Archive | Memoriam

David Levintow, 89, of Lyme died Feb. 18, 2016, at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center of complications from a bone marrow disease.

He was born in Philadelphia, Pa., on June 15, 1926, son of Benjamin and Dora (Melnicoff). He married Arsenia Gonzalez in 1951, who predeceased him in 2003. He served during World War II in the Army Air Corps from 1944-45, graduated from Antioch College in 1950 with a B.A. in Government, and earned his M.A. in Development Economics from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in 1970.

From 1958 to 1984 he served with the U.S. Agency for International Development as a Foreign Service Officer, retiring as a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Counselor. He and Arsenia raised their four children in his various overseas postings including the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Iran, Turkey, Vietnam, Liberia, Afghanistan and Ghana. His Washington, DC tours included serving as Director for the Pakistan and Nepal Office, and in the Bureau for Private Enterprise. He also served on the US delegation to the Asian Development Bank and helped to establish the U.S. Trade and Development Agency.

After his Foreign Service career, he worked in Washington, DC for the Institute for Public-Private Partnerships, the Center for Financial Engineering in Development, and the Center for Privatization. In this effort, he served as a development economist advising government officials in over 30 countries on public sector reform strategies that involved public-private partnerships. He conducted capacity-building workshops and seminars on project design, procurement, contract monitoring, and regulatory governance. This included a broad range of projects including extending public services to former black townships in South Africa, advising Indonesia on facilitating foreign direct investment, advising the governorates of Alexandria and Cairo in Egypt on solutions for solid waste management, and many other public sector reform and anti-poverty initiatives.

After his wife Arsenia died, he relocated to Lyme where he enjoyed a long and active ‘On Golden Pond’ phase, which included biking, kayaking, canoeing and the pleasures of stoking his wood stove with logs he had stacked himself. He was raised in the Jewish tradition, but after moving to Lyme he joined the Lyme Congregational Church where he served on the Outreach Committee and on the Board. He was also an active member of “Those Guys,” a men’s service organization in Lyme.

He is survived by his daughter Alexandra Howell (and her husband Peter Tenney) of Lyme; and his three sons Nicholas (and his wife Katharina), Christopher, and Anthony; and his grandchildren Cameron, Nathan, and Caroline Howell; and Sara, David, and Christopher Levintow. His brother Leon predeceased him in 2014.

He had many favorite sayings, but often said that his life’s goal could be summed up in the famous quotation from the American educator Horace Mann: “Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.”*

Gaylord Walker, age 91, died peacefully and courageously in his McLean, VA home on March 21, 2016 of Parkinsons Disease. Survivors include two sons, Lawrence of Prescott, Arizona and Mark of Emmitsburg, MD; and three grandchildren, Justin, John and Violet. His wife of 54 years, Joanne Smith Walker, preceded him in death in 2005.

Born on March 2, 1925 in Idabel, Oklahoma, he was the son of Thomas Byrd and Nola Anderson Walker. Gaylord attended Washington-Lee High School in Arlington, VA and was a graduate of the University of Virginia with a Bachelors degree in Foreign Affairs. He studied at the University in Gernoble, France, where he met and courted his wife Joanne.

He was accepted into the rigorous V-12 Navy College Training Program for officers at Mt. St. Mary”s College during World War II and served on the Japanese front as commanding officer of the LST-1080. Later, he was one of the first to fly over Nagasaki following the detonation of the atomic bomb in August of 1945.

Gaylord”s professional career as a Foreign Service Officer with USAID spanned 20 years in developing countries including Cambodia, Thailand, Morocco, Tunisia, and Ethiopia. He and his family immersed themselves in the culture of indigenous locals, camped in the Sahara Desert, traveled by elephant, and assisted MEDICO in war-ravaged Cambodia. He hunted in wildlife safaris, pulled through a bout with malaria, and sailed extensively in the Mediterranean, the Caribbean and the Eastern Seaboard. Many noteworthy tales also came out of his involvement with the rescue mission of the USS Liberty during the 6 day war in the summer of ’67.

Gaylord was a cultured and adventurous man who enjoyed photography, traveling, scuba diving, American history, astronomy, and even belonged to an opera club. He had a penchant for living: he lived right and he lived well. Gaylord, the quintessential gentleman, with such aplomb and diplomacy, will be remembered for his virtuous ways by all who knew him. He was the embodiment of “The Greatest Generation” and a principled man. Truly he leaves a legacy of goodwill, professional achievement and moral character to those who succeed him. His example will continue to inspire for years to come. Gaylord”s own reflections speak for themselves in his headstone epithet which reads: “Thanks be to God for a wonderful life.”

Retired United States Ambassador Donald Boyd Easum, 92, died of natural causes on April 16, 2016 in Summit, N.J.

