76 MARCH-APRIL 2026 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL given a directed assignment to Vietnam, as was the case for many young, single FSOs. As part of Civil Operations and Rural Development Support (CORDS), he was based in Nha Trang, where he managed a survey research program. After Vietnam, Mr. Krebs was assigned to the Bureau of International Organizations where he focused on United Nations political affairs. With the signing of the Paris Peace Accords in 1973, however, Mr. Krebs was recruited to temporarily return to Nha Trang to do political reporting. In 1975 he began Japanese language training for an assignment to Tokyo as executive assistant to Ambassador Mike Mansfield. He then went to Sweden as a political officer. Drawing on his experience in Sweden, Mr. Krebs was subsequently assigned to the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency in Washington, D.C., in 1980. With the steady stream of Vietnamese “boat people” fleeing their country, there was an urgent need for U.S. assistance, and Mr. Krebs was sent to Singapore, then Jakarta, to help set up camps to house, feed, and process refugees. In Jakarta, he participated in negotiations with the Indonesian government to permit the refugees to be temporarily settled on a remote island while they awaited resettlement in other countries. He also took on TDY assignments in Thailand and Malaysia to deal with the flood of refugees leaving Cambodia to escape the Khmer Rouge. Mr. Krebs then returned to Washington to become a China desk officer from 1982 to 1984. There, he was frequently called on to prepare speeches on China-related issues for senior administration officials in the department and the White House. Following the desk assignment, Mr. Krebs served as senior watch officer in the Operations Center from 1984 to 1986. From there, he moved to the Bureau of Legislative Affairs for two years, where he kept congressional committees informed about critical policy issues in East Asia. Mr. Krebs then entered Dutch language training for an assignment to Antwerp as consul general from 1989 to 1992. After, he spent a year as political officer in Malaysia, before returning to Europe to be consul general in Zurich. Upon retiring in 1999, Mr. Krebs settled in Hillandale, a community in Washington, D.C. He enjoyed getting in touch with his many friends in the area and making new friends among his neighbors through swimming at the pool, participating in a book club, attending concerts and movies, and traveling. Mr. Krebs is survived by his brother, Alan Krebs, of Seattle, Wash. Those close to him are grateful for his extraordinary caregiver, Tashena Taylor, and assistance from a special friend, Marsha Scialdo. n Christine Marthaler Kursch, 81, a Foreign Service spouse, passed away peacefully on December 19, 2025, in Washington, D.C., after a prolonged illness. Ms. Kursch was born on February 4, 1944, in Bern, where she was raised and studied fashion design, including an internship with Christian Dior. In 1966 she immigrated to Canada, later working as a model at EXPO 1967 in Montreal. Returning to Switzerland that year, she met her future husband, Donald Kursch, a U.S. diplomat on his first overseas posting, in Bern. The couple married there in 1968. During her husband’s 37-year career in the Foreign Service, Ms. Kursch accompanied him, serving in Budapest, Moscow, Bonn, and Brussels. She became well known for her ability to reach out to the people of the countries to which we were accredited. In Hungary in 1987, she put together a gala fashion show event to raise funds for the new American School of Budapest, the first time this had been done in a country behind the then Iron Curtain. During their postings in Washington, D.C., Ms. Kursch worked with couture fashion at Saks-Jandel, Garfinckels, Bloomingdales, and Elizabeth Arden, where she was the fashion manager of its Connecticut Avenue store. Her warmth, kindness, and organizational talent touched many through her work as president of the American Women’s Club of Bonn, the American Club of Budapest, the Stauffacherin (a Swiss American Women’s Group in Washington, D.C.), and as an active volunteer at Annunciation Church. Ms. Kursch is survived by her husband of 57 years; their daughter, Catherine, and granddaughters Zoe and Sasha of Kirkland, Wash.; her sister, Anne Marthaler, of Zurich; and her brother, Fritz Marthaler, of Bern. n Charles Harrison Frazier Meade, 97, a retired Foreign Service officer, died peacefully on October 11, 2025, surrounded by family, at his home in Newcastle, Maine. Mr. Meade was born in 1928 in Charlottesville, Va., to Mary Frazier and Richard Hardaway Meade. He spent his childhood years in Miquon, Pa., and Crozet, Va. Mr. Meade earned a BA in history from Harvard University. After serving in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, he completed an MA in foreign affairs at the University of Virginia. He joined the Foreign Service in 1954, beginning a career that spanned four decades. Overseas assignments included Malaysia, United Kingdom, the Philippines, and Haiti. Before leaving for the Philippines, Mr.
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