Author Archive | Ven Suresh

John Tucker Craig, 91, passed on February 3, 2018 after a rich life and long battle with Alzheimer’s. A citizen of the world and patriarch of the Craig clan, John’s life spanned six continents, 70 countries, and his quintessential 58-year marriage to Ruth Weiler Craig-a “Global Love Story” as is inscribed on their headstone at Oak Hill Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

Born June 17, 1926, in Brooklyn, New York, John grew up in Oberlin, Ohio, where he attended Oberlin College, did a stint in the Navy, and obtained his MPA from Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School. In 1950, he married Ruth and whisked her off to Paris (much to the dismay of her father, who expected normal behavior like settling down next door), where he worked for the Marshall Plan and began a 60-year career with USAID and the State Department. Craig spent the early years of his public service helping to rebuild Europe after World War II, living six years in France, Austria (where Dan, Tom, and Andy were born), and Yugoslavia. John avoided easier jobs stateside and served most of his career as Program Officer or Deputy Director in hardship posts, opening USAID’s office in Cotonou, Dahomey, in 1961 and serving twenty more years in Somalia (where Paul was born in neighboring Kenya), Tunisia, Nepal, Haiti, and Guyana. After doing contract work for USAID in Rwanda and again in Haiti, Dad joined the State Department’s archive declassification program which kept him busy until his final retirement in 2010.

A resident of Washington DC for 58 years-where he loved his season tickets to the Arena Stage, Studio Theater, and Kennedy Center,Craig finally moved to Spring Arbor Residences in Fredericksburg late in 2015. John Craig leaves behind his four sons, Daniel, Thomas, Andrew, and Paul; 11 grandchildren Kersley, Simone Riggs, Miguel, Sara, Maya, Michael, Andrew, Jessica, Maxx, JAC, and Kenya; and five great-grandchildren Caleb, Kaylynn, Garret, Itzel, and Kadence; daughters-in-law Els Van Wingerden and Sarah Silver Craig; cousin Mary Harris; sister-in-law Sally (widow of brother Peter S. Craig); nephew Steve Craig and Sharon Kiddon; nieces Cary, Jenny, and Katie (married to Piers Bocock and mother of Miles, Leo, Toby, and Alex), and Mom’s beloved Weiler-Isaacs-Schafer-Cabral side of the family which spans Colorado, Alaska, and the United Arab Emirates.

Paul Shields, 92, died December 5, 2017 at the Westminster Manor in Bradenton, Florida of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. Born April 14, 1925, in East Boston, the youngest son of his late parents the Medford, Massachusetts Ferry Boat Captain, Owen S. Shields of County Louth, Ireland and Veronica Campbell of East Boston. Paul graduated Saint Clement High School in Somerville, Massachusetts in 1942, and joined the US Navy in 1943 as Quartermaster 3rd class, was part of the Invasion of Normandy, and discharged in 1946. Married Geraldine Shields, daughter of the late Melba and Archie Frazer of Lansing, Michigan, in 1950 and had 4 children.

He obtained undergraduate and graduate degrees from Michigan State University in Criminal Justice and Police Training, and subsequently joined the FBI in 1951, with assignments in Denver, Detroit, New Orleans and New York City. Later contracted by Michigan State University to train the South Vietnamese National Police force in 1959. In 1962, joined the United States Agency for International Development, as Foreign Service Inspector, with assignments in Pakistan, Korea, South Vietnam, and Panama. While on Foreign Service assignments, Paul traveled frequently and extensively throughout the region with his family, though they maintained a permanent residence in Fairfax, Virginia. Paul retired as Director of Inspections and Investigations for USAID in 1979.

Upon retirement, Paul accepted senior criminal justice administrative assignments that took him and his wife to Annapolis, Maryland and Huntsville, Texas. They ultimately retired to Longboat Key, Florida, while also residing in Highland Ranch, Colorado, where they developed many loving and supportive friendships. Paul and Gerry maintained their well-traveled lifestyle RV-ing across the continental United States numerous times and journeying to Alaska and Mexico. In retirement Paul made time to become a generous and active member of the St. Vincent’s Society in both Colorado and Florida, and the Still Point House of Prayer in Bradenton, Florida. Paul’s wife of 59 years, Geraldine Shields, predeceased him. He is survived by his four children; Maureen Shields Grosshuesch and her husband Peter Grosshuesch of Breckinridge, Colorado; Melba Shields of Port Richey, Florida; Patrick Shields and his wife Mary Shields of Norwalk, Connecticut; and Terrance Shields and his wife Dawn Smith Shields of Littleton, Colorado; as well as seven grandchildren.

