John David Bosch (1855-1946)

At the gate of the garden some stand and look within, but do not care to enter. Others step inside, behold its beauty, but do not penetrate far. Still others encircle this garden, inhaling the fragrance of the flowers, but having enjoyed its full beauty, pass out again by the same gate. But there are always some who enter, and becoming intoxicated with the splendor of what they behold, remain for life to tend the garden. (‘Abdu'l-Baha)

Such a gardener was John David Bosch. And the flowers he tended were the men, women and children in whose hearts he had, at one time or another, planted the seeds of spiritual truth. When he spoke of spiritual things and of Baha'u'llah, there was a light in his clear blue eyes that seemed to be a reflection of a splendor that few others have had the joy of beholding, and when he looked into the eyes of a fellow human being a glow of friendliness lighted up his face, crinkled his eyes at the corners and brought a quick smile to his lips.

Although there are many friends who remember him as a young man and possibly somewhat different in appearance, most of us who knew him only in his later years were sure that he must always have been a distinctive individual. He was tall and straight. His hair was white and he wore a well-trimmed white beard. In the summertime, when he dressed in his spotless white serge and Panama hat, he had the look of a man of noble rank.