The Foreign Service Journal, March 2006

working group in Washington, D.C. During a more than 25-year-long career in government service, he was also posted to Ghana, Zaire and Morocco. From 1972 to 1973 Mr. Tull attended the Foreign Service Institute and completed the 14th senior seminar on foreign policy. During his service as counselor for public affairs at Embassy Rabat, Mr. Tull launched an effort to transform an historic 47-room building, the Ameri- can Legation in Tangier, into a muse- um and academic study center. The building was a gift from the sultan of Morocco in 1821, and was the first property acquired abroad by the U.S. According to Mr. Tull’s records, it is the only American historic landmark on foreign soil. Restoration began in 1976, and in addition to housing the museum and study center it has become a tourist attraction. This project led Mr. Tull to an interest in Thomas Barclay, the 18th- century American who masterfully negotiated an agreement in Morocco that would be America’s longest-stand- ing treaty. With author Priscilla Roberts, he began the research that resulted in the publication of a mono- graph, Adam Hoops, Thomas Barclay and the House in Morrisville Known as Summerseat 1764-1791 (American Philosophical Society, 2001). Twice decorated by the govern- ment of Vietnam, Mr. Tull was also awarded the superior honor award by the Department of State in 1968, and the USIA Vietnam Service medal in 1969. He also received a psychologi- cal operations medal in Vietnam. Mr. Tull was a member of the American Foreign Service Association and the American Academy of Political and Social Science. He also served for 29 years with the Fairhope Sail and Power Squadron, and achieved the rank of post staff com- mander. He was national correspon- dent for the United States Power Squadron’s magazine The Ensign . He actively participated in the public boating course program, informing student and prospective members of USPS activities. He was also a con- tributing member of the building pro- gram for the Fairhope Unitarian Fellowship in Fairhope, Ala. Mr. Tull was preceded in death by his first wife, the former Dorothy Graham. He is survived by his present wife Margery Blaisdell Tull of Fairhope; two brothers, Howard M. Tull of Mandeville, La., and Samuel Tull of Jackson, La; a sister, Virginia Oppenheim of New Zealand; a grand- nephew, Erwin Barrett; and several nieces and nephews. The family requests memorial donations be made to the Fairhope Unitarian Fellowship, the Fairhope Public Library Furnishings Fund or the Tangier American Legation Museum (Office of the Treasurer, P.O. Box 43, Merrimac MA 01860). Ronald Allen Witherell , 70, a retired Foreign Service officer with USAID, died on Sept. 16 at his home in Guatemala City, following a two- year battle with stomach cancer. Born in Stamford, Conn., he grad- uated from the University of Miami in 1957 and entered the United States Air Force as a lieutenant in September of that year. He served in the Air Defense Command, first in Arizona and later in Japan and Taiwan, as watch officer at several early warning radar sites. On completion of active duty Mr. Witherell remained in the U.S. Air Force Reserves, rising to the rank of captain before his discharge in 1967. Mr. Witherell joined government service in 1961 as a management intern, part of a major recruitment program to staff the then-new U.S. Agency for International Develop- ment. After a stint as a desk officer in the Office of Central American Affairs, he converted to the Foreign Service in 1967 and served in El Salvador and Paraguay. In 1974 Mr. Witherell was selected for long-term training at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School, where he received his MBA in 1975. He was then assigned toWashington for sever- al years, first in the Latin America Bureau and later in the Bureau for the Near East and Asia, and still later as officer-in-charge for Jordan and Lebanon. During this period, Mr. Witherell became active in the American Foreign Service Association, first as USAID representative and then as an AFSA vice president. It was a critical time for the Foreign Service: the Foreign Service Act of 1980 was being written and AFSA was fighting to ensure that the best interests of all Foreign Service personnel, regardless of agency, would be properly and equitably protected. Mr. Witherell served on the AFSA drafting commit- tee and spent many hours in the office, at home and on the Hill working to see a just bill enacted. His attention to detail, his outstanding negotiating skills and the trust of his colleagues were critical throughout this process. He took great pride in its successful outcome; the legislation was his “lega- cy” to a profession he loved. Mr. Witherell returned to Central America in 1983 as chief general development officer in Honduras, and then in 1985 as associate mission director in El Salvador. After retiring, he worked as a consultant in several technical and managerial positions in El Salvador and Guatemala. In 1994, he and his wife Maria designed and built their dream home in Guatemala. Ron Witherell was a man of excep- 82 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / M A R C H 2 0 0 6 I N M E M O R Y u u