The Foreign Service Journal, January-February 2019

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2019 89 IN MEMORY n James L. (Jim) Culpepper III , 90, a retired Foreign Service officer with the U.S. Information Agency, died on Oct. 16, 2018, in Berlin, Germany, from complica- tions of pneumonia. Mr. Culpepper was born in San Fran- cisco on Feb. 26, 1928, and grew up in Ross, Marin County, California. He gradu- ated in 1945 from Tamalpais High School, where he was student body president. He served as a paratrooper in the U.S. Army before enrolling at the University of California at Berkeley. He was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study in Denmark as a graduate student. Mr. Culpepper joined USIA in 1958. He was posted to Sweden, Nigeria, Kenya, Vietnam, Brazil, India and Indonesia. Flu- ent in Vietnamese, he served three times in South Vietnam and was among the last to be evacuated by helicopter from the roof of the U.S. embassy in Saigon in 1975. During his Washington assignments, he travelled extensively as an inspector and worked at the Voice of America. A lifelong student of languages—he once studied Old Icelandic—Mr. Culpep- per studied and became fluent in German and French after his retirement in 1988 at the age of 60. Mr. Culpepper is survived by his wife, Christa Mayer; two daughters, Leigh Culpepper and Nikki Culpepper of San Francisco; four grandchildren, Eli and Theo Socks and Maya and Makayla Fuges; as well as his former wife, retired FSO Donna Millons Culpepper. Memorial contributions may be made to Peace Trees Vietnam. n Allen Clifford Hansen , 93, a retired Foreign Service officer with the U.S. Infor- mation Agency, passed away on Sept. 16, 2018, after suffering a stroke. Mr. Hansen was born on Sept. 23, 1924, in Plainfield, N.J. He and his parents, Gun- nar Winding and Mary Margaret, and his brother Henrik, settled in Metuchen, N.J., in 1931, where Mr. Hansen was active with the Boy Scouts. At age 18, he joined the Navy during World War II and served aboard the USS Alsea, a sea-going tug that hauled targets for destroyers to practice firing and towed damaged U.S. warships through mine- infested waters. In 1946 he enrolled at Triple Cities College of Syracuse University in Endicott, N.Y., on the G.I. bill, graduating from Syra- cuse University in 1950 with a bachelor’s degree in political science. After graduation, Mr. Hansen covered Metuchen as a reporter for The Perth Amboy Evening News . He was recalled to active duty in 1951 during the Korean War and served as a naval intelligence officer until 1954. After working briefly in Spain, he returned to the United States when notified that his application for a job as a Foreign Service officer with the newly established United States Information Agency was approved. Mr. Hansen spent 32 years with USIA, working in nine countries andWashing- ton, D.C. He experienced civil unrest in the Dominican Republic, survived a terrorist kidnapping plot in Uruguay (only because he was away on vacation) and served in Bolivia during the 1971 coup d’état. In Venezuela in 1956, on his first assignment with USIA, he met andmar- ried Charmaine Rostant of Trinidad and Tobago. They went on to serve inMexico (1956-1958), Guyana (formerly British Gui- ana, 1958-1960) and Spain (1960-1962). In 1963 Mr. Hansen received a master’s degree in American studies from the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania. He then served as the press attaché in Uruguay (1967-1970), director of USIA operations in Bolivia (1970-1972) and Peru (1976-1980), and deputy public affairs officer in Pakistan (1981-1984). Mr. Hansen took part in organizing President Dwight Eisenhower’s visit to Spain, President Lyndon B. Johnson’s trip to Uruguay and Vice President George H.W. Bush’s visit to Pakistan. He spent a night at the piano as Duke Ellington played, joked with Danny Kaye, hung out with Lowell Thomas and organized Kirk Douglas’ visit to refugee camps in Pakistan. He was a technical adviser on the first- ever USIA anti-narcotics film, “The Trip,” about drug trafficking in Latin America. Mr. Hansen also took his family on car trips across South America; his children say the trips gave them an appreciation for local cultures and the world around them. His Washington, D.C., assignments include: Caribbean desk officer for USIA during the Dominican crisis (1963-1966); USIA policy officer for Latin America (1972-1976); and chief of the Latin American branch of the Office of Research (1980-1981). After retiring fromUSIA in 1987, Mr. Hansen kept busy writing his memoirs. He was the originator of an internet site spon- sored by the USIA Alumni Association and the Public Diplomacy Foundation and served as its webmaster for several years. For more than a decade, Mr. Hansen volunteered at the AAFSWBookstore and the annual book fair; his family believes that his volunteer position at the book- store makes him the oldest person ever to work at the State Department. Mr. Hansen is survived by his wife of 62 years, Charmaine, and five children: Robert (and spouse Nancy); Annette; Katherine Freeman (and spouse Daniel); Alicia Hatcher (and spouse Monte); Mark (and spouse Dahlia). He has 12 grandchil- dren: Lindsay, Charlie, Kevin, Caroline, Joseph, Nicole, Gwennie, Joshua, Jason, Chris, Savannah Rose and Zachary; and