Point Plan", one of which intended for America to help spread technology and among other things public health know-how all over the world. A precursor to Kennedy's Peace-Corps. With her family strength fully instilled, Helen joined the Navy as a nurse under the 4-point program and took her commission to Iran with Abol. She then traveled throughout Iran's southwestern provinces bringing public health care to the famine stricken villages of Iran.
Abol came from the famous Bakhtiari tribe in southwestern Iran. The Bakhtiari were famous horsemen and considered to be the bravest fighters, staunchly opposed to any unfair rule by force, remnants of the long forgotten Persian warriors.
Imagine the courage it must have taken for Abol to make his way alone, halfway across the globe to America. Abol, although not featured in the title of the book, was no less than a truly marvelous Iranian. He worked his way from nothing to becoming an American educated physician returning to Iran to become a doctor. He climbed (literally, he once went on an expedition to climb Mt. Damavand and made it to the top 4 hours before anyone else on the team!) and worked his way to the top. The sheer determination of this man, un-dampened by anything, disallowing any doubt to creep into his path, is awe-inspiring. He is in some ways the very essence of the American Dream.
It is also a book of firsts; The first known American to marry an Iranian in the America and go to Iran. The first American Nurse to come to Iran. The first All American Iranian football hero (Helen and Abol's eldest son Jamshid). And there are many more in the book. Helen of Tus is not about the past, it's about potential. What keeps coming back to you is what a perfect example this is of how naturally cultures can in fact blend. That by interacting one can not only respect and understand another's culture, but serve to strengthen their own culture as well. In this time of US-Iran coldening of relations, tedious Israeli-Palestinian conflicts, and insignificant politicians whose greedy self serving vital interests are only in keeping cultures apart, this book is the best testament, no, proof, that dialogue is inherently good, that opening up to another culture with a pure heart is virtuous, and for lack of a better metaphor, that it makes good long term moral investment sense. With good will dividends that pay long after, generation after generation, forever.
THE BIOGRAPHY OF DR. ABOL GHASSEM BAKHTIAR (1872 – 1971)
ESPN to feature Jamshid “Jim” Bakhtiar - All American Football Player 1957 UVA
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One of the proudest times for my grandparents Helen and Abol Ghassem Bakhtiar
and indeed for all of my mother’s family was when my Uncle Jamshid was named the first Iranian All-American football player back in 1957 at the University of Virginia. Jim, as he was known, was selected by Look Magazine and the Football Writers of America. He appeared on “The Perry Como Show” in New York as well as “To Tell the Truth.” He was also honored at the Washington, D.C. Touchdown club as the outstanding area college player of the year, and was chosen for the Sportsman Award for the State of Virginia through the Bedford, Virginia Athletic Club.
His All-American title made him a hero inside Iran. The summer before his senior year, a Bakhtiari Khan arranged for my uncle Jamshid to visit several sports clubs in cities around Iran. The Shah of Iran presented him with a beautiful silver bowl through his ambassador, Mr. Ali Amini, in Washington D.C.
His accomplishments in the game attracted the Voice of America that began broadcasting his games to Iran. My grandfather Abol Ghassem, an American trained physician, loved sitting by the radio in Iran to hear the outcome of his son’s games and his successes on the football team. In a letter to Jamshid, Abol wrote: “I long to see you in one of the football games when you are in actual combat. I don’t think that I could bear to sit down and watch you without running on the field to help you carry the ball. To Jamshid Bakhtiar from this side of the ocean—Rah! Rah! Rah!” (February 4, 1954)
My grandfather was so excited, proud, honored to have his son playing American football with such success. One of his games was against West Point Military Academy, where he played exceptionally well. The game was shown in between the feature films at a movie theater in the city of Abadan where my grandfather lived. While the movie clip was being shown, my grandfather got up in the middle of the theater and acknowledged Jamshid as being the player and loudly cheered him as if he was at the game.