Ambassador Easum’s work, advocacy, humanitarian efforts, activism, collaborations and friendships spanned decades and continents. A career in the Foreign Service brought Mr. Easum, and often his family, into circumstances and environments very different from his native U.S. He witnessed war, revolution, famine and environmental crises but never lost his innate optimism and unfailing sense of humor. He continued writing, speaking and travelling into his late 80s.

A World War II veteran, teacher, diplomat, and writer, Mr. Easum was also a fine trumpet and cornet player and enjoyed both choir directing and singing. He was also an avid gardener and tennis player. He found his greatest joy in his four children — who were each born in different countries — and his nine grandchildren.

Mr. Easum was born in Culver, Ind., August 27, 1923. He was raised in Madison, Wis., where his father was a professor and Chairman of the history department at the University of Wisconsin, and his mother was a church organist. He graduated cum laude in 1942 from the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Conn. In 1947, Mr. Easum received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from the University of Wisconsin, where he was a member of the varsity tennis team, the band and orchestra, Phi Kappa Phi and Phi Beta Kappa. He was awarded the school’s Kenneth Sterling Day award for scholarship, athletics and character.

He served in the Pacific theater during World War II, including 10 months on Iwo Jima in the U.S. Army Air Force. Mr. Easum passed on the opportunity to play in the military band, since he felt he would learn more in the communication systems squadron, signaling and guiding aircraft from the airfield control tower. Indeed, even 50 years after the war, he was known to impress his children by tapping out the alphabet in Morse code and identifying the myriad friendly and belligerent aircraft from silhouettes. Following his service from 1942-1946, he taught secondary school at the John Burroughs School in St. Louis and then joined The New York Times as a city news reporter.

In 1950, Mr. Easum received Master in Public Affairs and Master of Arts degrees from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. Following studies at London University on a Fulbright scholarship, and in Buenos Aires on a Doherty Foundation grant and Penfield fellowship, he earned a doctorate in international politics from Princeton in 1953.

Mr. Easum entered the U.S. Foreign Service in 1953. During basic training at the Foreign Service Institute, his hesitation, on principle, to state that he was anti-communist delayed his security clearance and thus an overseas diplomatic assignment, for more than a year. During this time however, he met and married Augusta Pentecost of Gadsden, Ala., who had served as a Foreign Service secretary and consular assistant in the U.S. embassies in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Madrid, Spain. Together they had four children.

Mr. Easum spent 27 years in the U.S. Foreign Service at posts in Nicaragua, Indonesia, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Niger, Burkina Faso (Ambassador 1971-1974) and Nigeria (Ambassador, 1975-1979). He was given the Department of State’s Meritorious Service Award for his work in Indonesia. As Ambassador to Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), Mr. Easum was bestowed the title of Commandeur de l’Ordre National by the host government for his leadership of international famine relief activities.

While Ambassador in Nigeria, Mr. Easum was instrumental in turning around previously acrimonious relations with the U.S., and his influence contributed to the country’s first successful transition from a military regime to a democratically elected government, based on the U.S. model. Other notable achievements of which he was proud were his hosting of Jimmy Carter on the first-ever state visit of a U.S. President to Sub-Saharan Africa, and visits from U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Reverend Andrew Young.

During the Nixon/Ford Administration, he served as Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, working tirelessly to avoid greater conflict in southern Africa. In all, he devoted more than three decades of his professional career to the improvement of U.S. relations with Africa.

Earlier State Department assignments included Executive Secretary for the Agency for International Development, and Staff Director of the National Security Council’s Interdepartmental Group for Latin America.

A competitive but friendly tennis and ping pong player, he promoted diplomacy via both of those sports, persuading Chinese officials to fund coaching for promising Voltaïque table-tennis players, and then helping to organize the first professional tennis tournament in West Africa, featuring international greats Arthur Ashe and Stan Smith, among others.

His distinguished career extended beyond his years with the U.S. Department of State. Upon retiring from the Foreign Service in 1980 with the rank of Career Minister, Mr. Easum assumed the presidency of the Africa-America Institute in New York (1980-1988). This work was followed by more than 20 years of international lecturing, non-profit Board memberships and activism on behalf of global understanding and human rights causes.

In 1991, he designed and taught a foreign policy seminar at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He accompanied his students to South Africa on a two-week study of models for a post-apartheid constitution. Introducing his students to Nelson Mandela was a highlight of that trip.

From 1990 to 1995, Mr. Easum was Vice President and Senior Program Consultant of the River Blindness Foundation. He organized the Foundation’s offices throughout Nigeria and was the principal drafter and negotiator of the pioneer agreement with the government for nationwide eradication of the river blindness disease (onchocerciasis) affecting some 12 million Nigerians. This pilot program was later adopted by the Carter Center and deployed on a global scale.

Mr. Easum was Senior Fellow at Yale University’s Stimson Seminar from 1999 to 2004. In April 2003, he served on the National Democratic Institute’s observer team for presidential elections in Nigeria.

