The Foreign Service Journal, March 2014

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2014 61 IN MEMORY ests, and established strong relationships with South Africans of all races and political persuasions. After returning from South Africa in 1981, Mr. Edmondson was assigned to the Office of the Inspector General in the State Department, eventually serving as deputy inspector general. On retirement in 1986, he received the Wilbur J. Carr Award (the Secretary of State’s career service award), which read in part as follows: “. . .You have provided a model of ded- ication to duty, of careful, sure judgment, of ready acceptance of responsibility, and of personal and ethical involvement in public decisions. You have influenced American policy toward southern Africa, and you have earned the respect and admiration of your colleagues in the Foreign Service of the United States.” In retirement, Mr. Edmondson was president of Diplomatic & Consular Offi- cers, Retired and served as a volunteer at the Library of Congress in Washington for 10 years. In 2008, he and his wife moved from their home in Arlington, Va., to Prescott, Ariz. Mr. Edmondson is survived by his wife of 62 years, Donna Edmondson, of Prescott; his daughter, Barbara Schnei- der (and her husband, Richard) of Prescott; his son, Paul Edmondson (and his wife, Susan) of Washington, D.C.; and four grandchildren: Aaron Schneider, Katie Schneider, and Michael and Masha Edmondson. n Thomas L. Forbes , 78, a retired Foreign Service specialist, died on Dec. 8 at his home in Burke, Va., of natural causes. Mr. Forbes was born in Nevada, Iowa. He faithfully served his country for 31 years, first with the U.S. Navy from 1953 to 1957 and then with the State Department. n William B. Edmondson , 86, a retired Foreign Service officer and former U.S. ambassador to South Africa, died on Dec. 5 in Prescott, Ariz. Mr. Edmondson was born in St. Joseph, Mo., in 1927, but spent his for- mative years in Nebraska. He joined the army on graduating from high school in 1944, and served for three years, reach- ing the rank of first lieutenant. After leaving the army he attended the University of Nebraska, where he graduated with high distinction and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. In 1951, he earned a master’s degree in international affairs at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Boston, and later that same year married the former Donna Kiechel, whom he had met at the Univer- sity of Nebraska. Mr. Edmondson joined the Foreign Service in 1952, and in 1953 left for his first overseas assignment as vice consul in Tanganyika (now Tanzania). In 1955 he was assigned to Bern for two years, after which he returned to the United States and took up African area studies at Northwestern University. He subse- quently served in Ghana, Zambia and South Africa, as well as in various offices at the Department of State in Washing- ton, D.C. In 1978 President Jimmy Carter appointed Mr. Edmondson as ambas- sador to the Republic of South Africa. The assignment came at a time of major political and social upheaval in that country. Given the U.S. govern- ment’s condemnation of South Africa’s apartheid laws and its support for civil rights and democratic reform, tensions between the host government and the Carter administration were high. Despite these challenging circum- stances, Mr. Edmondson actively and effectively represented American inter- He joined the Foreign Service in 1957 and retired in 1985, serving as a commu- nications officer in Asuncion, Copen- hagen, Algiers, Saigon, Cairo, Reykjavik, Tokyo, Belgrade, Rome and Washington, D.C. After retiring from federal service, he worked as an office manager from 1985 to 1995. Mr. Forbes’ family remembers him as a devoted father and grandfather. He was preceded in death by his brother, Daniel Forbes of Iowa. He is survived by his daughter, Rosette (and her husband, Paul) Farello of Chantilly, Va., and her mother, Thu Barnes of Pinel- las Park, Fla.; two brothers, Timothy (and his wife, Alberta) of Texas, and Joel (and his wife, Kathy) of Iowa; his sister-in-law, Annette Forbes of Iowa; and three grand- children: Natalie, Benjamin and Allison. In lieu of flowers, memorial dona- tions may be made to VITAS Innovative Hospice Care (www.vitas.com ). n Nancy Keeney Forster , 85, an educator and wife of the late FSO Clifton Forster, died on Nov. 13 in Belvedere, Calif. Mrs. Forster was born in Grand Rap- ids, Mich., to Catherine Baldwin Keeney and Roger B. Keeney. She attended the Baldwin School in Bryn Mawr, Pa., and then headed west to study history at Stanford University. Before starting col- lege, she traveled around Europe, spend- ing much of the time in Paris to improve her French. While at Stanford, she met and mar- ried Clifton Forster, who was born and raised in the Philippines and was attend- ing Stanford on the G.I. Bill. In 1949 the couple moved to the Philippines, where Mrs. Forster completed her bachelor’s degree in Asian history from Stanford. In 1953, she and her husband, who had entered the Foreign Service, moved