Verne W. Newton who passed away, 73 years young on September 29, 2017.

Verne was one of a kind: brilliant, iconoclastic, higher-cause driven, irreverently honest, Mark Twain hilarious, self-deprecating, a fearless co-conspirator in making a difference, and a profoundly devoted friend. Fiercely independent and always marching to his own drummer, Verne was the refreshing antidote to conventional thinking and doing, with special appreciation of the absurdities and conundrums of life. Who else, in 1965 at the age of 21 would journey “solo”, overland, across borders from Cairo, Egypt to Cape Town, South Africa, with virtually no money in his pocket? Who else would have published a Washington Post Op-Ed piece on the positive correlation between the Beaujolais Nouveau crop in France with the winner of US Presidential elections. He was a talented athlete in his younger days. As a friend (and partner in practical jokes), Verne had a zest for sports as a metaphor for Life with all its human challenges, epiphanies, craziness, failures and glories. His uncommon focus, energy and spirit burned within him as an amateur hockey player in small-town Iowa and propelled him to St Cloud State University, Minnesota. He studied history at the Maxwell School at Syracuse University when America was wandering blindly into war in Vietnam. After hockey and baseball injuries to his knees, Verne shifted his brilliant talents, incisive and disciplined mind, and love for our country into politics as a “contact sport”.

Verne was fiercely passionate about history, its lessons, and leaders of change in America and the world. He was an early voice in New York’s anti-war and progressive political movements while working with Howard Samuels, Adam Walinsky, Harold Ickes and others. This led to his involvement in the presidential campaigns of Senators Eugene McCarthy, Robert Kennedy and George McGovern. Jimmy Carter’s victory brought Verne to Washington, DC as a key deputy to former Ohio Governor John Gilligan, the new Administrator at USAID, where he took up new challenges in foreign assistance and global development. He then began research on President Franklin Roosevelt’s leadership team during the New Deal and World War II, and post-war Soviet/US Cold War espionage. As Director of the FDR Presidential Library in Hyde Park, Verne hosted, among others, the visits of former President Clinton and Soviet PM Gorbachev, and a history-making summit on Bosnia with Russian President Boris Yeltsin. At Marist University, he was Director of the James A. Cannavino Library (and Adjunct Professor of History and Political Science) where he pioneered the archive’s leading edge digital transformation.

His work has appeared in the New York Times, International Herald Tribune, Wall Street Journal, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Los Angeles Times, the Nation, among other US and European publications. His final unfinished project was a trailblazing new book: “The Far Side of Glory: Stalin, Churchill, Roosevelt and the War on the Eastern Front”, bringing new insights into the roles of these WWII national leaders and new interpretations/narratives of pivotal wartime decisions and their longer-term consequences.

Verne delighted in his chosen role as “Uncle Verne” to the children of his closest friends. He left us too early, and we carry his spirit with us into a future that he worked tirelessly to help effect. He is survived by his sister, Sandra Newton of Iowa; his brother, Robert Newton; Fouzia Bassime Newton, lifetime devoted companion and her two boys Amir and Aimanhis.

Washington lawyer, John Tillotson Wainwright “Jack”, died February 2, 2018 at his home outside Lexington, VA after a long illness that robbed him of his ability to continue his work of fighting for freedom for political prisoners and third world countries. The illness did not rob him of his ability to read history, poetry, biography and he continued studying his bird books and listening to music. He remained an interesting and resourceful man.

Mr. Wainwright was educated at St. Paul’s School in New Hampshire; entered Princeton University in 1950; interrupted his studies at the time of the Korean War and joined the Army becoming a jumper and a Private First Class. He returned to Princeton, graduated with honors, received his law degree from the University of Virginia and began his work in Washington, DC working in the John and Robert Kennedy political campaigns. He was employed by the U.S. Agency for International Development before going into the private practice of law. In private practice he worked to obtain freedom for American prisoners held captive in Cuban prisons. One of the freed prisoners credited his freedom to Mr. Wainwright’s relentless efforts on his behalf. There were similar adventures throughout Mr. Wainwright’s career, most of them known only by those he helped.

Mr. Wainwright was born on July 10, 1931. His father for whom he was named drowned eight months before his son was born while attempting to save the lives of the Consul to the U.S. Consulate to Havana and his wife who had been swept off a rocky cliff by a rogue wave at Matanza Bay, Cuba in November of 1930. All three perished. Mr. Wainwright’s mother, Alice Gertrude Cutts Wainwright, returned to the U.S. and gave birth to their son in Newport, Rhode Island. Later she and her young son moved to Coconut Grove, Florida where Jack grew up.

