Author Archive | Ven Suresh

Arthur Warren Mudge, age 84, died Friday, May 23, at Kendal in Hanover.

Born in Andover, Mass., Arthur attended Choate school, Class of 1947, then Princeton University, Class of 1951.

While preparing for war service in Korea, he met Mary Ann Cadwell, a Minnesota schoolteacher working for Sen. Hubert Humphrey. They married upon his return in 1953.

After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1956, Arthur practiced law in New Hampshire for 10 years, including serving as a clerk for federal appellate Judge Peter Woodbury, and as a partner with Sulloway and Hollis of Concord. Arthur joined the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in 1966, overseeing economic development assistance programs in Panama, Peru, Bolivia, Guyana, Nicaragua and Sudan, serving as USAID mission director in the last three posts. In 1979 he was invited to serve as a fellow at the Harvard Center for International Affairs. In 1984, he resumed his law practice in Hanover and served as an international consultant in Africa, Latin America and the former Soviet Union. In his retirement, Arthur provided pro bono legal work and served on boards of educational and environmental organizations. In his spare time, Arthur hiked mountain ranges all over the world (Andes, Appalachians, Himalayas and Mount Kilimanjaro) and was a dedicated bird watcher.

Arthur is survived by his wife, Mary Cadwell Mudge of Kendal; his sister Nancy Mudge Sycamore and Hubert Sycamore of Hebron; and his daughters and son-in-laws: Becca Mudge of Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.; Susanna Mudge and Raul Sanguinetti of Bethesda, Md.; Sarah Mudge and Clarke Havener of Arnold, Md.; and Katy Mudge and Arturo Valenzuela of Washington, D.C. Arthur was adored by his five grand children: Noah, Mariah, Ari, Ethan and Adelina, as well as his step-grandchildren, nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews, and will be greatly missed.

Two memorial services will be held. The first will be in the Gathering Room at Kendal, 80 Lyme Road, Hanover, at 2 p.m. on Saturday, June 21. A second service is scheduled for Monday, Aug. 4, time and place to be determined.

Lisa Chiles, Agency Counselor from May 2008 through July 2009, passed away peacefully in her sleep on the night of May 19, 2014. She was a career member of the Foreign Service and held the rank of Career Minister. Lisa had a distinguished, nearly 30-year career at USAID. She found her work at the Agency, including her interaction with colleagues and other stakeholders, an immensely enriching experience and used the lessons learned to teach her children the virtues of compassion and kindness.

Prior to serving as Counselor, Lisa was Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Asia and Near East Bureau. She also served as Mission Director in Pakistan, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka, and Deputy Mission Director in Bangladesh. Having previously worked with Ambassador Ryan Crocker in Pakistan, she happily agreed to his request that she serve as the Acting Mission Director in Iraq. Additionally, she served as the Regional Legal Advisor in the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia, and as a Legal Advisor in the Office of the General Counsel in Washington. Before joining USAID, she was a trial attorney in the International Antitrust Section of the U.S. Department of Justice.

A native of North Carolina, Lisa received a Bachelor’s Degree from Salem College in North Carolina, a Juris Doctorate from Emory University, and a Master’s Degree in International and Comparative Law and Trade from Vrije Universiteit Brussel. She was a recipient of the Meritorious Presidential Service Award.

After retirement, she settled in Santa Barbara, California, where she resumed painting–one of her passions–and worked with various committees at All Saints By The Sea Church, and with the Music Academy of the West where she contributed her management experience. She is survived by her husband, Austin Pullé, her children Roshani and Ananda Julian, her son-in-law, Tom Inwood, and her brand new granddaughter, Evangeline Inwood.

The family plans to hold a memorial service in early December 2014 when the children, who now reside in England, and other family members will be in the United States.

James A. Robinson passed away at his home on Tuesday, May 20, 2014. He was born on Dec. 17, 1918, in Veto, Ala., in Limestone County. He is survived by Lois, his wife of 45 years; his twin sister, Alma Browning of Ashland, Ala.; and his sister-in-law, Joyce Steinecke of Macllenny, Fla. He was preceded in death by sisters Bertha Martin, Mildred Davis of Elkmont, Ala., and Mavis Griffin of Prospect, Tenn.; and brothers Max Robinson and Noah Robinson of Elkmont, Ala. Jim, as he was called by friends, graduated from Elkmont High School, where he played varsity football and baseball. During his college years at Auburn University, Auburn, Ala., he participated in intercollegiate sports. He was a member of the track team and competed in many events, winning the SEC 2-mile championship. In addition, he graduated from the University of Maryland with a master of science degree in animal and dairy science.