My grandmother Helen went to visit my Uncle Jamshid in Charlottesville, VA in 1958. There, Helen was interviewed by a local radio station about her son’s accomplishments. The radio announcer, Mrs. Brown, asked my grandmother: “Your son, Jim Bakhtiar brought to us this interest in Iran. It was a happy day for the University of Virginia when he decided to come and study here and I think, Mrs. Bakhtiar, and you will appreciate this being the mother of Jim, when they began to give him the name ‘The Prince,’ that I felt that he is just tops. Would you tell us a little about him that he wouldn’t say about himself?”
Helen responded: “Well, being a mother, of course, I am very prejudiced and I could say a great deal about Jim. I happened to be in Iran when Jim was making his name in football in the States. In fact, I was in the home of some friends when I heard his voice coming over the radio, the Voice of America. Jim’s games were broadcast in Iran and there were people I met later in small villages in Iran who had heard about Jim Bakhtiar.”
Listen to a podcast with Jim Bakhtiar:
Jeff Nations wrote:
An All-American Story
Bakhtiar Uses Football to Pursue His Dream (Jan. 2007)
Source URL For Better Format
Dr. Jamshid Bakhtiar doesn’t display any trophies in his offices in Ranson, West Virginia. There are no cleats or helmets, jerseys or footballs mounted on pedestals.
The game of football was once an important part of Bakhtiar’s life, and he was good at it. As a rugged 6-foot tall, 205-pound fullback at the University of Virginia, Bakhtiar long ago etched his name into the Cavaliers’ record book and it remains there still.
From 1955 to 1957, “Jim” Bakhtiar — given such colorful nicknames as “The Iron Iranian” and “The Iranian Prince,” among others — ran roughshod over the competition in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Despite starting on both offense and defense as a fullback and linebacker, Bakhtiar completed his collegiate career as the ACC’s all-time leader in rushing yardage (2,434 yards), attempts (555) and most 100-yard games — records that stood for more than 10 years. Bakhtiar still ranks as Virginia’s sixth all-time leading rusher despite just playing three years of varsity football during one of Virginia’s leanest stretches of success.
“We just didn’t have the horsepower like Duke did,” Bakhtiar said. “We beat Carolina — Jim Tatum was coaching at that time, and we really were underdogs. We beat Virginia Tech down in the Richmond Tobacco Bowl (in 1957). I still hold the record actually, with Wali Lundy. He and I are the only Virginia backs to score four touchdowns against Virginia Tech.
“We just didn’t have enough people. I played 60 minutes every game — I mean, I never came out. We just didn’t have the number of athletes, and the University of Virginia was even harder to get into at that time in terms of their academics.”
Despite the Cavaliers’ struggles, the press took notice of Jim Bakhtiar. After gaining an ACC-high 822 yards in 1957, in his senior season, Bakhtiar was named a first-team all-American by the Football Writers Association of America. As part of that team, Bakhtiar was featured in Look Magazine and appeared on the “Perry Como Show.” He shared third-team Associated Press all-America honors with future NFL great Jim Taylor; the AP didn’t select a fullback for the first or second team that year.
A year with the Canadian Football League’s Calgary Stampeders followed, and Bakhtiar was just as successful. He gained 991 rushing yards for Calgary and was named the team’s most outstanding player, after that he never strapped on a football helmet again.
“I went up there and did pretty well, actually,” Bakhtiar said. “But I just decided that I wanted to go to medical school, and I didn’t want to take the risk of getting hurt.”
Nearly 50 years have passed since then, but Bakhtiar added another football accolade to his resume this past December when he was named as The Football Writers 2006 All-America Alumni Award recipient.
Bakhtiar, who received the award on Dec. 9 during a ceremony in Orlando, Fla., was featured on ESPN and rubbed elbows with the likes of college coaching legend Lou Holtz and television personality Regis Philbin (who served as emcee during the banquet).
“One of the nicest things about the award was it really wasn’t for my football,” Bakhtiar said. “It was for what I did after football. If athletes can realize that there’s a whole life out there after football, and if you get locked in and think it’s only football, then I think you’re shortchanging yourself.”
– By Jeff Nations
The Martinsburg (W.Va.) Journal
reprinted with permission