He leaves his wife Catherine Peacock Wainwright “Kitty” and his sons Andrew Turner Wainwright and his wife Jackie and their two children, Scout and Augie, and his son Peter Jefferson Wainwright and his son Jacob Sinkler Wainwright.

Gartini Isa Griffin, Raden Adjung (princess) Gartini Soeriadanoeningrat, passed away peacefully on Jan. 6, 2018, with her Indonesian and American families nearby.

She was born May 14, 1946, at Sumedang in West Java, Indonesia. “Tini” as she was affectionately known here, spent most of her childhood in Bandung, West Java, where her father was a government official.  She initially learned her English in Hong Kong, where her father Gandi had a diplomatic posting. Ultimately, she received her bachelor’s in English from Jakarta’s Universitat Christin Indonesia.

Tini devoted her professional life to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in Jakarta, where she specialized in aiding those who suffered from political and/or religious persecution.  She was honored as one of the first two recipients of United States Agency for International Development’s prestigious John Withers Human Rights Award in 2009 awarded to an individual who promoted human rights, including the protection of minorities, and acted with courage and displayed exceptional integrity, intellectual, and moral courage and commitment.  After relocating to the United States in 2008, she assisted Amnesty International and other NGO organizations in the Washington, D.C. area in their support of human rights and civil society, as well as volunteering as an English-Indonesian translator.

She moved from Washington, DC to the Mount Washington Valley in New Hampshire where she continued her volunteer efforts on behalf of human rights, as well as volunteering at the Jackson Public Library and other community organizations.  ,She became a U.S. citizen in 2014.

Those she touched most closely include her husband Albert J. Griffin Jr. of Glen, N.H., and his sisters Mary, Kathleen, Helen and Julia as well as her Indonesian family, including daughter Saraswati Isa and her husband, Edward Aditya; her son Indra Asikin Isa and his wife, Maria Melissa Riyani Putri; and her grandchildren, Gabriel Sasha Mahoni Isa and Isabel Gwendolyn Aditya.

Tini’s greatest legacy is not only her lifelong contributions to human rights, but the many friendships she treasured, whether those of her childhood in Indonesia, her many years working for the USAID or the many residents of Mount Washington Valley she befriended.   A celebration of her life will be scheduled later in the spring. Messages of condolence may be left online at bryantfuneralhome.net.

As a youth growing up in West New York, NJ., Joseph Guardiano (1931 – 2017), wanted most to see the world and learn a lot – and so he did. The Air Force took him to England, and to Savannah, GA, where in spare time he earned an AA at Armstrong College. The GI Bill paid for his education at Columbia College, NYC, and his Master’s at Columbia University’s School of International Affairs, where he met and married classmate Janet.

His career as a foreign service officer with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) sent him and his family to live in Chad, Niger, Thailand, Korea, the Philippines, Zaire (Congo), and Senegal. He also spent 2 years in Rome on loan to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization.

Joe retired to Cape Coral after serving 20 years. When USAID asked him to return on contract, he and Jan moved to Mauritania, on the Sahara Desert, for 2 years. Back in the States, Joe earned his PhD in Geography (a field he chose because it covers nearly all aspects of human organization) at Clark University at age 60.

He retired again to Cape Coral and later, Fort Myers. Bitten by the political bug, he became an avid volunteer for his newly chosen political party in the 1990’s, eventually serving as county chair for 2 years. When schedule permitted, he took on short-term USAID projects to Egypt, Bratislava, etc., and teaching a series of 3-week courses to USAID officers in Latin America. Meanwhile, Edison College and FGCU met his own craving for learning. Oldest in class (including professors), he worked his way through several layers of calculus, and enjoyed literature and Florida geography courses well into his 70’s.

Those who knew him will remember Joe for his endless curiosity, his energy, and most of all his wit. His was a life well lived, and he was fortunate enough to live his dream—seeing the world—while in service to others. Joe is survived by his wife Jan; their sons Greg, John, and Jeb and Jeb’s wife Gail; his sister Sylvia and brother-in-law Frank; and his ten nieces and nephews. His brother John and sister-in-law Pat predeceased him.

Jerome Dale Hulehan, 79, of Satellite Beach, FL passed away unexpectedly at his home February 23, 2018. Jerome was born December 14, 1938 in Cape Girardeau, MO.

He graduated from Sikeston High School in 1956 and received his Master’s Degree from the University of Missouri. After graduation, Jerome spent 25 years serving his country with distinction with USAID. His assignments were in Brazil, Uruguay, Kenya, France and Jamaica. He then started his second career as a psychotherapist until his retirement.