During World War II, he served as a forward observer with the 377th Parachute Field Artillery, 101st Airborne Division, the famous “Screaming Eagles.” He saw combat in Bastogne, Belgium, where he received a Silver Star for gallantry in action. He also was awarded a Bronze Star and Purple Heart while serving in Holland and France. He left the service as a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve. After the war, Jim worked with the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Agency. He supervised the receipt, care and shipment of 46 thousand animals to Europe. He was also responsible for selection and shipping of 32,000 horses to Japan.

Mr. Robinson joined the Department of State as a Foreign Service officer with the Agency for International Development, and served in Burma, Cambodia and the Philippines as a livestock advisor. His other posts with the American embassies were Porto Alegre, Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia, Brazil, Mali and Haiti. While in Brasilia, he was a special advisor to the minister of agriculture and his cabinet. He was a Food for Peace officer in Port au Prince, Haiti and Washington, D.C.

During retirement, Jim was a Master Gardener and could usually be found outside tending his flowers and vegetables. He was on the board of directors of the Friends of the Library, and he volunteered as a poll worker. He was a member of three Airborne Associations and the Retired Foreign Service Association. Jim also had been the proud owner of season tickets to Auburn football games.

Walter G. “Nick” Farr Jr., 89, a lawyer who served from 1992 to 2002 as executive director of the National Center for Healthy Housing in Columbia, Md., a nonprofit group formerly known as the National Center for Lead-Safe Housing, died May 27 at a hospital in Silver Spring. The cause was congestive heart failure, said a son, Steve Farr.

Mr. Farr, a resident of Kensington, Md., was born in Wenonah, N.J. In the 1960s and 1970s, he was an administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development, director of the Model Cities Administration at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and general counsel of the Economic Development Administration. He later was an executive vice president of Wells Fargo Mortgage and vice president at the Enterprise Foundation, a housing and community development nonprofit organization in Columbia. From 1969 to 1977, he was a New York University law professor.

On June 15th 2014, Phyllis Drohat died peacefully at the age of 86 with family at her side. Beloved wife of the late DeWitt C. Drohat for 62 years, devoted father of Alex (Rachel) Drohat and Greg (Kathy) Drohat, and cherished grandmother of Grant, Jacob, Philip, Amanda, and Jack. Phyllis was born in Detroit and raised in Ann Arbor, MI, by her parents, Oliver and Carrie Applegate. She attended Mt. Holyoke College, graduating in 1950, and obtained a Masters of Public Administration from the Maxwell School, Syracuse University, in 1951. She married DeWitt “Doc” Drohat, a Syracuse classmate, and they moved to Washington, DC, in 1951.

Phyllis enjoyed a productive and rewarding career with the Agency for International Development, US Department of State. She rose through the ranks to reach the senior executive service, at a time when the vast majority of her contemporaries were men, and she was recognized for efforts in promoting equal opportunity employment.

Phyllis and Doc raised two sons, Alex and Greg, in Rockville, Maryland. They enjoyed summer vacations on Beals Island, Maine, and weekend trips to Shenandoah National Park and Williamsburg. Phyllis enjoyed all things government and politics, reading, playing bridge, and attending the National Symphony Orchestra and Washington-area theatre, and enthusiastically supported ski trips with her “three” boys. Phyllis and Doc lived in Boonsboro, Md. for 20 years until moving recently to Ellicott City, Md. to be closer to family. A memorial service will be held at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Boonsboro, Md. on Saturday, July 26 at 11 a.m.

F. Brett Miller (Age 87), of Newnan, GA, formerly of Washington, DC, passed away Tuesday, June 24, 2014 at Piedmont Newnan Hospital. He was born September 23, 1926 in Washington, DC to the late Raymond Clendenin Miller and Louise Noonan Miller.

Brett was a 1944 graduate of the Landon School in Bethesda, MD. After high school, he joined the U.S. Merchant Marines where he served during WWII. Upon receiving an honorable discharge, he joined the U.S. Navy reserves where he served for nearly 20 years. While serving his country, he furthered his education at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, The University of Virginia, and Duke University. After his military service he worked for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for many years, retiring as an Executive Officer.

Tibor Nagy, Sr., a retired USAID Foreign Service Officer (FSO), died on April 25, 2014 in Washington, D.C. Born in Budapest, Hungary, Tibor served as a career engineering officer in the Hungarian army and participated actively in Hungary’s brief quest for freedom in 1956. He knew he was facing execution after the uprising was crushed and he escaped with his young son, Tibor Jr., into Austria, eventually arriving in the U.S. as political refugees in 1957. Being penniless and without English, Tibor worked menial jobs until he learned English and received his U.S. engineering license.

