The Foreign Service Journal, March 2010

M A R C H 2 0 1 0 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 73 Service in 1983. Mr. Habron won nu- merous awards and citations, includ- ing: the Medal for Civilian Service in Vietnam, Superior Unit citations, a Distinguished Achievement Award and several Senior Foreign Service performance awards, as well as a Spe- cial Recognition Award from the gov- ernment of El Salvador. He spoke Thai, Vietnamese and Spanish. In 1989, Mr. Habron retired from USAID — six months after his son James joined the Foreign Service — and returned to Pleasantville, where he was active in civic and community life, enjoying the opportunity to give back to his hometown. There he began a second career as a project coordinator in the Pleasantville Urban Enterprise Zone office, and was instrumental in renovating the town bus station and bringing a new bookkeeping system to the State of New Jersey. He also served on the board of di- rectors for the “Miss Pleasantville Con- test” and as a member of the Planning Commission. He received the 2007 City of Pleasantville Employee of the Year Award and the Pleasantville High School PTAAlumni RecognitionAward. His tenure at the UEZ was broken in 2009 by the illness that ultimately claimed his life. Mr. Habron’s interests were broad. He loved playing the trumpet, double- bell euphonium, valve trombone, tuba, sousaphone and double bass, and was a ham radio operator, golfer, heavy reader and history buff. An avid fish- erman and boat owner, his car was al- ways filled with fishing gear. He was a member of the American Legion, the Omega Psi Phi fraternity, the American Foreign Service Association and the United States Power Boat Squadron. Family and friends recall Mr. Habron’s love for his family, his warmth and charm, and his ability to interact with people from all walks of life — from prime ministers to the man-in-the-street — and from differ- ent ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Mr. Habron is survived by his wife, Thelma Juanita Habron, of Pleas- antville; two sons, James Jr. (and his wife, Angela Anderson), of Sewell, N.J., and Geoffrey (and his wife, Kate Glynn) of East Lansing, Mich.; two grandsons, Shane and Gabriel; a sister, Pauline Thomas (and her husband, Robert) of Philadephia, Pa.; two aunts; and two godchildren. William Kenneth Hitchcock , 90, a retired FSO, died on Nov. 8 in Boul- der, Colo. Mr. Hitchcock attended the Uni- versity of Colorado, where he received his bachelor’s degree in 1941. Follow- ing a graduate fellowship at the Na- tional Institute of Public Affairs in Washington and graduate work at American University, Mr. Hitchcock entered the Army Air Corps during World War II. He completed 34 mis- sions as a heavy bomber pilot out of England and was decorated with the Distinguished Flying Cross. At the end of the war, while still in London, he marriedMaxine Miller of Glendale, Calif. They divorced in 1981. In 1947, Mr. Hitchcock joined the State Department. He served in Lon- don, Paris, Madrid, Calcutta, Saigon and Washington, D.C. Early in his ca- reer, he was in charge of the State De- partment’s disarmament research pro- gram. As consul general in Calcutta from 1964 to 1968, he administered one of the largest consulates in the world, whose district included the Hi- malayan regions of Sikkim and Bhutan. And in Saigon, toward the end of the Vietnam War, he directed the refugee program and served as minister for po- litical affairs. Mr. Hitchcock’s last assignment was as deputy assistant secretary of State for educational and cultural affairs. In 1977, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Col- orado “in recognition of his accom- plishments in the world of diplomatic affairs, and for his commitment to hu- mane and compassionate diplomacy.” In 1978, he retired from the For- eign Service and settled in Boulder, Colo., where he married Diane Bart- lett Weller in 1987. Mr. Hitchcock served onDenver’s Council on Foreign Relations andWorld Affairs and on the University of Denver’s Social Science Foundation. Friends and family mem- bers recall how he always enjoyed a lively discussion of world events. Mr. Hitchcock is survived by his wife, Diane, of Boulder; stepsons Cody and Doug Weller, and Doug’s daugh- ter, Adee Rose, all of Boulder; a daugh- ter, Victress Hitchcock of Crestone, Colo.; a grandson, Nick Sitko, and his wife, Michelle, of Lusaka, Zambia; a granddaughter, Julia Sitko, of Guate- mala; and a nephew, Bill Hitchcock and his wife, Rhonda, of Ft. Collins, Colo. Donations in his memory may be made to the Social Science Foundation at the University of Denver. William E. Hutchinson , 92, a re- tired FSO with the U.S. Information Agency, died on June 20 at his home in Gaithersburg, Md., of bladder cancer. Mr. Hutchinson was born in Mel- rose, Mass. He worked for the Boston Evening Transcript as a youth, before I N M E M O R Y