The Foreign Service Journal, March 2012

M A R C H 2 0 1 2 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 71 I N M E M O R Y Clyde Lester Jones , 68, a retired Foreign Service officer, died unexpect- edly of a heart attack on Aug. 13, 2011, at his home in Colorado Springs, Colo. Born on June 2, 1943, at Ancon, Canal Zone, Panama, Mr. Jones grew up in Dillsboro, Ind., and attended the University of Cincinnati as an art major while in the Naval Reserves. Called up for active duty, he served with COM- MIDEASTFOR and at Dhahran Air Force Base as a radioman. He joined the State Department as a communications specialist in 1967 and was posted to Bonn, Geneva and Algiers. Then, taking a year’s leave, Mr. Jones returned to school, graduating summa cum laude from Southern Illi- nois University with a bachelor’s degree in mass communications. On return to the State Department, Mr. Jones took theMustang conversion exam to become an FSO and subse- quently served as a consular officer in Djibouti (when that embassy was first established), Cali, Zurich, Guatemala City, Stuttgart, Hong Kong, Lahore and Chennai. Throughout his years over- seas, he was an enthusiastic amateur magician and took part in all aspects of community theater. After retiring from the Foreign Service in 2002, Mr. Jones immersed himself in the world of Web design, quietly perfecting it into an art form that attracted fans all over the world. He leaves his former spouse, Con- stance Colding Jones, a recently retired FSO of Washington, D.C.; his daugh- ter Catherine Elizabeth Kyle (and her husband, Christopher) of Colorado Springs, Colo.; his son Paul Anthony Jones (and his wife, Jennifer) of Pulaski, Tenn.; and five grandchildren; as well as brothers James, Thomas and David. Please contribute your memories of Mr. Jones at www.dignitymemorial.com. Gruen Eugence “Gene” Martin, 68 , a retired Foreign Service officer, died on Nov. 9, 2011, in the arms of his beloved wife of 43 years, Joyce Lister- man. The younger son of John Clough and Eva Gruen Martin, Mr. Martin grew up in Andhra Pradesh, India. He graduated from The Peddie School in Heightstown, N.J., and from Kalama- zoo College in Michigan. After gradu- ate work at Syracuse University, he entered the Foreign Service in 1966. During 34 years as a diplomat, he served in Hong Kong, Burma, Taiwan, the Philippines, China and Washing- ton, D.C. Among assignments in Washington, he was the executive as- sistant to the Deputy Secretary of State and to the assistant secretary of State for East Asian & Pacific affairs, as well as an American Political Science Asso- ciation Congressional Fellow. He re- tired in 2000 as deputy chief of mission in Beijing, after serving as DCM in Manila, and consul general in Guang- zhou. Following retirement from the For- eign Service, Mr. Martin taught China and Northeast Asia area studies at the Foreign Service Institute. He subse- quently joined the United States Insti- tute of Peace as executive director of the Philippine Facilitation Project, which sought to promote peace talks between the Philippine government and theMoro Islamic Liberation Front in Mindanao. From 2008 to 2009, Mr. Martin was director of theWashington office of the Johns Hopkins-Nanjing University Center for Chinese and American Studies in China. And for 10 years, from 2000 to 2011, he taught an annual course on China for graduate students from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School. He was also a visiting scholar in Southeast Asian studies at the School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University, as well as a frequent lecturer on East and South- east Asian issues. Mr. Martin was an elder of the Na- tional Presbyterian Church and a mem- ber of the Cosmos Club, DACOR and WIFA. In addition to his wife, Joyce Lister- man, Mr. Martin is survived by his son Gavin, daughter-in-law Laurie, and grandchildren Madeline and Graham of Ashburn, Va.; his daughter Lindsey Hudson, son-in-law Christopher, and grandchildren Natalie, James and Eliz- abeth of Chanhassen, Minn.; his daughter Lauren Holden, son-in-law Hale, and grandson Eaton of New York City; and his brother Louis Edwin and sister-in-law Katherine. In lieu of flowers, contributions in honor of Mr. Martin may be made to NPC, USIP Endowment, 2301 Consti- tution Ave. NW, Washington DC 20037, or to a charity of one’s choice. Ronald Oppen , 79, a retired FSO, died early in the morning of Dec. 1 after a brief illness, surrounded by loved ones. Born on May 16, 1932, in Queens, N.Y., he was the son of the late Mary Savage but spent the majority of his childhood with his uncle and aunt, the late Leo and Lilly O’Connell. Mr. Oppen served in the U.S. Ma- rine Corps from 1950 to 1958. He graduated with a B.A. in philosophy from the University of Miami in 1956. Mr. Oppen’s career path attested to his wide variety of interests. He was a cameraman and reporter for WTVJ-TV in Miami, Fla., for 10 years. Mr. Oppen joined the Foreign Serv-