The Foreign Service Journal, March 2014

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2014 65 hygiene and sanitation. Fluent in Span- ish and Portuguese, his hero and inspira- tion was Cervantes’ Don Quixote. Mr. Snyder’s first marriage ended in divorce. He is survived by his first wife, Martha M. Snyder, and their children, Gerald R. Snyder and A. Cecilia Snyder; his second wife, Carolyn Marie Cain, and his stepchildren Marilou, Becky, Freder- ick and Katrina; a daughter-in-law, Lisa K. Snyder; and grandchildren Jerry and Amanda. He is also mourned by lifelong friends Frank and Helen Geig. In lieu of flowers, remembrances can be made to The United Church in Tal- lahassee, The Alliance Education Fund (empowering women and girls through education in Kenya), or The Westminster Oaks Benevolent Assistance Fund. n Jane Whitney , 72, a retired Foreign Service officer, died on Nov. 12 at her home in Lakewood, Wash., after a series of strokes. She was attended by a devoted team of caregivers, who worked around the clock under Franciscan Hospice supervision. Ms. Whitney was born on July 15, 1941, in Champagne, Ill. After graduating from Beloit College in Beloit, Wis., she joined the State Department, serving for 26 years on four continents. She served as vice consul in Saigon, as consul in Stuttgart, Ankara and Buenos Aires, and as consul general in Perth. She retired to Lakewood to be near her parents and to be a companion to her beloved mother, Mussette Cary Whitney, who prede- ceased her in 2004. In retirement she was a member of the Tacoma Country Club and the Rotary Club. A supporter of animal welfare, she was politically active. Ms. Whitney is remembered as an extraordinary observer of the pageantry of life around her. She was a writer at heart and a critic by instinct. Her rapier mind inspired insights that illuminated her conversation, writing and poetry. She was a loyal and devoted daughter, friend, godmother and dog owner. Ms. Whitney is survived by her father, Robert Whitney; her sister, Karen Whit- ney; and a niece, Whitney Smull, all of Lakewood; a nephew, Neale Smull, and god-daughters Sarah Baker and Kathryn Gibson; and by her faithful dog, Bailey. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Franciscan Hospice, (253)428-8411, in Tacoma, Wash., or an animal rescue agency of your choice. n Ilene Harriet Wolcott , 72, the wife of retired FSO Peter Wolcott, died on Oct. 15 at University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor, Mich., as a result of leukemia. Mrs. Wolcott was born in Newark, N. J. She graduated from Kean College in 1963 and taught elementary school before receiving a master’s degree in counseling from American University in 1973. She married Peter Wolcott in Leland, Mich., in 1972, and spent her first year of marriage studying Finnish at the Foreign Service Institute in Washington in prepa- ration for her husband’s Foreign Service assignment to Helsinki. There Mrs. Wolcott taught sixth grad- ers at the British School. On her return to Washington, she started a new career as the first manager of The Women and Health Roundtable. As a national advocate, she researched, wrote, gave speeches and testified before Congress about the need for increased attention and resources for health issues affecting women. In 1979, the couple moved to Mel- bourne, where Mr. Wolcott was posted as public affairs officer in the American consulate. Determined to have her own work and identity rather than be a tradi- tional Foreign Service wife, Mrs. Wolcott was quickly employed as editor of the Social-Biology Resource Centre Journal . In 1980 she was hired as one of the first researchers at the Australian Insti- tute of Family Studies. She researched and wrote 27 publications on fam- ily issues, which were widely cited by scholars around the world. She was also a judge for the Australian and New Zea- land Work and Family Corporate Awards, and a keynote speaker at Australian bicentennial events on family and work- family issues. Mrs. Wolcott loved to travel through- out Australia, fearlessly riding on planes ranging from Air Force transports to single-engine desert hoppers. A passionate supporter of family planning, Mrs. Wolcott was a Planned Parenthood volunteer at D.C. General Hospital and a host for teenage “rap” sessions. In Australia she served as president of the state of Victoria’s Family Planning Association and vice presi- dent of the Australian Family Planning Association. She represented the Institute of Fam- ily Studies at the annual meetings of the Marriage Guidance Council of Australia, where she not only gave annual lectures, but also mediated between feminists and religious conservatives. She also qualified and volunteered as a marriage and pre-marital counselor. After her husband retired from the Foreign Service in 1999, Mrs. Wolcott spent several years working at Swin- burne University in Melbourne as a qualitative researcher, specializing in finishing projects for academic procras- tinators. At that time, the couple began spending the Australian winter months in Leelanau County in Michigan and the North American winter months in Melbourne.