The Foreign Service Journal, May 2010

tion of art, fashion, appliances and tech- nology that toured the USSR for two years. He was present in 1959 when Vice President Richard Nixon and Pre- mier Nikita Khrushchev held their fa- mous “Kitchen Debate” at the exhibit in Moscow, and later received a per- sonal letter of recognition from the vice president for his service. Upon completion of his contract in 1960, Mr. Garnett was given an ap- pointment as a public affairs trainee in USIA’s Foreign Service. His first as- signment, in 1960, was to Helsinki, where he became fluent in Finnish. In 1962, he was assigned to Dar es Salaam as public affairs assistant, and was pro- moted to cultural affairs officer in 1963. In 1964, he was assigned toMoscow as a program officer. There he worked closely with the many French-speaking students from Africa who had come to Russia for higher education. His efforts were so successful that the Soviet au- thorities tacitly associated the African student community in the country with political subversion and expelled Mr. Garnett for “conducting anti-Soviet work among students from African countries.” USIA transferred Mr. Garnett to New Delhi in 1965. In 1967, he re- turned to Washington, D.C., where he enrolled in Vietnamese-language in- struction and area studies. After suc- cessfully completing the course in 1969, he was assigned as a personnel officer, rising to chief of recruitment and source development in the Office of Personnel in 1970. In 1972, upon completion of Ger- man-language training at the Foreign Service Institute, he was assigned to Vi- enna as CAO. Mr. Garnett was then as- signed to Bucharest as PAO, followed by a tour in Pakistan. Next came a four- year stint as chief of the Mid-East Lan- guage Service of the Voice of America in Washington, D.C., supervising radio broadcasts to the Middle East and South Asia. Mr. Garnett’s final assignment was as the public affairs director for the Mar- tin Luther King National Holiday Com- mission. When that body was decom- missioned in 1988, he retired. In retirement he wrote articles for The Brooklyn Advocate , a New York newspaper, and completed a novel. He was compiling his memoirs when he suffered a stroke, and his health began to decline. He eventually resettled in Culver City, Calif., to be closer to rela- tives. Mr. Garnett is survived by two brothers, two sisters and many nieces and nephews. Grace Keppel , 91, a former mem- ber of the Foreign Service and spouse of the late FSO John Keppel, died on Dec. 5, 2009, in Bloomington, Ind. Born on March 24, 1918, in Little Rock, Ark., Grace Marjorie Wood was educated at the University of Califor- nia, Berkeley, where she earned a bach- elor’s degree with a major in drama in 1940. Returning to Little Rock, she worked as assistant society editor of The Arkansas Gazette . Keenly interested in foreign affairs, she asked Senator J. William Fulbright, D-Ark., for career advice and, on his recommendation, joined the Department of State. Her first assignment, as a Foreign Service secretary, was to EmbassyMos- cow in 1947. There she met John Kep- pel, an FSO and Soviet analyst. Before the couple wed in Little Rock in 1952, Mr. Keppel was assigned to Seoul while Mrs. Keppel worked at Embassy Paris. Following their marriage, when she was obliged to leave the Foreign Service, Mr. Keppel was assigned to Regens- burg, where he had further training in Soviet politics. The couple then re- turned to Moscow, staying until 1955. Their next assignment was to Rome, where their son, David, was born. They returned to Washington, D.C., while John was acting director of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research office for the Sino-Soviet bloc, and then went to Cambridge, Mass., while he was a fel- low at Harvard’s Center for Interna- tional Affairs. In 1962, the family moved to Rio de Janeiro, whereMr. Keppel was political counselor during a tumultuous period that included a military coup against President Joao Goulart. Mrs. Keppel studied Portuguese and planned an ex- tensive trip to the Amazon, which the family took before leaving Brazil. From 1965 to 1969, the Keppels were again based in Washington, D.C. In 1969, they moved to New York City, where Mr. Keppel was detailed to the United Nations Population Fund. Mrs. Keppel, who was passionate about music, particularly enjoyed the Metro- politan Opera. Upon Mr. Keppel’s retirement in 1974, the couple settled in Essex, Conn. There Mrs. Keppel ran a small busi- ness, importing Thai silk dresses de- signed by her friend Germaine Phola- bun of Moscow days, and Mr. Keppel investigated the 1983 Korean Airlines Flight 007 disaster. In 2001, the couple relocated to Bloomington, Ind., where Mr. Keppel died in 2003. A third-generation Chris- tian Scientist, Mrs. Keppel was a mem- ber of the Christian Science Church of Bloomington. She was also a pacifist. Her friends recall her beauty, elegance, curiosity, warmth and gentleness. Mrs. Keppel is survived by her son, 70 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / M A Y 2 0 1 0 I N M E M O R Y