Mr. Hulehan is survived by four sisters, Carmen Hulehan Love (Tom) of Dexter, MO, Sandy Hulehan of Pensacola, FL , Rita Hulehan Chapman (Mark) of Pensacola, Connie Hulehan Garcia of Deland, FL and one brother, Wayne Hulehan of Alexandria, VA. He is also survived by four nephews, three nieces, four great nephews and two great nieces and his dear friend Shahin Torabi. He also leaves behind his dog and best friend, Izaak.

Jerome was preceded in death by his parents, Horace and Deloma Hulehan, sisters, Bonita Hulehan Johnson, Glenda Gale Hulehan, and his wife Janet Wall Hulehan.

Jerome will always be remembered for his love of his family and enjoying his “peaceful” years enjoying his retirement in Florida.

Dana Dalrymple, 85, died of complications from pneumonia on March 7 at his home in Washington, D.C. after suffering from dementia. Colleagues, friends and family will celebrate his life at a later date to be announced.

Dalrymple, a 36-year veteran of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), worked to improve farming practices worldwide. Most of his career was spent working for CGIAR, formerly the Consultative Group for International Agriculture Research, which he supported soon after its inception in 1972.  As an agricultural economist, he shaped the policies, programs and budgets of the agency’s Washington headquarters and 16 international centers in South America, Africa and Asia, and he traveled to most of them. During his career, he became an expert in Soviet agriculture, high-yielding crop varieties in the developing world, and wrote many papers showing how science and research act as a force for public good. In retirement, Dalrymple compiled and published an extensive survey of research into the use of a Chinese medicinal herb, artemisia, in treating drug-resistant malaria.

Dana Grant Dalrymple was born in Seneca Falls, N.Y., on Nov. 5, 1932 to Daniel M. Dalrymple and Esther Shappee Dalrymple.  His future was foreseen by a family friend and author, Raymond F. Yates, who dedicated The Boy and the Battery (1942), a primer on electricity and magnetism, “To a little boy named Dana Dalrymple who shows an uncommon interest in the world around him.”

Dana studied at the agriculture school at Cornell University, where he found a home at the Alpha Zeta agricultural fraternity, earning an undergraduate degree (1954) studying pomology, followed by two advanced degrees in agricultural economics—the M.S. from Cornell in 1956, and, after a stint at the University of Connecticut, the Ph.D. from Michigan State University in 1962.

He moved to Washington D.C. that year for a job with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, before transferring to USAID, where he remained for 36 years, until he retired in October 2008.

In his spare time, Dalrymple pursued other research interests.  In 1980, he co-founded and co-presided over the Friends of the Palisades Library, a community group based in the northwest D.C. neighborhood to which the Dalrymples had moved a decade before.  Around home, he kept a close eye on neighborhood construction projects in the capacity of “sidewalk superintendent” and indoors, he read extensively on engineering and the history of technology.  Another passion of his, the history of Washington’s National Mall, culminated with his writing a chapter about the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Designing the Nation’s Capital:  The 1901 Plan for Washington, D.C., published by the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts in 2006.

Dana was preceded in death by his wife, Helen in 2009 and his brother, Ross in 2001. He is survived by his sons, Dan, of Rockland, Maine, and Will, of London, England; brothers Doug of Bloomington, Ind., and Roger of San Leandro, Calif.; his sister Anne Krantz of Amherst, N.H. and sister-in-law Bonnie of Richmond, V.A.; three grandchildren, Kate, Tom and Emily Dalrymple, all of London; and several nieces and nephews.

Lloyd Oliver Pierson, 77, of Waco, Texas was a beloved husband, father, grandfather and brother who passed away peacefully on Saturday, April 14, 2018 at his home in Arlington, VA.

An accomplished statesman, Lloyd earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of Houston. Lloyd dedicated his career to international service, focused on relations between the US and Africa. Among other things during this  political career, Lloyd was the Acting Director and Chief of Staff for the Peace Corps, was an Administrator for US Agency for International Development, a Senior International Adviser for the Save Darfur Coalition, and the President of the US African Development Foundation. He also served on various boards that focused on the youth in Africa.

An avid weightlifter, Lloyd still holds various national bench press records. Lloyd had various other hobbies including collecting country music records, sports memorabilia, historic newspaper and magazines, and souvenirs of African history.

But more than anything, Lloyd was a devoted husband, father, grandfather, and brother, whose family benefited immeasurably from his loving support, selflessness, and compassion. He is survived by his wife, Elida, sons Lloyd, Gene, and George, along with their spouses Laura, Amanda, and Anissa, his grandchildren Lloyd Oliver and Robert and his brothers and sister, James, Larry and Darlene.