Idol Chatter

Here’s a timeline of Guy Murchie’s life that I’ve constructed to help me understand his autobiography better. Page numbers are of The Soul School. Please consider this a work in progress. I expect to continue modifying it as I acquire new data. Enjoy!

• 1907, January 25 — Born, Beacon Hill, Boston, MA.
• 1925, October — Introduced to future wife Eleanor Parker. (pp. 37-9)
• 1929 — Graduated from Harvard; began trip around the world.
• 1930 — Completed trip around the world.
• 1932 — Men on the Horizon published.
• 1932, March — Married Eleanor Forrester Parker (b. 2 Oct 1880, Newark, New Jersey), AKA “Worgzle” and “Piggie”.
• 1934 — Began work at the Chicago Tribune.

• 1938 — Converted to the Bahá’í Faith after being assigned to write a story on the Wilmette temple (pg. 180).
• 1939 — Divorced Eleanor … on amicable terms (Eleanor was 26 years his senior) (pg. 253-4, 306). See dedication to The Seven Mysteries of Life.
• 1940, April 29 — Began working as the Chicago Tribune’s first war correspondent.
• 1940, September 17 — Survived a fall from a bomb blast during the Battle of Britain.
• 1940/1 — “Married” Josephine (Jogie) Egan, “an Irish midwife, a refugee from wartime England” (pp. xii, 251).
• 1942 — Began working as a Navigation instructor.
• 1942 — Divorced Josephine (Jogie) Egan (pp. 253–8).
• 1942, December 23 — Married illustrator Barbara Cooney.
• 1947, April — Barbara left with kids Gretel and Barnaby (pp. 288–9, 296, 355). According to a bio of Barbara, they simply divorced in March.
• 1949, January — Married Katie Rautenstrauch, “a Prussian refugee from Hitler’s Germany” (pg. xii, 297).
• 1953, April 21 — Son Jed died of a sudden illness. (pp. 307–8)
• 1954 — Song of the Sky published. Astronomical content that didn’t make the cut would lead to next book, Music of the Spheres.
• 1958, July 13 — I am a Bahá’í published in the Chicago Sunday Tribune. Appears to have been written earlier, while Shoghi Effendi was still living.
• 1960, June 30 — First wife Eleanor (divorced) died in Newport, Rhode Island (age 79). (pg. 350)
• 1961 — Music of the Spheres published. Began work on The Seven Mysteries of Life, beginning with material that didn’t make the cut for Music of the Spheres (pg. 352). Soviet cosmonauts orbit the earth (on two occasions).

• 1963, April — Attended Bahá’í centennial jubilee in London with wife Katie. This may have sparked a greater interest on Murchie’s part for the Bahá’í Faith, and inspired him to write on its history.
• 1964, February — Begins research on Bahá’í history project. Travels around Middle East and Persia.
• 1964, May — Goes on Bahá’í pilgrimage.
• 1978 — The Seven Mysteries of Life published.
• 1979 — With his Bahá’í history project remaining, Murchie begins a two-year phase in his life as an active Bahá’í.
• 1985 — Bahá’í history The Veil of Glory rejected by the Bahá’í governing body, the Universal House of Justice. Continued to work with the Bahá’í publishing trust to make the book acceptable (pp. 609-10).
• 1986, May 3 — Death of Katie, wife of 37 years. Moved to California soon afterward.
• 1987, May 6 — Married Marie in San Francisco, at the home of Marzieh and Harold Gail.
• 1989 — Wrote the epilogue to his autobiography, The Soul School.
• 1995 — The Soul School published.
• 1997, July 8 — Died at a convalescent hospital in Fullerton, CA, at age 90. His wife Marie appeared to precede him in death. His second wife and mother of his children, Barbara, outlived him by three years.