The Foreign Service Journal, October 2004

that, indeed, has proved true. Later in Hume’s career, when he was the ambassador to Cameroon, I was the USAID desk officer. When I visited Yaoundé on TDY, he most kindly arranged a party in my honor, which mightily impressed the USAID/ Cameroon staff. But that was typical of Hume: a spontaneous kindness. It’s not usual to meet a large num- ber of superlative people on life’s path. Hume was one of those people. I was very glad to have known him, and my wife Sheila and I are very sorry that his life was cut short. William H. Faulkner USAID FSO, retired Falls Church, Va. W HAT A N A MAZING G UY ! As Hume’s former colleague during his two tours as diplomat-in-residence at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, I recall with delight the many hours in which he shared his apparently infinite knowl- edge on subjects both esoteric and mundane. Best of all, he called upon me to assist in publishing To the Happy Few: A Story of Death, Love, and Loss in the Sudan , the novel he completed after returning from his mission as ambassador in Abidjan. We had a fantastic time during the long editorial process that included long digressions on anything and every- thing related (or unrelated) to this valentine to the Foreign Service. The book’s hero was the DCM in Khartoum, a dashing former Marine, whose daring adventures included life- threatening encounters with Islamist extremists, a sizzling but agonizing romantic dilemma, and thinly-veiled portrayals of classic Foreign Service types to cheer or hiss or chuckle over. We published the novel with Electric City Press, and launched it at the Foreign Service Club in October 1996. When Hume moved abroad a few years later, he donated most of his sup- ply of the book to the Association for O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 71