The Foreign Service Journal, January-February 2014

86 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2014 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL IN MEMORY n Alma Simpson Gibson, 99, wife of the late Wallace (Wally) Gibson, a Foreign Service officer with the U.S. Information Agency, died peacefully on Nov. 16 at her home in Alexandria, Va. Mrs. Gibson was born on Oct. 31, 1914, and grew up in Falls River, Mass. During World War II, she served as a registered nurse in the Armed Forces, achieving the rank of first lieutenant. She was one of the oldest surviving army nurses at the time of her death. As a Foreign Service spouse, she accompanied Mr. Gibson on assign- ments in Jakarta, Hong Kong and Taipei. She is survived by two sons, Scott, of London, England, and Steven, of Spring- field, Va. n Robert V. “Bob” Gildea , 91, a retired Foreign Service officer, died on Nov. 25 at his home in Arlington, Va., fol- lowing a prolonged battle with Parkin- son’s disease and related complications. His wife and friends were at his side. Born on April 28, 1922, in Coaldale, Pa., Mr. Gildea was the son of former congressman and newspaper publisher, James H. Gildea. During World War II, he flew combat missions with the U. S. Army Air Corps’ 100th Bomb Group, based in England, and later served with U.S. forces in Europe. He graduated from Pennsylvania State University in 1948 and worked for several years as a reporter for local newspapers in the state. Mr. Gildea joined the U.S. Informa- tion Agency in 1954. Following an initial assignment in Saigon, he had tours of duty in Dusseldorf and Frankfurt before returning to Washington in 1962 as a writer at the Voice of America. After Thai language training, he was assigned to Bangkok as director of the American Information Center in 1966. In 1969 he n Kathryn O. Clark-Bourne, 88, a retired Foreign Service officer, died on Aug. 8 in Eugene, Ore. Ms. Clark-Bourne was born in Fort Collins, Colo. After attending Colorado State University, she moved to Seattle during World War II and worked at the Boeing Corporation as a draftsman on B-29 bombers and other planes. She grad- uated with a degree in journalism from the University of Washington in 1947. From 1947 to 1949, she served as a mil- itary intelligence analyst in the U.S. occu- pation administration in Tokyo. She then returned to the United States and earned a master’s degree in mass communica- tions from the University of Minnesota. In 1952, Ms. Clark-Bourne joined the State Department, serving in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research until switch- ing to the Foreign Service in 1956. She served overseas in Tehran, Rotterdam and Bombay. In 1966, she married Kenneth Bourne and, because at that time married women were not allowed to serve, she was forced to leave the Foreign Service. The marriage later ended in divorce. Ms. Clark-Bourne worked in the private sector in New York from 1967 to 1975, when she returned to the Foreign Service. Her Washington assignments included the Indo-Chinese Task Force, fisheries affairs and West African affairs in the department. Overseas, she served as political counselor in Lagos, as deputy chief of mission in Conakry and as consul general in Douala, Cameroon. She retired in 1989 after a tour in the Inspection Corps. In retirement, Ms. Clark-Bourne served on the Board of Directors of DACOR and volunteered as an editor at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. She is survived by her brother, Andrew Clark, of Cottage Grove, Ore. returned to Vietnam as chief information officer in the Joint United States Public Affairs Office. He was assigned to Vientiane in 1971 as chief information officer, and later deputy public affairs officer. Shortly before the Royal Lao government fell to communist forces in 1975, he was trans- ferred to Bonn to manage the extensive network of American cultural and infor- mation centers in the Federal Republic of Germany. Returning to Washington in 1983, Mr. Gildea worked with German diplomats to commemorate 300 years of German immigration to the United States. The resulting German-American Tricen- tennial celebration was authorized by Congress and signed into law by President Ronald Reagan, and legislation followed to establish a national German- American Day. The Federal Republic of Germany awarded Mr. Gildea a distin- guished service medal on April 22, 1985. He retired later that year. In retirement, Mr. Gildea maintained contact with friends and relatives, trav- eled widely and followed local politics closely. He was a loyal supporter of his alma mater, Pennsylvania State Uni- versity, an active member of the 100th Bomb Group’s alumni organization and the American Legion, and a participant in the Public Diplomacy Alumni Associa- tion. His many close friends among former colleagues remember Mr. Gildea for his enjoyment of life, no matter how difficult the circumstances. They recall how his good humor and spirit of fun enriched their lives. Mr. Gildea is survived by his wife, Kim Gildea of Arlington, Va., a daughter from an earlier marriage, two stepchildren, five grandchildren, an older brother and sister, a younger brother, and numerous