Filis Frederick had driven to Myrtle Beach from New York with Fred and Ella Winterfeldt, Adele Wolkin and Agnes Bourne (who had met Baba in 1932). Filis, 37, had always been interested in Eastern philosophy, and was especially drawn to Ramakrishna of Calcutta.

In May 1943, she received a postcard inviting her to hear Norina speak on Baba at the Hotel Martinique in New York City.  She instantly "recognized" Norina, and was invited to her home on East 67th Street, where she met Elizabeth and Nadine, and for the first time saw a photograph of Baba. 

She had had a vision of "my Jesus" just two or three weeks before, while attending a lecture on Ramakrishna, and now realized it was Meher Baba she had seen.   "It was all over," Filis later recalled. "My heart was Baba's. I accepted him as the Christ from deep within." About the trip to Myrtle Beach, Filis recollected:

As we got closer and closer to the Center, it was like coming closer and closer to the center of the universe! It was like being on a spaceship, and after traveling eighteen million light-years, finally coming to the end of your journey. 

I felt like that. Fred slowed down the car just as we drove past the gate of Meher Center, and a breeze of love came out of it and enveloped me.

At the hotel, Elizabeth phoned confirming that we were to come at nine o'clock the next morning. "Baba is waiting for you," she said. I almost dropped the phone. It seemed incredible to me: He's waiting for me? I had written to Kitty and found out Baba liked blue, so I was making a blue dress to see Baba in.