78 MARCH 2024 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL If you would like us to include an obituary in In Memory, please send text to journal@afsa.org. Be sure to include the date, place, and cause of death, as well as details of the individual’s Foreign Service career. Please place the name of the AFSA member to be memorialized in the subject line of your email. The daughter of Irene and Richard Webster, Ms. Webster was born on Jan. 7, 1922, and grew up in Fort Smith, Ark. She graduated from Lincoln High School—a historic segregated “colored school”—in 1940. After World War II, she attended the Cleveland College in Cleveland, Ohio. In need of housing, she was referred to Ms. Mabelle Perry, who introduced her to the Baha’i faith. Ms. Webster’s desire to secure meaningful employment and to be of service to humanity as implored by Baha’u’llah, founder of the Baha’i faith, led her to apply to the Foreign Service of the U.S. Department of State. She was working as a stenographer when she was invited to Washington, D.C., to take the Foreign Service exam. Ms. Webster joined the Foreign Service during the Eisenhower administration in 1954 and served in Washington, D.C., Tokyo, Seoul, Mexico City, La Paz, Rio de Janeiro, Oslo, and Paris. She enjoyed interacting with people and exploring the cities where she was assigned. Photographs she took while posted in Seoul were included in a book and an exhibit titled Revisit: 1956-1957 Korea at the Czong Institute for Contemporary Art (CICA) Museum. In addition, as an active member of the Baha’i faith, Ms. Webster was recognized for her organizational and people skills. She was often called on to serve in volunteer administrative and leadership roles for local and national Baha’i spiritual assemblies in the countries to which she was posted. Also, she was invited to Haifa, Israel, to prepare the first staffing plans for the volunteers who were supporting the Universal House of Justice. Ms. Webster used her vacation time to teach about the principles of the Oneness of Humanity in places including Uganda, the U.K., Hong Kong, Macau, Iran, Malaysia, and India. Ms. Webster retired in 1976 during the Ford administration. In retirement, she opened an international travel agency. In her spare time, she facilitated an exhaustive search and purchase process for a 44-acre regional Baha’i property in Prince George’s County, Md. She will forever be remembered and cherished for her courageous service, loving kindness, and steadfast religious life and legacy. Ms. Webster was preceded in death by her parents and by siblings Ardelia Dora, Richard, and Adams Jesse. She is survived by her extended family and many friends around the world. n William J. Weinhold, 84, a retired USIA Foreign Service officer, died on July 8, 2023. Known to all as Bill, Mr. Weinhold was born on Jan. 13, 1939, in Sheboygan, Wis., to Wilmer and Gertrude Weinhold. Mr. Weinhold grew up in Kohler, Wis., and graduated from a trade school in Chicago as a radio technician. Inspired by President Kennedy’s 1960 speech announcing the creation of the Peace Corps, he successfully applied to be a Peace Corps volunteer in its inaugural year, 1961, and was sent to what was then Malaya (present-day Malaysia). He met his future wife, Mary, in the same group of volunteers. As some of the very first Peace Corps volunteers, their cohort was seen off at the airport by Sargent Shriver, the first director of the Peace Corps. In Kuala Lumpur, Mr. Weinhold’s Peace Corps assignment was to help expand Radio Malaya, the national radio station. He and Mary were married in Kuala Lumpur in 1962. It was one of the very first overseas marriages between Peace Corps volunteers, and the wedding was covered by Voice of America (VOA) in its international broadcasts. After serving two years in the Peace Corps, the Weinholds traveled extensively in Southeast and Central Asia before returning to Wisconsin, where Mr. Weinhold earned his B.A. from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee in 1966. In 1967 Mr. Weinhold joined USIA and served in public diplomacy positions in Thailand, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Burkina Faso, Myanmar, and South Africa. In Washington, D.C., he served in the Office of American Studies, the Bureau of African Affairs, and in what was then the Human Resources Bureau. He retired in 2000 with more than 35 years of federal service. In retirement, Mr. Weinhold actively served those in need in a variety of roles, including delivering meals, participating in musical performances at care institutions, and volunteering at The Closet, a charity store in Herndon, Va. He was also a participant in the Encore Chorale. An avid sports fan, he was a fervent supporter of the Green Bay Packers, Milwaukee Brewers, and Washington Nationals. Mr. Weinhold is remembered as being loving, kind, and generous. He is survived by his wife, Mary; children Scott, Shana, and Patrick; and nine grandchildren. n
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