The Foreign Service Journal, June 2009

80 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U N E 2 0 0 9 Foreign Service officer, currently as- signed to Charleston, S.C.; Michael Eugene Grover of Jamaica Plain, Mass.; and Ellen Grover Reber of East Douglas, Mass. He is also survived by a sister, Mrs. Jean Sylvester of Buffalo, N.Y., and 10 grandchildren. Contributions in his memory may be made to the AFSA Scholarship Pro- gram. Virginia Spitler Jones , the wife of retired FSO Ambassador Marshall P. Jones, died on March 17 of pneumo- nia at the West Meade Health Care Center in Nashville, Tenn. Born in Kentland, Ind., on Sept. 2, 1918, Virginia Jones was the only child of a farming family. Like many other rural families, they were hit hard by the Great Depression and moved off the farm to Mishawaka, Ind., adjacent to South Bend, where she attended grade school and high school. After gradua- tion, she went to work at the Ball Band Rubber Company (later Uniroyal) in Mishawaka, where she met Marshall P. Jones, a salesman and recent graduate of Depauw University. In 1942, Vir- ginia andMarshall were married in Las Vegas, N.M., just before he enlisted in the U.S. Army. During World War II, Virginia Jones went to work for the University of Notre Dame, in an office under the Golden Dome (the campus landmark atop the university’s main building) while Marshall Jones was serving with the Eighth Army Air Force Bomber Command, based at High Wycombe Abbey in England. She later said that the sight of the Golden Dome every morning and the vibrant life of the uni- versity around her helped to sustain her during the long years of the war. After her husband’s safe return in 1946, the couple moved to Indianapo- lis, Ind., where he went to work for the Veterans Administration, and their first son was born the next year. Mrs. Jones took classes in American and English literature at the Indianapolis campus of Indiana University and, although she never attained a college degree, this experience cemented a lifelong re- spect for literature, poetry, history and the value of higher education. In 1950, Mrs. Jones began prepar- ing herself to become an Air Force wife again. Her husband anticipated being recalled to active duty for service in Korea and at that point expected to make the Air Force a career. When he was not called up after all, she encour- aged him to pursue an international ca- reer of service with the State Department. In 1951, after his selec- tion for the Foreign Service, they moved to Bethesda, Md. The Jones’ first overseas post was Tel Aviv (1954-1956). This was fol- lowed by Belgrade (1956-1959); while stationed there, Mrs. Jones went to Germany for the birth of their second son. After a tour in Washington, they moved to Seoul (1961-1963), where their third son was born. In 1966, she took on a new role as the wife of an ambassador in Blantyre, Malawi. While there, she did volunteer work with leper colonies and devoted her- self to the role of wife of the chief of mission and representative of the United States in this landlocked, poor but beautiful country in Africa’s Rift Valley. After her husband’s retirement in 1971, they left the Washington area and moved to an active small college town, Murray, Ky., which was reminis- cent of the Indiana communities where they had each grown up — but warmer. Here she adapted to yet an- other new life as the wife of an active member of the community and local politician, doing service work and help- ing him with his involvement in activi- ties with Murray State University, election to the city council, and service on the board of a savings and loan. While living in Murray, she also perfected an old tradition of her family, making many exquisite quilts for her children and grandchildren, and con- tinued to read history and literature. Mrs. Jones moved to Nashville, Tenn., following the death of her hus- band in 1985 to be close to two of her sons. She also made visits back to the Washington, D.C., area where her other son lived. She became an even more voracious reader and continued her tradition of service, receiving sev- eral awards for the thousands of hours she gave to St. Thomas Hospital. She is survived by her three sons, Marshall P. Jones Jr. of Washington, Va.; Tarpley B. Jones of Nashville, Tenn.; and Zachary C. Jones of Brent- wood, Tenn. She also leaves six grand- children (Erin Jones Swenson, Tarpley Brooks Jones Jr., Madison Jones, Jor- dan Jones, Grant Jones and Turner Jones), and two great-grandchildren (Mountain and Caroline Swenson). Edward Eugene Keller Jr. , 79, a re- tired FSO, passed away at Sibley Me- morial Hospital in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 11 from complications of Parkinson’s disease. Mr. Keller was born on Feb. 19, 1929, in San Francisco, Calif., and grew up in San Mateo, where his father, Ed- ward Eugene Keller Sr., was a former mayor. After graduating from Tufts University in Boston in 1951, he served I N M E M O R Y