The Foreign Service Journal, April 2007

Harold S. Daveler , 71, a retired Foreign Service officer with USAID, died on Dec. 13 at his home in Alexandria, Va. Mr. Daveler was born in Hershey, Pa., on June 20, 1935. He graduated from Manchester College in 1957, received a master’s degree in religious education from Bethany Theological Seminary, and was working toward a master’s degree in international rela- tions at American University when he joined International Voluntary Ser- vices in 1961. With IVS, he served in Laos until 1966 on the education team, first as a volunteer and then as deputy chief of party. He then spent one year teaching in Laurel, Md. Mr. Daveler joined USAID in August 1967. He studied advanced Lao at the University of Hawaii, and returned to Laos in January 1968 as a full-time employee in the administra- tive section, where he served until December 1974. He took a direct transfer to Jakarta, and was there until May 1979, when he returned to Washington. In 1984 Mr. Daveler was posted to Cairo, where he first served as the administrative officer in the U.S. embassy and then as the administrative officer for the USAID mission. He retired from the agency in Egypt in 1993. Following retirement, Mr. Daveler accompanied his wife, Delberta Mills Daveler, a Foreign Service specialist, to posts in Malaysia, Argentina and Peru. While in the first two countries he did several TDYs for USAID. In Peru he worked for Embassy Lima in the administrative section. The Davelers returned to the U.S. in 2002. In retirement, Mr. Daveler enjoyed his videography hobby as well as spend- ing time with his family and his cats. Mrs. Daveler died on Feb. 2, 2003. Mr. Daveler is survived by 10 nieces and nephews. Catherine “Kay” Andrus Fess- enden , 89, widow of FSO Russell Fessenden, died of congestive heart failure on Oct. 22, 2006, at her home in Ashfield, Mass. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Mrs. Fessenden graduated from Oberlin College in 1939, and married Russell Fessenden the same year. During their 57-year marriage, the Fessendens spent 26 years as a Foreign Service couple, serving in Paris, Brussels, Bonn and Washing- ton, D.C. While in Bonn, Mrs. Fess- enden’s duties included welcoming several U.S. senators and Presidents Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon into the family’s residence. She became fluent in French and German. In 1972, when Mr. Fessenden retired from the State Department, they moved to the ancestral home town of Ashfield, Mass., and set about making renovations to their vintage New England house while creating extensive vegetable and flower gar- dens. Mrs. Fessenden loved home- steading, and became accomplished at raising goats for meat, milk and cheese; tending sheep, and spinning and weaving their wool; and beekeep- ing. At various times the Fessendens also kept horses, chickens, geese, rab- bits and pigs. She was skilled at oil painting, papermaking, bookbinding, candlemaking and calligraphy. During 35 years of retirement in Ashfield, Mrs. Fessenden was active in the community. Among other things, she volunteered as the Friday- night dispatcher for the local volun- teer ambulance in the days before one could dial 911 in an emergency. One of her greatest passions was writing: she left over 20 volumes of journals; worked as a reporter for the Green- field Recorder ; wrote regular arti- cles for the Massachusetts Audubon Society’s magazine, Sanctuary ; and was published in Yankee Magazine . She also contributed human interest pieces to The Ashfield News , including a popular series on local craftspeople in Ashfield, “Presence of the Hand.” Mrs. Fessenden was physically active throughout her life, remaining a skier, tennis player, avid bicyclist, hiker, canoeist and gardener well into her 80s. In her 60s she worked as an apple-picker atop a tall ladder; and, until the last weeks of her life, she was always ready to take a walk. She spent almost a decade caring for Mr. Fessenden, who died at home of Park- inson’s disease in 2001. Mrs. Fessenden is survived by her children, Helen Andrus Snyder of Portal, Ariz., David Andrus Fessen- den and Anna Fessenden of Ashfield, Mass., Jean F. Sprague of Emporium, Pa.; a sister-in-law, Susan Dean Fes- senden; seven grandchildren; one great-granddaughter; a nephew; a niece; and a great-nephew. 74 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / A P R I L 2 0 0 7 I N M EMORY