The Foreign Service Journal, March 2021

86 MARCH 2021 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL n Suzanne Rountree Phillips, 97, wife of the late Ambassador William Manning Rountree, died on Nov. 30, 2020, at her home in Atlantic Beach, Fla. Born in Fort Lewis, Wash., to Colonel and Mrs. John McDowall, she enjoyed a happy childhood at Army posts throughout the continental United States, Hawaii and the Philippines. She attended the University of Utah for two years and graduated from Smith College in Northampton, Mass. She met William Rountree when they both served on the staff of the Anglo-Amer- ican Committee on Palestine in 1946. They were married a short time later in Huntsville, Ala. Ms. Phillips proudly joined her hus- band in representing the United States on his many diplomatic assignments, including Greece, Turkey and Iran, and later during his four ambassadorial appointments: Pakistan (1959-1962), Sudan (1962-1965), South Africa (1965- 1970) and Brazil (1970-1973). When Ambassador Rountree retired from the Foreign Service in 1973, the couple established residence in Gainesville, Fla. After his death in 1995, Ms. Phillips moved to Fleet Landing in Atlantic Beach, Fla. Several years later she met and married Alva L. Phillips, a retired naval officer. They enjoyed 20 happy years together until his death in 2018. At Fleet Landing, she enthusiastically partici- pated in numerous volunteer activities and greatly enjoyed her new life there. Suzanne Rountree Phillips is sur- vived by her deeply devoted family: her daughter, Susan Hanes Leonard, and her husband; two grandsons, Michael and Christopher, and their wives; and five great-grandchildren. n Marilyn Ross Povenmire, 88, a retired Foreign Service officer, passed away peacefully on Dec. 25, 2020, in Venice, Fla. The cause of death was respiratory failure. Marilyn Ross was born in Low- ell, Mass., in 1932, to Charlotte Irene (Harvey) and Hugh Alexander Ross. She grew up in Reading, Mass., attended Reading High School, and graduated summa cum laude from Tufts University with a degree in economics. She met her husband, Dale Miller Povenmire, while he attended Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. They married in 1954 and set off on a lifetime of travel, living in countries around the world while serv- ing the nation as U.S. Foreign Service officers. Early assignments included Santiago, Zanzibar, Asunción and Porto. In 1972, Mrs. Povenmire took the Foreign Service exam and passed it for the second time, after the State Depart- ment changed the rules to allow both spouses of a married couple to be full- time FSOs. (She was a plaintiff in the class action lawsuit that resulted in this change of rules.) She served as a consular officer in Venezuela, Cyprus, Portugal and Brazil, where she was chief of the consular section, and as deputy consul general at the U.S. embassies in Italy and the United Kingdom. Mrs. Povenmire was the sole con- sular officer at U.S. Embassy Nicosia in 1975, shortly after the invasion of Cyprus by the Turkish army, and there she worked on both sides of the U.N.- patrolled “green line” separating oppos- ing peoples. She responded to terrorist activities conducted by Palestinian extremists in 1985, including the attack at the Rome airport that killed and wounded Ameri- cans, among other casualties; and later, following the MS Achille Lauro cruise ship hijacking in the eastern Mediter- ranean. In 1990, as the first Gulf War began, her consular team assisted hundreds of Americans as they transited London’s Heathrow Airport from their residences in threatened areas of the Gulf to safety in the United States. Between her assignments to Rome and London, she attended the National War College in Washington, D.C., for the 1987-1988 academic year, when she traveled to China with fellow officers for an orientation trip as guests of the People’s Liberation Army. Marilyn Povenmire retired from the State Department after serving as direc- tor of policy and coordination for the Bureau of Consular Affairs, where she worked with Assistant Secretary of State Mary Ryan. She had a 20-year trailblazing career as a spouse in one of the first tandem couples of the U.S. Foreign Service, and took pride in helping American citizens abroad and representing her country overseas as a U.S. diplomat. In retirement, the Povenmires settled in Venice, Fla., where they became founding members of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Venice. Mrs. Povenmire served as one of the first treasurers of the church during the purchase of land and construction of the church building. The couple con- tinued to cherish many friendships at UUCOV and at Village on the Isle, where they resided over recent years. Friends and family members recall Mrs. Povenmire’s many accomplish- ments, generous spirit, love of classical music and joy of living. She is survived by her loving hus- band of 66 years, Dale; and their four