The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2008

losing a battle with cancer. Born in Sacramento, Calif., Mr. Schoonover received his undergradu- ate degree at the University of California, Riverside and did graduate studies at Berkeley. Mr. Schoonover joined the For- eign Service in 1964. He was posted briefly to Kampala in 1965 and, later that year, transferred to Dar es Salaam. There he met Brenda Brown, whom he married in 1968. Mr. Schoonover went on to serve in Lagos, Tunis and Manila. By this time, Brenda Schoonover had joined the State Department, and the couple had subsequent tandem assignments in Colombo and Tunis, where Mr. Schoonover served as public affairs officer. In 1990, Mr. Schoonover was selected to participate in the 33rd Class of the Senior Seminar, followed by a posting to the U.S. mission to NATO in Brussels. After retiring in 1996, he accompanied Mrs. Schoon- over on her tours as U.S. ambassador to Togo, as diplomat-in-residence in Chapel Hill, N.C., and on her return to Brussels. Chapel Hill has been the Schoonovers’ permanent residence since 2004. Mr. Schoonover was active in numerous internationally affiliated organizations. He was co-chair of the Carolina Friends of the Foreign Service in Chapel Hill and served on the board of directors of the online magazine, American Diplomacy . An avid lifetime golfer, he was a member of the Kenwood Golf and Country Club in Bethesda, Md. He was a single-digit handicapper and enjoyed playing challenging courses wherever in the world he found him- self. While living in Chapel Hill, he played golf regularly, both locally and in the region. Mr. Schoonover was also an ex- quisite chef. Friends recall the cou- ple’s excellent entertaining: going to one of their parties guaranteed an absorbing time with excellent food and fascinating company. Remembered as a vibrant, intelli- gent and witty individual, who was a true gentleman, Mr. Schoonover made important contributions to his community both in life and in death. His remains have been donated to the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. While his body will go to benefit science, his spirit lives on in the hearts of family and friends. Mr. Schoonover’s first marriage, to the former Virginia Santee, ended in divorce. He is survived by his wife of 40 years, Brenda of Chapel Hill, N.C.; a son, Peter of Los Angeles, Calif.; two daughters, Elizabeth Wrightson of Los Angeles, Calif., and Stephanie Schoonover of Austin, Texas; and a grandson, Thomas. Memorial contributions may be to the Senior Living Foundation of the American Foreign Service (www. slfoundation.org/ ), or to Carolina for Kibera (www.cfk.unc.edu ). Theodore A. Wahl , 86, a retired Foreign Service officer, died on April 19 in Media, Pa., following a series of strokes. Born in Cooks Falls, N.Y., in 1922, Mr. Wahl graduated from Colgate University in 1942 and served in the Army Air Corps in China during World War II, attaining the rank of captain. After the war, he received a master’s degree from Tufts Univer- sity’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, then joined the Foreign Service in 1947. During a 33-year diplomatic career, Mr. Wahl served in consulates in Tsingtao and Chungking, and was then posted to Oslo. For many years he served in the Middle East in Dhahran, Istanbul, Beirut and Riy- adh. In Washington, he served in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs from 1957 to 1960 and on the Israel and Arab-Israel affairs desk from 1969 to 1971. He was then posted to Manila from 1971 to 1974. After retiring from the State Department in 1980, Mr. Wahl work- ed briefly as a consultant for the Multinational Force and Observers, the Sinai peacekeeping force, before settling first in Swarthmore and, later, Media, Pa. His first wife, Sarah Martin Wahl, whom he married in Tsingtao in 1948, died in 1978. He remarried in 1981 and his second wife, Tania Cosman Wahl, died in 2006. Mr. Wahl leaves his three children, Martin Wahl of Corte Madera, Calif., Russell Wahl of Pocatello, Idaho, and Harriet Wahl Cowper of Tucson, Ariz.; six grandchildren; four stepchil- dren; and two step-grandchildren. n 86 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U LY- A U G U S T 2 0 0 8 I N M E M O R Y u u E-mail your “In Memory” submission to the Foreign Service Journal, attention Susan Maitra at FSJedit@afsa.org, or fax it to (202) 338-6820. No photos, please.