Lady Ruth White
A Devoted Baha’i
Ruth White is most well-known as a Baha’i who challenged the authenticity of the will of Abdul Baha, former leader of that faith, a little while after he had died. Most mentions of her life are quite abrupt, giving little to no background from which to form a biography. This article serves to correct that imbalance.
As an author she always called herself “Ruth White”, in correspondence sometimes “Mrs Lawrence White”. Her stage name was “Ruth Berkeley”. In her book “Baha’i Leads out of the Labyrinth” , Abdul Baha calls her “Miss Ruth Berkeley”.
Her birth name was Emma Decker,and her parents were Peter Decker and Anna Geiger and she was born on 27th June in Brooklyn .
She was married twice:
1) First Husband: George Rowell: Had a daughter from this marriage
2) Second Husband: Herbert Lawrence White: She met him at a Bahai gathering in Newyork
She was evidently yet living as late as 1962, in South Carolina, per the Pierrepont genealogy.
Ruth White 