The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2004

Georgia May Acton , 81, retired Foreign Service specialist, died April 4 at Flagler Hospital in St. Augustine, Fla., after a brief illness. The daughter of George C. Acton and Laura Dell, Ms. Acton grew up in San Angelo, Texas, and Helena, Ark. She worked her way through college and became fluent in French and sev- eral other languages, graduating from the University of Wisconsin in 1950. Ms. Acton joined the Foreign Service that same year. During a 28- year career, she was posted to Cebu, Surabaya, Tripoli, Paris, Tunis, Phnom Penh, La Paz, Vientiane, Montevideo and Valetta. An office management specialist, she rose to the position of personal secretary to several ambassadors. Friends attest to her love of travel: “Where her job didn’t take her, she traveled for fun — on the Queen Elizabeth II , the Concorde, a riverboat up the Inter Coastal from Florida to Rhode Island, and more.” Following retirement from the Foreign Service in 1978, Ms. Acton moved to St. Augustine. She contin- ued to correspond regularly with more than 250 friends throughout the world. An enthusiastic patron of the arts, she was a major benefactor of the local concert association. Ms. Acton was also an accomplished cook, and took great pleasure in entertaining and playing bridge. Ms. Acton did volunteer work for the Flagler Hospital Auxiliary for 10 years, and served as its president in the early 1990s. She was also a mem- ber of the Red Hat Society. Dona- tions in her memory may be made to the Flagler Hospital Auxiliary. Jeremy D. Bower , 23, son of Foreign Service specialist Joan I. Bower and her husband Ronald, died in a car accident in Woodbridge, Va., on Dec. 29, 2003. He was buried Jan. 5 in Westhope, Ohio. Born in Sylvania, Ohio, Jeremy lived with his Foreign Service parents, attending elementary school in Abu Dhabi and Moscow, middle school in Islamabad, and high school in Abu Dhabi. Jeremy graduated from the American Community School in Abu Dhabi in 1999. He attended Owens College. Jeremy was employed as a security installation technician with RDR Corp., a Department of State contrac- tor based in Lorton, Va. Just prior to his death he had completed security installation assignments in Madrid and Dublin. Jeremy is survived by his parents, currently posted in Seoul; a sister, Ralna of Toledo, Ohio; and an aunt, Marilyn Richard, and uncle, David Shively, both of Westhope, Ohio. Contributions in Jeremy Bower’s memory can be sent to The National Psoriasis Foundation, which has estab- lished a memorial in his honor. Richard Clay Brown , 66, retired FSO and former ambassador, died April 13 following a heart attack at his home near Harpers Ferry, W. Va. Ambassador Brown was born in Oklahoma. He earned a bachelor’s degree from The George Washington University in 1960, and a master’s degree in Latin American studies from the same institution a year later. He joined the Foreign Service in 1963. During a career spanning more than 30 years, Amb. Brown received the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service Award, as well as many com- mendations from both the State and Defense Departments for his superior service. Prior to his retirement in 1999, he served as executive secretary of the Accountability Review Board looking into the 1998 bombing of U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. During the 1990s he also served as senior coordinator for the Summit of the Americas, where he headed the special staff formed to coordinate the U.S. government’s poli- cy positions and implement the sum- mit’s Special Action Plan. Before being named ambassador to Uruguay in 1990, Amb. Brown served as deputy assistant secretary of Defense for Inter-American Affairs at the Pentagon (1988-1990). He headed the Grenada Task Force, which planned and implemented the military rescue mission in 1983. From 1978 to 1979, he was detailed to the National Security Council to work on inter- American affairs. Earlier assignments were to Brazil, Uruguay, Mauritius, Spain and Vietnam. In a statement of condolence Secretary of State Colin Powell paid tribute to Amb. Brown, citing his many I N M EMORY J U LY- A U G U S T 2 0 0 4 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 73