The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2010

80 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 1 0 As his family and friends recall, he oc- casionally despaired of ever bringing the “Voice” into the 20th century. During his Washington assign- ments, he fielded questions and solved problems from many governmental and nongovernmental organizations, including one memorable long-dis- tance call from a barge in Alaska. In Liberia, his charitable work with the local village and his upward-mobility initiative and training program re- sulted in his being “gowned” as a para- mount chief of the local tribe, something he always insisted was both honorary and overstated (he felt rather silly in a full-length dress, he always said). Mr. Rosenquist retired from the Voice of America in 1993 and pro- ceeded to follow his wife, Chris, also a member of the Foreign Service, as her dependent spouse — or as he put it, “a kept man.” During these years he variously taught a senior-level physics class in Montevideo — including the formulas for ensuring both sufficient pressure and adequate cooling for a working whiskey still; worked at the U.N. Climate Change Conference of Parties VI in The Hague; and acted as a surveillance detection supervisor in both The Hague and Almaty. In his free time he also managed to be a great father to two sons, ski the Alps and the Himalayas, pilot multi- engine flights between Morocco and Spain, and hunt wolves on the Chinese border. Finally, in 2004, Mr. Rosenquist bought his “fixer-upper,” and he and his wife retired to central Pennsylva- nia, where he joined the Senatorial Circle of the Republican Party, opened a forge for “one-off” pieces, refined his “secret steak sauce,” and enjoyed rebuilding his almost-200- year-old house from the ground up. Family and friends recall fondly his sense of humor and trenchant politi- cal commentary. Mr. Rosenquist is survived by his wife, Chris, of Milroy; their sons, Ben- jamin and Stephan; his brothers, David and Paul, and their wives and children; several great-nieces and great-nephews; his mother, Blanche; and, last (but not least), his daily com- panion, L.D. the dachshund. Theresa Alison Smyth , 21, the daughter of FSO Richard H. Smyth and retired FSO Janice S. Smyth, died on Feb. 28 in Carlisle, Pa., following a long illness. Born in Copenhagen, Alison grew up in Denmark, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Jamaica and Northern Virginia. An AFSA scholarship winner and a vale- dictorian of Reston’s South Lakes High School, she was a student at the University of Virginia pursuing a dual major in biology and psychology. A skilled observer of animal — and human—behavior, she was a talented mimic who enjoyed the theater, liter- ature, aquatics, needle arts and trek- king. In “I Am a Girl,” an essay she wrote in 2005, Alison described her life as a “Third Culture Kid.” That essay, which was read at her memorial serv- ice, is this month’s Reflections column (see p. 88). Besides her parents, Alison leaves behind her beloved sister, Caitlin Smyth of Newport News, Va.; her grandparents, Ronald and Alyce Smyth of Bend, Ore.; her grand- mother Kathleen Sullivan of Atlanta, Ga.; and many loving friends around the globe. James C. Suma , 79, a retired FSO with USAID, died of heart fail- ure at his home in McLean, Va., on Nov. 30, 2009. Born in Hamilton, Ohio, Mr. Suma first came to Washington in the mid- 1940s, when he served as a Capitol page. He attended the Capitol Page School on Capitol Hill, graduating in June 1948. He attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, graduating in June 1952, and then was commissioned as a lieutenant (junior grade) in the U.S. Navy. He served in the Navy until July 1954. After his discharge, he at- tended the Wharton Business School of the University of Pennsylvania, re- ceiving an MBA in June 1958. Mr. Suma joined the Foreign Serv- ice in 1958, and served with the U.S. Agency for International Develop- ment for 31 years. Shortly after arriv- ing at his first posting, Athens, Mr. Suma met his wife of 49 years, the for- mer Becky Daskalakis. They were married on Dec. 29, 1960. In 1960, Mr. Suma was posted to Jakarta. In 1963, he was assigned to Amman, where the Sumas remained until 1964. From 1965 until 1968, Mr. Suma served as an industrial de- velopment officer in Kabul. (In his McLean home, he kept a photo of the two Afghan hounds he had received as a gift from the Afghan king.) In 1968, Mr. Suma returned to Washing- ton, D.C., where he served as a fi- nance officer in the East Asia Bureau. In 1970, he was assigned to the USAID mission in the Dominican Republic, where he served as a proj- ect development officer and an ad- viser on financial markets and institutions. The couple enjoyed the country’s beautiful beaches, and Mr. Suma became an avid sailor. In 1976, I N M E M O R Y