The Foreign Service Journal, March 2022

80 MARCH 2022 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL IN MEMORY n Barry Fore Copenhaver, 81, a retired Foreign Service specialist, passed away peacefully on April 19, 2021. Mr. Copenhaver was born on April 4, 1940, in Corpus Christi, Texas, and gradu- ated from Cuero High School in 1958. He was a member of the 1957 district championship football team and the 1958 baseball national championship team, which saw him inducted into his high school’s hall of fame in 2014. After earning a scholarship as a walk-on to the 1958 football season at Texas A&I University (now Texas A&M– Kingsley), Mr. Copenhaver completed a bachelor’s degree in education. He was inducted into the Texas A&I Hall of Fame in 1984 for his personal contributions to the football program and again in 2009 for being a member of the 1959 national championship team. Mr. Copenhaver married Judy Jacob on Nov. 24, 1965, at the First Presbyterian Church in Cuero, Texas. The couple enjoyed 50 years of marriage before her passing in 2015. From 1963 to 1974, Mr. Copenhaver coached football throughout South Texas. In 1974 he was recruited by the University of Monterrey TEC in Mexico to be the offensive coordinator. He was hired as the head coach the following year, lead- ing the Borregos Salvajes to five national championships (in 1974, 1975, 1976, 1982 and 1983). For his work as head coach, Mr. Copenhaver was inducted into the TEC Hall of Fame in 2001 and, in 2015, to Mexico’s national hall of fame. In 1986 Mr. Copenhaver retired from coaching and joined the U.S. Foreign Ser- vice, where his service and dedication to his country were recognized with several awards over the course of his career. Mr. Copenhaver was a general services officer who managed embassy operations in the toughest environments. He and his wife, Judy, an office management special- ist who worked for several ambassadors, served in Panama, Germany, Pakistan (twice), Liberia, Sierra Leone, Mexico, Equatorial Guinea and the Democratic Republic of the Congo during more than 20 years of government service. They were evacuated fromwartorn Monrovia at the height of the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Mr. Copenhaver retired from the For- eign Service in September 2005. Friends and family members recall his uncanny ability to reach people with his positivity and will miss him greatly. Mr. Copenhaver was preceded in death by his wife of 50 years, Judy Jacob Copenhaver. He is survived by his three children: Leah Lynne Copenhaver; Scott Wade Copenhaver (and his wife, Ineke, and their sons, Carson, Justin and Max); and Jill Copenhaver Trevino (and her hus- band, Lonnie, and their daughter, Maya). n Ben Fairfax, 78, a retired Foreign Service officer, died on March 28, 2021, in Vienna, Va. From 1964 to 1969, Mr. Fairfax served in the U.S. Navy in Vietnam. He joined the Foreign Service as an economic-coned officer in 1978 and served in France, the former Yugoslavia, Russia, Costa Rica and South Korea. He retired as a member of the Senior Foreign Service in 2007. Mr. Fairfax enjoyed traveling and speaking foreign languages. He is survived by his wife of 40 years, Rosalind, and two daughters, Luisa and Lydia. n Judith Anne Futch, 77, a retired Foreign Service officer, died on Nov. 29, 2021, at New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, N.C. She was born on Jan. 14, 1944, in Burgaw, N.C., to Kenneth Culbreth Futch Sr. and Elizabeth Carswell Futch. A vale- dictorian and National Merit Scholar- ship winner from Burgaw High School, Ms. Futch received a bachelor’s degree in political science from Duke University and a law degree from Yale University. She began her career in govern- ment with the Internal Revenue Service, working with the Price Commission. She then served as a staff member for the subcommittee on constitutional rights, chaired by Senator Sam Ervin Jr. Ms. Futch then joined the U.S. Information Agency and served as an embassy liaison officer in Madrid, New Delhi, Seoul and Rome. As a Foreign Service officer, she assisted with logistics for the Olympic Games in Turin in 2006 and Vancou- ver in 2010. Her international travels enabled her to visit 112 foreign countries over the course of a public service career that spanned 35 years. On retirement, she and her husband, Gallius E. Matheny, moved to Ashland, Va. In addition to traveling, attending the theater and playing bridge, garden- ing became her new passion. She was president of two gardening clubs and gave lectures and demonstrations on bonsai and ikebana flower arrange- ments. Ms. Futch was preceded in death by her husband, Gallius E. Matheny; her parents; and her sister, Ellen F. Rusnak. She is survived by her brother, Ken- neth C. Futch Jr. (and his wife, Linda); sister Libby F. Rooks (and her husband, Charles); stepdaughter Allison Matheny; step-grandsons Cameron Green and Owen Green; nieces and nephews: Stephanie R. Hudson (and her husband, Bill), Stephen Rusnak, Caitlin R. Jepsen (and her husband, Phil), Kenneth Futch III, Karen F. Campbell (and her hus-