The Foreign Service Journal, May 2014

70 MAY 2014 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL She served as a Pearson Fellow in the office of Congressman Dante B. Fascell, D-Fla., from 1983 to 1984, and then as chief of the Latin American branch in the Office of Research from 1984 to 1985. Ms. Meirs returned to South America in 1985 as counselor for public affairs in Bogota, and then moved on to Berlin as senior branch public affairs officer from 1989 to 1992. She returned to Washington, D.C., as a policy officer in the Office of the Assistant Director for European Affairs (1992-1994). Her last post was in Wash- ington, D.C., as deputy director of USIA’s Office of International Visitors. Following her retirement from the For- eign Service in 1995, Ms. Meirs served as a spokeswoman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency from 1997 to 2009. She also worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development, served on The Foreign Service Grievance Board of Appeals and was a leader in the Foreign Leaders Exchange Program. Ms. Meirs was chair of the Foreign Service Journal Editorial Board from 2001 to 2003. During her 12-year battle with salivary gland cancer, Ms. Meirs participated in numerous clinical trials in the hope of advancing knowledge of this rare and stubborn disease. She shared her experi- ence by participating in support groups and writing a blog on the M.D. Anderson webpage. Ms. Meirs never wavered in her com- mitment to living each day to its fullest by traveling extensively, visiting with friends and family, skiing and swimming, walking her beloved dog and exploring the many cultural opportunities available in the Washington, D.C., area. Ms. Meirs was predeceased by her parents, John and Virginia Meirs. She is survived by her sister, Susanna Meirs Mor- gan; her brother, John Meirs; five nieces: Elizabeth, Susanna, Mary Anne (Morgan), Abigail and Tara (Meirs); seven grand- nephews; and one grandniece. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her memory to Christ Church, 118 North Washington Street, Alexandria VA 22314 (www.historicchristchurch.org/ ) or to the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Head and Neck Cancer Research, P.O. Box 4486, Houston TX 77210-4486, or online at www.mdanderson.org/gifts. n Benedicta S. Monsen, 92, the wife of the late FSO G. Richard Monsen and founder and president of an advocacy organization dedicated to providing support for patients with lupus, died of congestive heart failure on Feb. 15 at her home in Bethesda, Md. Benedicta Quirino dos Santos was born in Campinas, Brazil, and learned English while attending an American school in Brazil. She was also fluent in French, Ital- ian, Spanish and her native Portuguese. She attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the late 1940s before moving to Washington, D.C., to work as a writer, translator and researcher. After becoming a U.S. citizen in the 1950s, Mrs. Monsen accompanied her husband on diplomatic postings around the world for the next 30 years. She was often responsible for entertaining visiting dignitaries in cities like in Paris, New York and Brussels. After her daughter Christine was diag- nosed with lupus, Mrs. Monsen helped organize what is now the Washington area chapter of the Lupus Foundation of America. She served from 1974 to 1977 as the nonprofit organization’s first president. For many years, she helped lead fun- draising, advocacy and public awareness efforts on behalf of lupus patients and their families. Her husband of 54 years, G. Richard Monsen, died in 2008. Her daughter Chris- tine died in 1996. Survivors include a daughter, Lauren Monsen O’Donoghue of Bethesda. n Jack Richard Perry, 83, a retired Foreign Service officer, died on Feb. 16, in Davidson, N.C. Mr. Perry was born onMarch 21, 1930, in Atlanta, Ga., the son of WilliamBerrian Perry and Nellie Edwards Perry, both natives of Jackson County. He was edu- cated at the Boys’ High School in Atlanta and at Mercer University inMacon, Ga., where he graduated summa cum laude in 1951. He served for three years in the U.S. Army, including a year in Japan. Following army duty he returned to Georgia, where he worked as a newswriter for the Associated Press in Atlanta, as a reporter for The Macon (Georgia) Tele- graph and as director of the news bureau at Mercer. During this time he met and courted Elizabeth (Betsy) Smith, whom he called “the joy and light of my life.”The couple married inMacon on June 8, 1957. From 1956 to 1959, Mr. Perry did graduate study at the Russian Institute of Columbia University in New York. During the first year he was also a newswriter for the Associated Press in New York. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. in political science fromColumbia. In 1959 he entered the U.S. Foreign Ser- vice, serving until 1983. He served at the State Department and overseas. Following postings inMoscow and Paris, Mr. Perry returned toWashington, D.C., serving on the Soviet desk in the State Department. An assignment to the Council on Environmental Quality in the Executive Office of the President was followed by two assignments as deputy chief of mission, in Prague and Stockholm. From Sweden, Mr. Perry returned to the department as deputy executive secretary of State.