The Foreign Service Journal, September 2016

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2016 89 languages, speaking half a dozen comfort- ably. Her greatest passion, however, was for Russian, which she began learning while at Smith College so she could better understand and enjoy the works of Dosto- evsky and other Russian authors. In 1971, Diana Moxhay became the first female Foreign Service officer posted to U.S. Embassy Moscow. Her mis- sion there focused on creating a deeper cultural understanding between the two superpowers, long before official relations began to thaw. During the next three decades, she was posted in Chile, Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Russia again, Belarus and Austria, reaching the most senior levels of the Foreign Service. A lifelong champion of democracy and free speech, Ms. Moxhay took particu- lar delight in having incurred the ire of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, both of whom barred her from entering their countries, resentful of her work to empower a free press. Diana Moxhay is remembered as a woman of refined taste, with a deep appreciation for and encyclopedic knowl- edge of classical music, opera, ballet and the fine arts; and she was personal friends with numerous prominent Russian danc- ers, artists and musicians. Prior to retiring, Ms. Moxhay designed a beautiful home overlooking the sea on Peaks Island, where she could be close to family and friends. She is survived by her brothers David (and his wife, Judy) and Peter (and his wife, Kathryn, and their children Olwyn, Imogen and Nikolai); and her nephew Christopher (and his wife, Bonnie). n June Beakes Byrne Spencer, 98, widow of the late FSO James MacGregor Byrne, died peacefully at home in Chevy Chase, Md., on Oct. 13, 2015. She was a co-founder and the first president of the Associates of the American Foreign Ser- vice Worldwide (originally “Association of American Foreign Service Women”). Born and raised in Bay City, Texas, June Beakes came to Washington to attend Arlington Hall School. She worked for the federal government during the New Deal years and was posted to Madrid during World War II as a member of the State Department’s Foreign Service Auxiliary. In 1946, June Beakes married FSO James MacGregor Byrne. She accompa- nied her husband on overseas postings in Berne, Addis Ababa, Tunis and Brus- sels. On his retirement from the Foreign Service in 1964, the couple settled in the Washington, D.C., area. Mr. Byrne died in 1979. Mrs. Byrne married Samuel Spencer, a former president of the Washington, D.C., Board of Commissioners, in 1982. He died in 1997. June Byrne co-founded AAFSW in 1960 and served as its first president. Foreign Service spouses formed the orga- nization to make their needs and those of their families understood by State Department officials. As Mrs. Spencer later recounted in her oral history interview with the Associa- tion for Diplomatic Studies and Training, when she first made the suggestion that such an organization with elected officers be formed: “Jaws dropped; there was silence—it was heretical.” AAFSW advocacy led to creation of the Family Liaison Office, the Overseas Briefing Center and the Foreign Service Youth Foundation. Mrs. Spencer was honored at AAFSW’s Millennium Cel- ebration in 2000. June Beakes Byrne Spencer is survived by four children and one grandson. n Take AFSA With You! Change your address online, visit us at www.afsa.org/ address Or Send changes to: AFSAMembership Department 2101 E Street NW Washington, DC 20037 Moving?