The Foreign Service Journal, May 2017

60 MAY 2017 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL of Greenwich, Conn.; four grandchildren; and his brother, Arthur Graham of East Hampton, N.Y. Donations in his memory may be made to the Fund for American Diplo- macy, AFSA, 2101 E Street NW, Washing- ton DC 20037. n Roy A. Harrell Jr., 81, a retired Foreign Service officer, died on Jan. 16 at Shannon Hospital in San Angelo, Texas, of pneumonia. Mr. Harrell was born to Roy Alvin and Lucile Ingham Harrell on Jan. 9, 1936, in Fort Worth, Texas, and grew up on the Harrell family ranch south of Ozona, Texas, where he raised livestock, repaired windmills, adopted stray wildlife and enjoyed the 4-H Club and rodeos. He was forever grateful to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., for saving his eyesight, beginning with muscle trans- plant surgery at the age of 4. After finishing the eighth grade in Ozona, Mr. Harrell transferred to the Schreiner Institute in Kerrville, Texas, and then went on to the University of Texas, where he earned degrees in economics and romance languages. He spent one semester at the University of Mexico as an exchange student. Determined to prepare himself to work in foreign affairs, Mr. Harrell first attended Duke University Law School and then the Johns Hopkins University’s School for Advanced International Stud- ies, where he obtained his doctorate. He simultaneously pursued a master’s degree in economics at American Univer- sity in Washington, D.C. In 1967 he married Charlotte Purcell of El Paso, Texas, and she accompanied him on many of his adventures during the next 50 years. Mr. Harrell worked for the Central Intelligence Agency for a year prior to joining the Foreign Service. He served as a Spanish-English translator during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and then joined the U.S. Agency for International Develop- ment, where he helped plan assistance projects for various African countries. Though he traveled widely on the Afri- can continent, Mr. Harrell had perma- nent assignments to Guinea, Chad, Niger and Ghana. He had temporary assign- ments in many other countries, including Sudan, Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea-Bissau. Two highlights of his life were meetings with Albert Schweitzer in Gabon and Nelson Mandela in South Africa. Mr. Harrell pursued many interests throughout his life. A 60-year member of Ozona Masonic Lodge, he also belonged to several other lodges, including Eastern Star. A Rotarian, he attended several Rotary International conventions. He was a lifetime member of the American Foreign Service Association and a mem- ber of DACOR. And he attended local churches wherever he lived. In 1995 Mr. and Mrs. Harrell retired to the Harrell Ranch in Crockett County, Texas, to enjoy a more relaxed lifestyle and tend to a small herd of Texas long- horn cattle and many Boer goats, as well as a deer-hunting operation. He was the last of four generations of Harrells to own and live on this ranch. Academia always interested Mr. Har- rell. At Angelo State University he and E. James Holland, a retired dean, devel- oped the E. James Holland-Roy A. Harrell Jr. Foreign Affairs Speakers Program, an annual event that began in 2003. Mr. Harrell is survived by his wife, Charlotte Purcell Harrell; his daughter, Elizabeth Stuart Deal of Charlottesville, Va.; two grandchildren, Phiala Ingham Deal and Zephan Cardell Deal; many cousins; and two aunts. Friends wishing to honor his memory