The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2020

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JULY-AUGUST 2020 91 n James Llewellyn Barnes , 79, a for- mer Foreign Service officer from Bethel, Maine, died on Feb. 19 at the Maine Veterans’ Home in South Paris, Maine. Mr. Barnes was born in Tampa, Fla., on March 8, 1940, to Paul L. and Vera S. Barnes. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida in 1962 and, supported by a U.S. International Studies Grant, a master’s degree from the University of Florida in 1964. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1964 to 1966. Mr. Barnes joined the Foreign Service in 1966 and served as a consular officer in Sierra Leone and Honduras. He received the Department of State’s Meri- torious Honor Award in April 1968 while posted in Freetown. He was duty officer in the embassy through three consecu- tive nights during a coup d’état there. Mr. Barnes left the Foreign Service in 1971 when he joined Leon Tempels- man & Son and Lazare Kaplan & Son, for whom he worked for 36 years. He worked and lived in numerous African countries, including Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Angola, Botswana and Namibia. Mr. Barnes is survived by his wife of 60 years, Eliza Haven Barnes; his children, Jessica Barnes Jolly (husband, David), Paul Barnes (wife, Leef Smith) and James S. Barnes (partner, Reanna St. Pierre); and beloved grandchildren, Sarah Jolly, and Harrison and Charlotte Barnes. n Frank W. Brecher , 88, a retired Foreign Service officer, died on April 19 in New York–Presbyterian Hospital due to complications from COVID-19. A New York City native, Mr. Brecher was born on Oct. 6, 1931. He joined the Navy, serving from 1951 to 1954. Follow- ing discharge, he received a bachelor’s degree from City College and a master’s degree from the School of International Affairs of Columbia University. Mr. Brecher was a Foreign Service officer with USAID; serving from 1961 to 1983, he specialized in economic development. His postings included Nigeria, Bolivia and Morocco, for which he acquired fluency in French and Spanish. He also served as an economic spe- cialist at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations for two terms, under Ambas- sadors Adlai Stevenson, Andrew Young and Jeane Kirkpatrick. Mr. Brecher attended Princeton University from 1967 to 1968 on a midcareer fellowship award. In 1974 he received the Department of State’s Meritorious Honor Award. Later, he received Senate confirmation as a coun- selor to the president. After retiring from the Foreign Ser- vice, Mr. Brecher embarked on a second career as a historian. Having developed a keen respect for historians who com- bined the practice of diplomacy with the skills of a scholar, he applied his diplomatic knowledge and expertise in producing several scholarly works. In addition to a trilogy of books analyzing early French-American relations, he authored Reluctant Ally: United States Foreign Policy toward the Jews from Wilson to Roosevelt (1991). He maintained a special interest in John Jay’s contribution to diplomacy and American independence, author- ing Securing American Independence: John Jay and the French Alliance (2003) and lecturing on this seminal figure in American diplomacy. He also contributed articles to sev- eral periodicals and scholarly journals, including a profile of the first U.S. ambassador to Israel, James G. McDon- ald, published in September 2010 in The Foreign Service Journal . Mr. Brecher led a full and active life in retirement. He lived in New York City, to be near his family. He played tennis most afternoons until his late 70s. He was dedicated to retaining his French proficiency, daily reading French news- papers online and rereading the com- plete works of Proust. The windows of his 28th-floor apartment faced the East River, and he enjoyed seeing vessels sail up the waterway—a remembrance of his Navy days. Mr. Brecher is survived by his brother, two sisters, three nieces and four nephews. n Shirley A. Cross , 99, spouse of the late FSO and former ambassador Charles T. Cross, died on April 7 in Marblemount, Wash. Born on Jan. 7, 1921, in Faribault, Minn., Shirley Foss was the oldest of five children to Marvin and Lillian Foss. In January 1946, she married Mr. Cross. She accompanied her husband on For- eign Service assignments to 11 countries in Asia, the Middle East and Europe dur- ing his diplomatic career. Both abroad and in the United States, friends recall, Mrs. Cross was enthusi- astic and hardworking, teaching adult literacy and language, and exploring new cultures, art and archaeology. She was an active member of the American Women’s Associations in Hong Kong and Singapore, the YWCA in Taiwan, the Indonesian Interna- tional Women’s Club and the Seattle Sunset Club. She was a member of the American Association of Foreign Service Women from 1963 until she retired in 1981. Together with Amb. Cross, she served in the Foreign Service for more than three decades. IN MEMORY