The Foreign Service Journal, September 2020

82 SEPTEMBER 2020 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL ian, Georgian and Russian languages and cultures in the Department of Uralic and Altaic Studies. In 2005 her systematic approach to such disciplines resulted in a master’s degree in library and informa- tion science from the University of Mary- land. During that time, she worked as a librarian at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. On Jan. 21, 1989, she married Andriy Koropeckyj of Baltimore. In 1991 he joined the Diplomatic Security Service with the State Department. The couple served in Kyiv, Ankara, Vladivostok, Tashkent, Cairo, Moscow and Paris. Their three sons were born overseas: Damian (1994), Darius (2000) and Victor (2005). Abroad, Ms. Donovan first worked as a consular associate. With her skills in library science and information architecture, she worked remotely on records management projects starting in 2005, including the World Trade Center Memorial. When based in the United States, she worked on similar projects at varied orga- nizations, including the National Archives, and returned to the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth to design and imple- ment a records and archiving system. With a passion for writing and liter- ary skill, she published numerous works, many of them influenced by her experi- ence abroad. This included fiction and nonfiction writing in the Baltimore Sun, Happy , The Foreign Service Journal , the blog “Tales from a Small Planet” and the anthology Freedom’s Just Another Word . Ms. Donovan also wrote, edited and published newsletters for the embassy communities in Kyiv and Cairo. InMos- cow, she researched, compiled and pub- lished an official history of the diplomatic mission’s place in the bilateral relationship of the United States and Russia. She had enormous compassion and participated in numerous charitable activities. She visited nearly 60 countries and always worked to convey her cultural experience to others, especially sharing that with her husband and passing it on to their sons. Her priorities were those of a loving mother and wife. Ms. Donovan is survived by her husband, Andriy Koropeckyj; children Damian, Darius and Victor; sister Leah; and brother Trip. n Robert Bruce “Bob” Houston Jr. , 96, a retired Foreign Service officer, died at the Westminster at Lake Ridge retirement community in Lake Ridge, Va., onMay 4. Mr. Houston was born on July 29, 1923, to Robert Bruce Houston Sr. and Kate Nelson in Kansas City, Mo. In high school, he won a scholarship to Harvard Univer- sity, where he went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in physics, summa cum laude, in May 1943 at the age of 19. After graduation, during WorldWar II, he worked as a radio engineer on the LORAN navigation system at the Naval Research Laboratory in Anacostia, D.C. In 1945 Mr. Houston joined the For- eign Service. He served as deputy chief of mission in Bulgaria (his second posting there) and in Finland, and was science counselor in the USSR. Although his first post was the Gold Coast (nowGhana), he specialized in European affairs, serving also in Germany, Austria, Scotland and Poland. Mr. Houston spoke French, Russian, Finnish, Bulgarian, Polish and German. In 1962 he earned a master’s degree in government and a certificate in Eastern European studies from Indiana University. After 37 years in the Foreign Service, Mr. Houston retired in 1982. In retirement, he worked for several years in declassification reviews. His hob- bies included improving his computer skills and genealogy, and his special fond- ness was for chocolate cake and ice cream. Mr. Houston was predeceased by his wife of 68 years, Ellen Rae “Suzy” Houston. He is survived by his children, retired FSO Robert Bruce Houston III of Centreville, Va., Pamela Turner Houston of Arlington, Va., andMartha Carroll of Salt Lake City, Utah; five grandchildren; and one great- grandchild. n John AnthonyMatel , 65, a retired Foreign Service officer, died unexpectedly on June 22. Mr. Matel was born inMilwaukee, Wis., in 1955. He attended the Universities of Wisconsin andMinnesota and earned a master’s degree in history and anMBA. In 1984 he joined the U.S. Information Agency as a public diplomacy officer, and served in Brazil, Norway, Poland, Iraq and Washington, D.C. His proudest work included helping Iraqis rebuild their communities after the ousting of al-Qaida in Anbar Province, and sending more than 30,000 Brazil- ian students to study STEMfields in top American universities. Mr. Matel was also president of the Fulbright Commission in Brazil, senior international adviser at the Smithsonian Institution, and a State Department fellow at Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. After 32 years of service, he retired in 2016 and pursued his passion for forestry and conservation. In 2005 he had pur- chased his first forest land in Brunswick County, Va. As a landowner, certified tree farmer and naturalist, he actively man- aged nearly 500 acres of Virginia forest for timber, wildlife and water quality. Mr. Matel served on the boards of the Virginia Tree FarmFoundation and the Forest History Society, and promoted southern pine ecology and working land- scapes. He led by example, and worked to