The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2006

Canadian Affairs. In 1993, she became assistant secretary of State for consular affairs. Amb. Ryan was named career ambassador in 1999, the second woman to hold that rank in the his- tory of the State Department. She served as head of the Bureau of Consular Affairs until 2002, when she resigned as a result of the post-9/11 dispute over whether visa standards had grown lax during her watch. At the time, she was the longest-serving diplomat in the State Department, with 36 years of service. Amb. Ryan received the Presiden- tial Distinguished Service Award in 1992 and in 1998, and the State De- partment’s Arnold L. Raphel Award for mentoring in 1996. “Amb. Ryan exemplified the best in public ser- vice,” her successor as assistant secre- tary for consular affairs, Maura Harty, said in an official statement. “She was a colleague, a mentor and a friend to all of us. We will miss her humanity, her intellect and her kindness.” In retirement, Amb. Ryan tutored students in Washington, D.C.-area schools and volunteered as a Euchar- istic minister for patients at George Washington University Hospital. She served as an extraordinary minister of the Eucharist at St. Stephen Martyr Roman Catholic Church, attended the Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament and graduated from a two-year program in parish administration at Trinity Uni- versity in Washington, D.C. Survivors include a sister, Kathleen Montgomery of Flushing, N.Y. Memorial donations may be made to St. Stephen Martyr Church, 2436 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington DC 20037. Erwin Clayton Seeley , 85, a retired FSO with USAID, died on April 11 in Fort Myers, Fla. Mr. Seeley was born in Detroit, Mich. He attended Columbia Uni- versity, where he received his B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees. He joined the Foreign Service in 1969, and was posted with USAID as an education- al adviser in Bogota. Besides Bogota and Washington, D.C., his postings included Rio de Janeiro. He retired in 1986, receiving recognition from the Reagan administration for his service. In 1994, Mr. Seeley moved to Lehigh Acres, Fla., from Virginia. He was a member of the Fort Myers, Estero, Caloosahatchee Chorus and the Lehigh Senior Citizens Center. He enjoyed volunteering for Hope Hospice. He was a member of the Christ United Methodist Church of Lehigh Acres, and sang in its choir. Throughout his life, his passion for music was matched only by his dedi- cation to serving humanity. Mr. Seeley was predeceased by his wife, Margaret Ruth, in 1997. He is survived by his daughters and sons-in-law, Sandra and John Guerrero, Jr., of Fort Myers Beach, Fla., and Susan and Bob Derse of Seattle, Wash.; a son, Clayton Seeley of Brazil; a son and daughter-in-law, Donald and Li Seeley of Virginia; a brother, Robert D. Seeley of Virginia; a sister, Bethany Klug of Oviedo, Fla.; four grandchildren and five great- grandchildren. Memorial contributions may be made to any charity. Gloria Diana (Lehan) Smith , 83, wife of retired FSO Glenn Lee Smith, died on Christmas Day 2005 of com- plications of Parkinson’s disease after a brief stay in a nursing home in Santa Rosa, Calif. Born in Minneapolis, Minn., Mrs. Smith was a graduate of Los Angeles City College and the Radio/Television Arts Academy of Los Angeles. She joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1943, where she met her husband, also a U.S. Marine. They were married in 1944. Mrs. Smith accompanied her hus- band to posts in India, Turkey (twice), Ethiopia, Cyprus and, when her hus- band attended the U.S. Naval War College, Newport, R.I. She was an avid tennis player into her seventies. She appeared in many amateur and professional theater and television productions, both in the U.S. and abroad. She was also active in charitable organizations, working with Planned Parenthood in India, aiding lepers in Ethiopia and teaching English in Turkey. She taught in inner- city schools in Washington, D.C., when her husband was special assistant to Edward R. Murrow, then director of the U.S. Information Agency. In addition to her husband of 61 years, Gloria Smith is survived by two daughters, Kerry Bargsten of Wind- sor, Calif., and Shelley Sweeney of Raleigh, N.C.; two sons, Bruce Smith of Venice, Calif., and Stephen Smith of Las Vegas, Nev.; five grandchildren and one great-grandchild. William H. (Bill) Spengler , 82, a retired FSO, died on Nov. 8 in Colo- rado Springs, Colo., after a 10-month battle with pancreatic cancer. Born in 1923 in Neenah, Wisc., Mr. Spengler was active as an Eagle Scout and traveled to the Internation- al Boy Scout Jamboree in the Nether- lands in 1939. He attended Andover Academy and the University of Wis- consin, earning anM.A. in political sci- ence. During World War II he served as a code breaker in the U.S. Army. In 1950, he joined the Foreign Service. His postings included Thail- J U LY- A U G U S T 2 0 0 6 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 59 I N M E M O R Y