The Foreign Service Journal, October 2004

Sharon Bagwell Akalovsky , 61, wife of retired FSO Alexander Akalovsky and a former Foreign Service secretary, died April 4 at Sibley Hospital in Washington, D.C., after a long battle with breast cancer. Mrs. Akalovsky was with the Foreign Service from 1966 until her marriage in 1977. During that peri- od, she served in Kabul, Hong Kong, Bern, Saigon, Berlin, Lusaka and Washington, D.C. After leaving the Service, she became a resident of Bethesda, Md., worked for several years as a legal secretary and then turned to developing her consider- able talent as an artist. Her water- color paintings were given high marks by juries at a number of local art exhibits. Mrs. Akalovsky is survived by her husband, Alexander, of Bethesda, Md.; three stepchildren, Irene McClendon, Elaine Kallay and Alexander Akalovsky Jr.; five step- grandchildren; and her mother, Juanita Bagwell of Deland, Fla. David Morgan Bane , 88, retired FSO and former ambassador, died in West Palm Beach, Fla., on March 23. Ambassador Bane was born in Pennsylvania. He earned his B.A. at Duke University in 1938 and his LL.B. at the University of Pennsyl- vania in 1941. He was a member of the Pennsylvania bar. Commission- ed as a lieutenant in the cavalry of the U.S. Army in 1941, he served in the China-Burma-India theater, and was awarded the Bronze Star and the Soldier’s Medal. He was honor- ably discharged with the rank of colonel in 1946. In 1947, Amb. Bane joined the Foreign Service and was posted to Tokyo as a political-economic offi- cer. He was transferred to Seoul in 1949 as an economic officer, and a year later received orders to report to Bordeaux, where he served as a consular officer. In 1953, he was assigned to Paris as a political offi- cer, returning to Washington in 1956 to work in the Office of U.N. Political Affairs. After being detail- ed to the National War College in 1957, in 1958 he became deputy director of the Office of Northeast Asian Affairs in the State Depart- ment, assuming the directorship in 1959. From 1961 to 1964, Amb. Bane served as consul general in Lahore. He then spent a year as diplomat-in- residence at the University of Iowa. In 1965 he was appointed by President Johnson to serve as ambassador to Gabon. After four years there, he was named political adviser to the commander-in-chief of the U.S. Strike Command/U.S. Commander-in-Chief to the Middle East, Africa and South Asia based at McDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla. His final posting before retiring in 1975 was to Bombay as consul general. Following retirement Amb. and Mrs. Bane settled in Florida. Amb. Bane’s love of sporting activities brought him to the Palm Beach Polo Club in Wellington, where he enjoyed the Sunday afternoon inter- national high goal polo tournaments when in season. He took up skiing in his seventies, and he and his wife Patty would spend each February in Sun Valley, Idaho, skiing and dining in the resort’s many fine restaurants. In summers he enjoyed fly fishing and hiking in Montana and the Sawtooth Mountains. At home, gar- dening and reading were his hob- bies. In 1984, he and Patty made a nostalgic trip around the world. Amb. Bane is survived by his wife, Patricia Miller Bane of Wellington, Fla.; a married daugh- ter, Patricia Huston Long of Alexandria, Va.; two grand-daugh- ters and two great-grandchildren. Memorial contributions may be made to the Hospice of Palm Beach County, Inc., 5300 East Avenue, West Palm Beach FL 33407-2387. Francine L. Bowman , 63, a Foreign Service officer who retired in 1991, died of cancer in Asheville, N.C. on Nov. 4, 2003. Ms. Bowman began her career in the Foreign Service in 1961 in Athens. She later served in Vietnam and Chile, where she learned to fly. During her posting to Mexico she had her own private plane. Twelve years after joining the Foreign Service as a secretary, she became an administrative officer and finished I N M EMORY 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 75