Helen Jeffreys Bakhtiar: A Life of Adventure and Service
Helen Jeffreys Bakhtiar: A Life of Adventure and Service Helen Jeffreys Bakhtiar was a pioneering public health nurse who dedicated her life to serving others with compassion and adventure. She is buried in Tus, Iran.
In the 1950s, Helen Jeffreys Bakhtiar, a public health nurse, traveled to Iran as part of President Truman’s Point Four Program. This rural improvement project sent American experts in agriculture, health, and education to work in villages in less-developed countries. Helen, the blonde, blue-eyed, selfless woman who spoke Persian with an American accent, journeyed through the remote mountains of Chahar Mahal in her jeep, working with the legendary Bakhtiari tribe. She dedicated her efforts to teaching women about the importance of healthcare. The people of Chahar Mahal loved her for her dedication and compassion.
Years later, our family discovered that the Bakhtiari tribe had named an entire region after Helen. Located in the central Zagros Mountains near the ancient city of Isfahan, Kohe Helen, or Helen's Mountain, is now a protected area. It is home to a variety of species, including brown bears, leopards, wildcats, and eagles. Iranian environmentalists have marked the mountain and its surrounding forests as a protected area, ensuring Helen's legacy endures.
Early Life in Idaho Helen was born in 1905 in Boise, Idaho, of pioneer stock. Her grandparents had helped drive the Nez Perce Indians out of Idaho, and her stern Baptist grandmother spent her later years trying to convince the Indians of their sins. However, as a child, Helen developed a sympathy for the Nez Perce, the first of her many attachments to people she perceived as oppressed. Her parents later moved the family to Los Angeles, where Helen studied nursing.
Journey to New York In 1927, Columbia University offered Helen a nursing scholarship, and Harlem Hospital invited her to teach its student nurses in exchange for room and board. Traveling by train as far as Washington with her father and brother, Helen then continued to New York alone at 22 years old, blond, blue-eyed, and very pretty. When she arrived at Grand Central Station, she asked a policeman how to get to Harlem. "He said, 'Put five cents in the slot and get off at 125th Street,'" she wrote many years later. Despite the uncertainty, Helen managed to find her way. At the hospital, she was told that some of the doctors were Jewish, some were black, some were Italian, and one was Persian. Intrigued, she quickly became curious about the Persian doctor, leading to a significant turn in her life.
Life in Iran Helen Jeffreys Bakhtiar of Weiser, Idaho, fell in love with Iran in 1927 after hearing her future husband recite poems from the Shahnameh, a 10th-century epic by Persian poet Ferdowsi. The Shahnameh chronicles the journey of a nation seeking justice and yearning for freedom of expression, with mythical and pre-Islamic historical rulers as its heroes and heroines. By the 1950s, Helen had become a public health nurse, teaching local women about healthcare in the Chahar Mahal Bakhtiari region of Iran.
In one memorable instance, Helen single-handedly convinced a reluctant village cleric to allow local women to attend her prenatal class. She also spent time in a village called Koshkerood, or "dry river." In a 1958 interview with the University of Virginia Radio, Helen recalled, "When we finally left the village, the people said to me, 'You have given us hope.' And when our engineers put a shallow well in this village so the people would have proper drinking water, they said, 'And with water, you have given us life.'"
A Legacy of Service Helen Jeffreys Bakhtiar's story is one of romance, adventure, and profound service. She had seven children: Lailee, Shireen, Pari, Parveen, Jamshid, Cyrus, and Laleh. Her work and dedication have left an indelible mark on both American and Iranian history. For more about Helen's incredible life, you can explore the following resources:
Google Maps: Kohe Helen or Helen's Mountain
Brochure in Persian describing Helen's Protected Area
NPR News: Davar's essay on Weekend Edition Saturday June 7, 2008
Video of mother and daughter at Helen's Mountain and Helen's Protected Area in 2010
Chicago Reader: Helen of Iran
References
Google Maps: Kuhe Helen or Helen's Mountain in Persian
Brochure in Persian describing Helen's Protected Area: Link
NPR News: Davar essay on Weekend Edition Saturday June 7, 2008 Link
Video of mother and daughter at Helen's Mountain and Helen's Protected Area in 2010 Link