The Foreign Service Journal, September 2011

USAID and managed the substantial U.S. assistance programs in that area. Next came an assignment to Nairobi as the USAIDEast Africa rep- resentative. There he established as- sistance programs in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Mr. Skiles returned to Washington after his Africa assignments for a short time, and was then assigned to Sri Lanka as USAID representative. There he initiated and directed de- velopment assistance activities. From Colombo, Mr. Skiles moved to Kabul, where he was the deputy director of the large USAID program there. Throughout his overseas work, Mr. Skiles focused on programs that contributed to improvements in edu- cation, agriculture, public health and administration, and food security. In 1973 his expertise and experi- ence led to an appointment as the USAID Representative to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Or- ganization and the United Nations World Food Program in Rome. Mr. Skiles was the U.S. spokesman on major international food and agricul- ture issues of the time. In 1978 he retired from the For- eign Service and settled in Northern Virginia. An avid gardener and golfer, Mr. Skiles enjoyed cultivating many flower varieties. He was a 50-year member of the International Country Club and a 30-year member of the Pinehurst, N.C., Country Club. Mr. Skiles is survived by his wife of 53 years, Ruth Nay Skiles of Falls Church, Va.; a sister, Amy Lou Uri- quen of Boise, Idaho; and several nieces and netphews. He was preceded in death by brothers C. Stanley Skiles, James J. Skiles and Gerald W. Skiles, and a sis- ter, Bonnie Stampley. James Clagett Taylor , 76, a retired FSO, died on July 10 in Sebring, Fla. Mr. Taylor was born on May 20, 1935, in Spartanburg, S.C., to Annie Laurie and J. Clagett Taylor Sr. He at- tended public schools in Sebring, Fla., and graduated in 1957 from Davidson College in North Carolina with a B.A. He obtained a master’s degree in inter- national relations from American Uni- versity in Washington, D.C., in 1961. Both Oxford and Princeton Press published his master’s thesis on the po- litical development of Tanganyika, the East African territory now comprising Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania that was an independent state from 1961 to 1964. In 1958, Mr. Taylor married Patri- cia Kressly of Easton, Pa., and began working as an analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency. In the spring of 1960, he, his wife and six-month-old daughter, Deborah, were sent as mis- sionaries to Mrewa, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). When they returned to the United States after six years of service, Mr. Taylor enrolled in the African studies program at the Univer- sity of Florida, Gainesville. Clagett Taylor joined the Foreign Service in June 1967, and was posted to Kingston. He next served in Wash- ington, D.C., working on cultural ex- changes. In July 1972, he was assigned to Lusaka. It was his last tour. Due to his father’s ill health, Mr. Taylor returned to Sebring to help run the family businesses. He took courses in citrus production at Polk Community College and joined Web- ster Manufacturing, which his father ARE YOU IN HER E? Keep AFSA up-to-date with your contact information in the 2012 Retirement Directory. PLEASE SEND CHANGE OF ADDRESS, NAME AND TELEPHONE TO AFSA IN ONE OF THESE EASY WAYS: S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 1 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 71 I N M E M O R Y PHONE (202) 338-4045 ext. 525 ONL I NE www.afsa.org/Existing Members/Default.aspx DE ADL I NE S E P T EMB E R 3 0 , 2 0 1 1 MA I L AFSA Membership Department 2101 E Street NW Washington DC 20037 2012 Directory of RetiredMembers