The Foreign Service Journal, May 2017

62 MAY 2017 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL tor, Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs; consul general in Sapporo; and deputy chief of the economic and politi- cal section at U.S. Consulate General Hong Kong during the British hando- ver in 1997. Earlier in his career, Mr. Meserve opened the U.S. Representative Office in Nagoya. He was the recipient of Department of State Superior Honor awards for men- toring staff, management, analysis and policy implementation. Mr. Meserve had a tremendous love for travel, and even after retiring spent a great deal of time planning and taking trips. His ties to Maine ran deep, however, and he returned there regularly to visit. Family members and friends remem- ber him as a wonderful storyteller with a prodigious memory who will be greatly missed for his wit, intelligence, wide- ranging curiosity and knowledge, and his passion for living. Survivors include his wife of 40 years, Carol Morland; and his daughters, Anna Meserve Fraser (and her husband, Kevin) and Leah Meserve-Callahan (and her husband, Dylan). n Dorothy Eileen Kennedy Prince, 100, widow of the late FSO Edward Philip Prince, died on Jan. 20 in Lewiston, Maine. Mrs. Prince was born on Aug. 27, 1916, in Manchester, N.H. She met her husband in the summer of 1946 when she was secretary to the Foreign Service Examining Board, and he came to take the exam. The couple married and departed for their first assignment in November 1946. They served overseas in Budapest, Montreal, Wellington, Helsinki, Dublin, Ankara and Tehran. When Mr. Prince retired from the Foreign Service in 1973 they settled in Tamworth, N.H. Mr. Prince died in 1980, and in 1994 Mrs. Prince moved to Maine. Dorothy Prince is survived by her daughter, Noelle Prince Shear; and three sons, Jonathan, Anthony and Philip. n Roger A. Provencher, 93, a retired Foreign Service officer, died on Oct. 20, 2016, in Ladysmith, Va. Born in Manchester, N.H., Mr. Provencher served in the U.S. Army dur- ing World War II, landing with the 29th Infantry Division on Omaha Beach in Normandy on June 6, 1944. He was one of a group of three French-speaking U.S. reconnaissance soldiers who, on Aug. 21, were the first to enter Paris to meet with resistance fight- ers in preparation for the city’s liberation. The French government recognized Mr. Provencher’s role in the liberation of Paris in 1990 in a ceremony at Paris City Hall, where the mayor awarded him the city’s Medal of Honor and gave him a key to the city. In 1949, Mr. Provencher received his bachelor’s degree in French from the University of New Hampshire. He then went to Sorbonne University in Paris, where he began doctoral studies in philology. His studies were cut short, however, when he was appointed a reserve first lieutenant and served briefly as a transla- tor at the Nuremberg trials and then in various positions in Paris. Mr. Provencher joined the Foreign Service in 1951. He served overseas in Germany (twice), Thailand, Italy (twice), the Belgian Congo (now the Republic of the Congo), Libya, the Central African Republic, Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), the Soviet Union (twice), Laos and Iran. In 1961, on special assignment between postings, he served as general manager of Pan African Airlines based in Lagos. He served as the deputy com- missioner general of the U.S. pavilion at Expo 67 in Montreal, and attended the National War College in 1970, earning his master’s degree in national security. Mr. Provencher retired from the For- eign Service as a Minister Counselor in 1978, following the death of his first wife, Josette M. Camus. He then took a posi- tion at the United Nations in Switzerland as deputy director general of the Interna- tional Telecommunications Union. He is survived by his son, Carl A. Provencher, a retired U.S. Army major; his daughter, Frances Provencher- Kambour, a retired economic adviser at USAID; two grandchildren, Christopher C. Provencher and Tiffany R. Hogan; two great-grandsons; one great-granddaugh- ter; his sister, Lauri Provencher; and his second wife, Barazandeh Samiian. He was predeceased in 2011 by his third wife, Mary Lou Lewis Sax, and in 2014 by his grandson Richard R. Provencher. n Sherman H. Ross, 92, a retired Foreign Service officer, died on Dec. 19 at Hospice of the Panhandle in Kear- neysville, W. Va. Mr. Ross was born in Stiltner, W. Va., on Sept. 22, 1924, the son of Ker- rick (Kirk) and Vicie Napier Ross. After service in the Army Air Corps (B-17) dur- ing World War II, he married Elinor M. Stephenson, of Meridian, Miss. Mr. Ross attended Yale University under the G.I. Bill and received his bachelor’s degree in English and French in 1949. He then returned to rural West Virginia and requested to teach in a one- room school near his birthplace, like the one he had attended. For Mr. Ross, teach- ers had opened the door to experiencing the world, and he wanted to share the