After gaining recognition in private practice, Tibor was hired by USAID in 1969 to work as a civil engineer in South Vietnam on infrastructure development and repairing war damage in the Mekong Delta region. He stayed in Vietnam, and then went to Haiti in 1976 to help design and repair roads and bridges. After Italy suffered devastating earthquakes in 1980, he was transferred to Naples to help implement a massive U.S. relief program to repair the damaged infrastructure. He also managed projects in other Mediterranean and Middle East countries out of Naples.

In 1987 he “retired” from USAID as an FSO, but came back immediately under contract to help repair damage in El Salvador after its civil war. In 1993 he retired again, but was again called back in 1995 – this time to help revive Bosnia’s infrastructure after the Balkan civil war. He stayed in Sarajevo until 2000, when he finally did retire and returned to Washington after being diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer. Because of his expertise in working in war zones and areas of devastation, Tibor earned the nickname “disaster master” among USAID’s engineering corps.

One of his proudest moments came in 1998 when he was invited back to Hungary by the government to a ceremony in his honor to nullify his 1956 treason conviction and death sentence, promote him in rank to full colonel backdated to 1956, and award him one of Hungary’s highest honors – “Hero of the Revolution.” The same son who left with him as a little boy, now U.S. Ambassador Tibor P. Nagy, Jr., accompanied him back to Budapest along with his daughter-in-law and grandchildren. During his career, Tibor received a number of superior and meritorious honor awards, as well as citations from Haiti and Italy. In addition to Hungarian and English, he also was fluent in Russian, French, Italian, and Spanish.

Tibor is survived by his son, Tibor Jr., daughter-in-law Jane, grandsons Stephen and Peter, granddaughter Tisza Rutherford, and great-granddaughters Aliyah, Kalyx, Serey, and Abbey.

Henrietta L. Preston, age 89, passed away on June 22, 2014. A long-time resident of Bowie, MD, she graduated from Bowie High School, Strayer College of Accountancy, and Franklin Business Institute, as CPA.

After employment with Benjamin Regardie and Sons of Washington, DC, she worked for the Agency for International Development under the U.S. Department of State. She had duty in Brussels, Belgium; Vienna, Austria; Rabat, Morocco; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Saigon, Vietnam; and Washington, D.C.

She is survived by her sisters Ellen Blair of Owings, MD., Alice Bowers of Clinton, MD, and Linda Ferguson of Glen Burnie, MD, as well as a brother William Preston of Bowie, MD. She is predeceased by brothers Stephen E. Preston and Frank M. Preston.

Thomas Luche died June 19 in an automobile accident in Alden, New York. One of the early members of International Voluntary Services, Luche went to Vietnam with IVS in 1957, beginning a long association with that country as well as a career with the Agency for International Development. With AID, Luche later worked in Thailand, Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), Tanzania, and Ghana. He was later AID representative in Cape Verde and Burkina Faso. Since 2000, the Luches have lived in Mount Dora, FL, following decades of residence in the Washington, DC area. An avid fisherman and boater and an accomplished linguist fluent in Portuguese, Danish, French and Vietnamese, Luche was active on issues of the environment, human equality, preservation of endangered species, as well local cultural and church affairs. He leaves behind his wife of 55 years, Winifred Luche (born Bogardus), son Stephen, and daughters Jenna Luche-Thayer and Sarah Luche Durso. Luche served on the board of directors of IVS and was a member of DACOR, an organization of foreign affairs professionals. Memorial services and reception are scheduled for 11 AM, Saturday August 2 at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Eustis, Florida.

Thomas Clifford Luche was born January 24, 1934 in Brooklyn, NY, to Jennie and Theodore Luche. Summers spent at grandmother’s farm in Northampton, Pa, contributed to a lasting interest in nature and the outdoors. He attended the State University College of Forestry at Syracuse University. While there, he met Winifred Bogardus of Fulton, NY, also a student at Syracuse. According to family legend, their first encounter was when Tom worked as a “pot boy” (washing pots and pans) in the Alpha Phi Sorority house where Winnie was a member and a waitress. They were married 1959 in Bethesda, Maryland.

After completing forestry school, Tom participated in a graduate fellowship program that took him to Denmark and Finland to work on forestry and plant issues in those northern climates. He learned fluent Danish, absorbed the life and customs of both nations, and began a lifelong interest in the cultures and daily activities of other countries.

Shortly after, Luche began his long involvement with Vietnam. In 1957, he joined the first group of volunteers to that country from IVS, the International Voluntary Services, the forerunner and partial model for the Peace Corps. Much of his early work was with refugee programs, helping to resettle the numerous refugees who chose to go south when Vietnam was partitioned in 1954-55. He learned fluent Vietnamese and worked as well in French, which he spoke and read with ease. Over time, Luche joined the U.S. Agency for International Development (then known in Vietnam as USOM) and was one of the first members of a new program, Rural Affairs. An unorthodox operation designed to expedite economic, social, and welfare programs to Vietnam’s provinces and rural population, Rural Affairs placed its young representatives in the provinces to work first-hand on these issues with local officials and village leaders. Luche worked in several provinces, most notably the highland area of Ban Me Thuat.

