Meanwhile, she was a successful writer with almost 20 years of continuous annual appearance in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and almost half her stories were also anthologized even as late as 2012.
Myrtle eventually divorced him and the family held rumors that father Bill tried to kidnap baby Florence and was caught by her grandfather.
There was a "visit" from the social ladies of the town who communicated to them that the norm in the area was in favor of maintaining segregated eating – and her grandfather quipped back, as Mayberry recalled, "Tell your menfolks this.
And the first man, or men, steps on my land I bought and paid for to force me or my woman to change how we treat folks on our property will get its full blast.
"[1][page needed] Next her family moved to live with a cousin near Santa Paula, California when Florence was 18 and initially she got a job teaching ballet but switched to joining the local newspaper as a 'society editor' reporter.
A few months later her husband reported a Baháʼí took a job at the post office and that a traveling Bahaʼi speaker needed help finding a venue in Reno for a talk she would give – this was Mamie Seto.
[1]: 102–103 Her mother had befriended an African American lady – the couple had been wakened by police and arrested her husband all with rough treatment and language normal of the day.
The declaration of Robert Takeshi Imagire in 1942 at the Mayberry home made the 9th member of the community and a Local Spiritual Assembly, the foundational administrative institution of the religion, was elected.
[1]: 108 She worked with directors of the Chamber of Commerce to bring together the white and Latino communities into a united Fiesta Parade rather than the traditional segregated practice.
[30] She wrestled with understanding Shoghi Effendi's leadership as head of the religion when coming out of her Protestant Christian context the Popes were considered trouble.
[1]: 120 She had begun and continued to focus on the special station of the Guardianship held by Shoghi Effendi and gained an emotional attachment and decided to write to him.
[35] In early spring of 1953 a letter arrived from the US National Spiritual Assembly asking her if she could "undertake a fortnight's teaching trip through several Southern States.
Following the trip she was able to attend the national convention for the 1953 jubilee of the declaration of Baháʼu'lláh's first revelatory experience (in the Síyáh-Chál) and one of the conferences on the spread of the religion held May 2, 1953.
She reflected on stories of her from her meeting ʻAbdu'l-Bahá at 2 yrs old and exploits of her "youthful daring, originality of thought, her profound love of nature and animals, and her great courage in teaching.
Her answer silenced him and he sat down – she had referred to "…anyone, even a Christian declaring fealty to Jesus Christ, who denies that [returned] Holy Spirit is Anti-Christ.
To Mayberry Backer seemed to inspire her all the more and recalled hearing her voice "Spirit is never lost, it persists evanescent, seeking open vessels.
Then she did not feel like a foreigner and being welcomed into various groups save for an altercation from a returned logger whose regular bathroom had been assigned to her use as the only female guest of the hotel.
[1]: 131 At first thinking she would end the first night of the convention early being weary from her travels she changed her mind when it was brought to her attention that the three Hands responsible for North America were to speak and their nine appointments of their new auxiliary assistants to be announced.
[1]: 132 The Americas (North and South) were split into 9 regions for the auxiliary board and there would be no salary, minimal travel expenses, and they were to avoid any sense of appearing to be clergy.
[49] March 21, 1954, Florence Mayberry was on a panel of Baha'is on the Church Women's News, A Radio Program, by Ruth S. Norman, in West Virginia.
[69] By the summer of 1956 she was giving local talks closer to home[70] while she developed a traveling seminar,[71] and was aiding in coordinating urgent meetings in Seattle and Los Angeles.
[1]: 136 She was met at the door by Jesse Revel, then treasurer of the International Baháʼí Council, and Isobel Sabri, a pioneer from Africa then on pilgrimage herself, but she had missed the events of the first day of Ridván.
She recalled Shoghi Effendi referred to a few open spots on the scroll of the Knights of Baháʼu'lláh, the first pioneers to a country for the religion, and highlighted the staunchness of Marion Jack.
[1]: 146 The mid-winter trip began mild but a blizzard was in the way of the seaplane flying on toward Juneau and only got as far as Petersburg and would miss a scheduled TV appearance.
[105] She was missed at a discussion of race issues the Baháʼís held in Wilmette, Ill.[106] She made trips visiting national assemblies by December 1960.
[163] From December 1968 to March 1969 she assisted at a series of conferences – Montreal, Oshawa, Canada, then Atlanta, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, St Louis, (Phoenix), Saskatoon, Vancouver.
[165] In June she was at a conference in Halifax[166] and in July she still gave a talk at the Geyersville Baha'i school,[167] and in August met with Native American Baha'is[168][169] and others[170] in Washington state.
[174] During the Oceanic and Continental Conferences series of 1970–71 she was assigned the one in Sapporo Japan (held early September)[175] and she found that a round the world trip was only a little more expensive.
She also met Indian and Inuit peoples and various attitudes they had either finding resonances in the roots of their cultures with the religion or in struggling with the confusion of "white man's ways".
[224] In 2005 her stories "Smiling Joe and the Twins" and "Miz Sammy's Honor" was collected and printed in Murder in Retrospect: A Selective Guide to Historical Mystery Fiction.