He was a member of the Boards of the WorldSpace Foundation, the Rothko Chapel in Houston, the American School of Tangier/Marrakech, Renewable Energy for African Development, Friends of Boys Town South Africa, Volunteers in Technical Assistance, Pact Inc., and Vice President of Global Business Access. He was a member of the Corporate Council on Africa, the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training, the American Foreign Service Association, the Council on Foreign Relations, Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change and the American Academy of Diplomacy.

Mr. Easum was predeceased by his wife, Augusta Pentecost Easum in 1992. He is survived by his four children and nine grandchildren: Jefferson Easum of Mexico City, his wife Alessandra and their children Nicole and André; David Easum of Lagos, Nigeria, his daughter Lauren, his partner Karine and their son Tom; Susan Easum Greaney of Scotch Plains, N.J., her husband Michael and their children Charlotte, Claire and Scott; John Easum of Tokyo, his wife Laila and their children Maya and Zachary; and sister Janet Easum Bay of Traverse City, Mich.

Dick Harger, 79, died peacefully at home on Sunday, April 17, 2016. He was married for nearly sixty years to his high school sweetheart, Lois Kay Hansen Harger. They raised two children, Linda Holly Harger Dembinski of Millstone, New Jersey, and son Daniel Robert Harger of Lake Mills, Wisconsin. Dick was born in Woodland, Michigan, to the late Walter and Margaret Harger.

Dick graduated from Big Rapids High School on June 2, 1955. He then attended Ferris Institute (later Ferris State University). After graduating in February of 1960 with a degree in Accounting, Dick accepted an auditing position with the Government Accounting Office in Los Angeles, California. After working there for two years, he was hired by the Agency for International Development (AID) where he worked in the Controller’s Office for 24 years. His wife and children accompanied him to postings in Kabul, Afghanistan; Georgetown, Guyana; Washington D.C.; Jakarta, Indonesia; Managua, Nicaragua; Panama City, Panama; and Guatemala City, Guatemala. Dick had the honor of being one of the first USAID Senior Foreign Service Officers.

Dick retired to Bradenton, Florida, in 1984 but continued to travel to Africa, Asia, South and Central America, and the Caribbean as an AID consultant. In 1992, Dick and his wife moved to Lake Lure, N.C. where they lived for seven years. Next they lived in Weaverville, NC, for over four years, and for the past eleven years they have called Asheville, N.C. home.

Dick was an avid golfer for many years, finally quitting the game after making his first “hole-in-one” at age 67. He also enjoyed boating, owning six different kinds of boats over the years. His passion was cars, having many over his lifetime, including his dream car, a 1967 Corvette.

Survivors include his wife Kay Harger; daughter Holly and her husband Dr. Kevin Dembinski; his son Dan Harger and his soul mate Debbie Kutz; Dick’s sister Shirley and her husband Duane Massman of Lake Lure; brother Robert and his wife Fina Harger of Tyngsboro, MA; brother Bruce and his wife Linda Harger of Sault Ste. Marie, MI.; and the delight of Dick’s life, his five grandchildren – Cody and wife Stephanie Harger of The Dells, WI; Kyle Harger of Dallas, TX; Dana Harger of Lake Mills, WI; Robert Dembinski of Millstone, NJ; and Jackie Dembinski of Tampa, FL.

Dick will be greatly missed by all who knew him and had the privilege of working with him and calling him a friend.

John Harmon Clary, 81, of Braddock Heights, Maryland, passed away Sunday, April 24, 2016, at Frederick Memorial Hospital. He was the husband of Barbara O’Neil Clary. Born September 26, 1934 in Osceola, Iowa, John was the son of the late Orvelle M. and Mary King Clary.

Mr. Clary retired from USAID where he was a Foreign Service Officer for more than 40 years. During his career he served for four and a half years in Vietnam during the war, sustaining shrapnel injuries; then in Paraguay, where the Clarys’ daughters were born; followed by the Dominican Republic, Nepal and Panama. Fredericktonians may remember John from Bon Ton department store where he worked for several years post-retirement.

He will especially be remembered for his dry sense of humor. An avid student of the Civil War and son of a WWI Veteran, Mr. Clary recently joined American Legion Post #297.

In addition to his wife, John Clary is survived by his daughters Heather Clary and husband Sebastian Silvestro of Annapolis and Hillary Hawkins and husband Kevin Hawkins of Smithsburg, two grandchildren O’Neil Silvestro and Penelope Hawkins and brother James Clary of Lake Havasu City, Arizona.

Michael Feldstein passed away in his home in Washington D.C. April 13, surrounded by friends and neighbors.

