THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2025 75 sparked her interest in seeing the world, and she switched from the Civil Service to the Foreign Service in 1971. Ms. Martino’s first overseas assignment was to Belgrade, where she worked from 1972 to 1974 as the executive secretary for USIA’s first secretary for press and culture. From Belgrade, she was selected to be part of the staff to open the first U.S. embassy in East Berlin. She again worked as an executive secretary for the first secretary for press and culture but also worked as needed for the first U.S. ambassador to East Germany, John Sherman Cooper. From East Berlin, she served in Bonn (1976-1980), where she helped staff some of the final meetings of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) II. She was present when Presidents Jimmy Carter and Leonid Brezhnev signed the final treaty in Vienna in 1979. Her final overseas assignment was to U.S. Embassy Moscow, where she worked from 1980 until 1982, again as executive secretary for USIA First Secretary for Press and Culture Wallace W. Littell. Working in Moscow during the height of the Cold War was difficult but also exciting, and Ms. Martino often told relatives stories of the Russians trying to tunnel beneath the embassy and of being followed by KGB agents when out of town. After Moscow, she returned to the United States and worked in the registrar’s office recruiting new officers to the service and calling them when they had been accepted. She retired in 1986, after 35 years of government service. She is survived by her great-nephew, Patrick Martino, whom she inspired to join the State Department as a Foreign Service officer.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy ODIyMDU=