While the Luches enjoyed life in Vietnam, it was not without stress and danger. Part of their house in Saigon, for example, was blown up by a Molotov cocktail lobbed by a bicyclist riding down a nearby alley. During those years the family grew. Son Stephen was born in Washington, DC in 1959, and daughters Jenna and Sarah were born in Vietnam in 1960 and 1962. Over the years, Luche kept close ties with IVS friends and American and Vietnamese colleagues from Rural Affairs. He received the Vietnam Civilian Service Medal for service in Vietnam.

In 1967, Tom and family were assigned to Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand’s major city, to help with developmental programs to boost the economy of local hill tribes. The family reveled in lush, tropical Thailand. Luche was key to the creation of Border Crafts of Thailand, a successful venture that used U.S assistance to provide equipment, advice, and standards for local people to use local materials to craft marketable items, such as shirts, jewelry, bows and arrows, and other items popular with visitors. The enterprise attained commercial success and continued as a self-sustaining venture. Another area of activity was rural road-building, carried out with help from US Navy Seabeees. On one trip, driving briskly along a new section of road, Tom took a sharp turn onto a fork that had been washed away, careening downhill and overturned in a creek bed. He was awarded the HRH The Princess Mother’s Memorial Medal for service to the nation.

The next overseas assignment was in 1974 to Ouagadougou in Upper Volta (today, Burkina Faso), where Luche was in charge of rural development matters for the AID mission. While there he redirected an agricultural research project to emphasize soil and water conservation and developed technology that restored 15percent of degraded land to production. A posting to Arusha in Northern Tanzania followed, where Luche was the AID coordinator and also doubled as honorary consul, an often demanding job in this area popular with American tourists and congressional delegations heading for nearby safari tours. The Luches loved this beautiful region, despite its calamitous economic conditions. Tom spent much time with regional herdsmen and concentrated on village development projects and such priorities as improved wheat cultivation.

Following a tour in Washington, The Luches went off to Accra, Ghana (1983-85), where Tom was the general development officer for the AID mission and at various times acting AID director. Following another US posting, the next assignment was as the AID representative in Cape Verde (1987 – 1992), an area facing major problems of erosion and drought. Luche led an effort to plant 4 million trees to stabilize the environment, and helped establish the nation’s first Peace Corps program. He also worked closely with the American Embassy on policy reform, persuading the Cape Verdean government to develop democratic policies which helped to establish the nation’s first two-party system, a sharp contrast to the personalized single party model prevailing in much of Africa. Cape Verde, so challenging professionally, was rewarding personally and let Tom indulge two of his favorite activities, fishing and sailing. Tom was an avid tester of one of the American Embassy’s evacuation means, the official “evacuation vessel.”

Luche was transferred directly from Cape Verde to Burkina Faso, this time as AID director. This assignment, 1992-94, was his last AID posting. Tom retired in 1995.

Tom and Winnie bought a house in Mount Dora, Florida, and moved there in 2000. Tom continued his lifelong passions of fishing and boating, and voracious reading in literature, history, biography and poetry. He was active in local affairs such as Mount Dora’s annual music festival. The Lake Symphony Orchestra was established in Mount Dora while he served on the festival Board. For 11years he was a guardian ad litem for abused and abandoned children, representing them legally in the absence of a family member. Drawing on his language skills, he worked especially with local Haitian and Vietnamese children. Tom was also prominent in church affairs at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in nearby Eustis, Florida.

Roy O. Carlson, a retired Foreign Service officer, died in Chevy Chase, Maryland, on June 24, 2014, at the age of 93. Born in Chicago, Illinois, he served overseas in the U.S. Army from 1944 to 1946. In 1951, he received his master’s degree from the University of Chicago.

Mr. Carlson entered the Foreign Service in 1953 and was assigned to Dhaka as an administrative officer. He was posted to Stockholm two years later as an economic officer. In 1959, he was detailed to the University of Chicago to study economics. He served as an economic officer in Copenhagen from 1960 to 1965. After a year at State, where he was involved in textile negotiations, he was seconded to the Department of Agriculture, where he worked on supplying American grain to developing countries under Public Law 480. In 1966 he was detailed to the Department of Transportation as an international liaison official. He served in the Office of the Inspector General of Foreign Assistance from 1970 to 1973, traveling widely to countries receiving U.S. aid. In 1973, he was assigned to Stuttgart as a commercial officer. His last assignment before he retired in 1978 was to the Board of Examiners.

Mr. Carlson’s wife, the former Margaret Tannenberg, died some years ago. He leaves their children, William and Brigitta Carlson.