Mike’s life and adventures wholly encapsulate the Peace Corps mission of promoting world peace and friendship. In 1963, Mike joined Peace Corps Ethiopia II, and served two years in Dire Dawa establishing adult education programs. The skills he learned and experiences he had while serving in Ethiopia paved the way for what followed. He spent several decades working for the Agency for International Development and the Department of State, helping to set up and run programs to provide relief to those affected by war, poverty, and rights abuses in Southeast Asia, Southern and West Africa, and Latin America.

In retirement, Mike threw himself into service as a long time Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner and founding president of the Dupont Festival organization. Mike will be best remembered for his talent in bringing people together– including neighbors, business-people, city and federal officials, and community groups — and for his unique mix of charm, vision, light-heartedness, and persistence.   Every shopkeeper, sales clerk, waiter, and busboy knew Mike, and he knew them and how their families were doing.

The world, the District, and Mike’s neighborhood felt a little smaller because of his knack for creating friendships and collaboration.

Charles Blankstein, a career foreign service officer with U.S. Agency for International Development, Latin America, died of congestive heart failure on April 30 in Washington DC. He was 80. He is survived by his wife Lucy; daughter Amy; son Andrew; a daughter-in-law Beth and granddaughter Emma.

Edward Ignatius Donoghue of Lanham, Maryland passed away on Wednesday, May 11, 2016. He was the husband of the late Mary Donoghue.

Ed Donoghue was a long time staff member and division chief in USAID’s Africa Bureau, serving under many Assistant Administrators and Directors of the Office of Development Planning. He will surely be remembered fondly by many of his colleagues.

Neil McDonald Kester passed away on July 1st, 2016 in Cary, North Carolina following an 18 month fight with glioblastoma (brain cancer). Neil is survived by his wife Leyla S. Kester his four children Emily Kester, Erin Brady, Grace and Evelyn. He is also survived by his siblings Norma, Jim, Joyce, Susan and Bruce and their families.

Neil was born in Wawanesa Manitoba, Canada in April of 1958. He was one of six children born of Dr. Norman and Evelyn Kester. Emily and Erin were born from his marriage to Kimberley McNeil; they divorced in 1997. Neil married Leyla Gaytan Kawas in 2005. Born to them in Honduras were Grace, now 10 years old, and Evelyn, now 9. The family lives in Apex, North Carolina.

Neil greatly loved Leyla and his four children. Neil valued his employment, first as a Peace Corps volunteer in Zaire, and then 28 years of service with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). He really enjoyed how his work with USAID provided rich experiences for him and his children. He joined as an administrative officer for USAID in Washington in 1987. He was posted to Cairo, Egypt the following year. He served next in Nairobi, Kenya starting in 1991. Following in 1995, Neil was posted to Amman, Jordan, and then transferred to Washington in 1997. Neil was then posted to the recently liberated Kosovo in 1999, where he worked in Pristina until 2001. After a 2001 assignment in Kingston, Jamaica, Neil was posted in Tegucigalpa, Honduras between 2002 and 2007. He met Leyla in Honduras, where their two daughters were born. The family moved in 2007 to Tbilisi, Georgia where Neil also covered Azerbaijan. Between 2009 and 2013, Neil was posted in Cairo for a second time, and also covered USAID administrative matters in Lebanon and Yemen. His last overseas post was Maputo, Mozambique in 2014. He was medically evacuated from Maputo with symptoms that were later diagnosed in the U.S. as glioblastoma brain cancer.

Overseas, on postings and short-term visit, Neil enjoyed the languages he studied, including French, Swahili, Arabic, Spanish and Portuguese. In 2012, Neil was promoted to Senior Foreign Service Officer.

Neil was raised Protestant, but joined Leyla as a formal member of the Roman Catholic Church in 2015.*

Norman W. Mosher died peacefully on June 28, 2016 at Goodwin House Bailey”s Crossroads, Falls Church, Virginia. He is survived by his wife Marcie; and children David (Ann) and Beth (Eike); grandchildren, Tom, Emily, Molly, Adam and Garland.

Norman was born in Portland, Maine, in 1922 and grew up in Belfast, Maine. He attended the University of Maine and, after graduating in 1943, served in the U.S. Army. He was one of the few in his unit who was not captured, wounded, or killed as the group made its way from Cherbourg, France to Czechoslovakia by the war”s end.

Norman returned to do graduate work in economics and International Relations at the University of Maine and then the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He worked in the Office of Intelligence and Research in the U.S. State Department before helping to found Associates for International Research.

After receiving a Ford Grant to conduct economic research in Ghana, West Africa, he worked with the U.S. Agency for International Development. He served with the U.S. Aid Mission in Nigeria and then with the American Delegation to the Asian Development Bank in Manila, the Philippines. For his work he travelled widely in West Africa and Southeast Asia.

Norman was a devoted reader and enjoyed sailing, camping, canoeing and following political issues. In retirement he learned new woodworking skills and designed and built furniture.