The Foreign Service Journal, June 2013

62 JUNE 2013 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL IN MEMORY Anne Smedinghoff, 25, a Foreign Service officer, died in the line of duty on April 6 in a terrorist attack in the Zabul province of Afghanistan while delivering textbooks to Afghan school children. Four other Americans and an Afghan doctor also perished in the attack. Ms. Smedinghoff is the first State Department Foreign Service casualty of the 12-year-long war in Afghanistan, and the first FSO to die on the job since last year’s attack in Benghazi. The daughter of an attorney and the second of four children, Anne Smedinghoff grew up in River For- est, Ill., a suburb of Chicago. An avid reader, she had a lively and curious mind. She graduated from Fenwick High School in Oak Park, Ill., where she was an officer in the International Relations Club, and went on to attend The Johns Hopkins University, where she majored in international stud- ies. In 2008, she helped organize the university’s annual Foreign Affairs Symposium, which draws high-profile speakers from around the world, among other on-campus and off-cam- pus activities. Following graduation in 2009, she joined the Foreign Service. Her first overseas assignment was Caracas, and she then applied for the Afghanistan position as a press officer. A colleague at the embassy, Solmaz Sharisi, told the Associated Press: “What I admired most was her energy and enthusiasm, and an unwavering commitment to the work she was doing. She was young, but she almost seemed like a seasoned foreign diplomat.” According to Sharisi, one of Ms. Smedinghoff’s favorite projects was working with the Afghan women’s soc- cer team to help it gain greater accep- tance; she even honed her own soccer skills by practicing on her days off. While in Kabul, she also served as the control officer for Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to the country, just weeks before her death. Scheduled to complete the Afghan- istan tour in July, she was looking forward to spending a year learning Arabic in the United States and Cairo before a two-year assignment in Alge- ria. She was already fluent in Spanish. By all accounts, Anne Smeding- hoff had a promising Foreign Service career ahead of her. “We are consoled knowing that she was doing what she loved, and that she was serving her country by help- ing to make a positive different in the world,” Tom and Mary Beth Smed- inghoff said in a moving statement on learning of their daughter’s death. “It was a great adventure for her. She loved it,” her father, Tom Smedinghoff, told AP later. “She was tailor-made for this job.” In a statement to the press on April 6 from Istanbul, where he learned of the tragedy, Secretary of State John Kerry condemned the “cowardly” terrorists responsible for the attack, declaring that America “does not and will not cower before terrorism.” Kerry added: “We put ourselves in harm’s way because we believe in giv- ing hope to our brothers and sisters all over the world, knowing that we share universal human values. So it is now up to us to determine what the legacy of this tragedy will be. Where others seek to destroy, we intend to show a stronger determination to brighten our shared future. That was Anne’s mission.” In memorial gatherings in the Chicago area, Baltimore and Washing- ton, D.C., Ms. Smedinghoff’s talent, kindness, generosity, enthusiasm, adventurousness and commitment to making the world a better place for all was recalled and honored. At Fenwick High School, where Ms. Smedinghoff had returned in Decem- ber to speak to students about her diplomatic career, Associate Principal Richard Borsch remembered her as a cross-country runner. “That par- ticular sport often produces some of the best students. Perhaps it’s all the discipline, the routine, the attention to detail when training.” Her former Spanish teacher, Irene Drago, recalled Smedinghoff’s gift for foreign languages and quiet intelli- gence. She also observed that teachers are supposed to inspire students, but sometimes the reverse is true. “Anne inspired me,” she stated. In Baltimore, at a celebration of her life at Johns Hopkins University on April 27, a group of friends and former classmates recalled adventures with Anne—from sky diving in Arizona and being caught in a Jordanian sand- storm during a biking trip, to the 2009 cross-country biking trek, known as the Hopkins 4K, for the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults. The group launched a drive to gather books for Baltimore public school children in her memory. Also at Johns Hopkins, friends and family have established the Anne Smedinghoff Memorial Scholarship Fund to help support students who wish to study abroad but need finan-