The Foreign Service Journal, October 2008

employees and subsequently ex- changed at Lourenco Marques. He then proceeded directly to Kabul, where he served as secretary to the minister. In 1944, he was transferred to the office of the U.S. political advis- er for Germany in London, Versailles and Frankfurt. Next, he was stationed in Ciudad Trujillo in 1946. In 1948, he returned to Frankfurt and, after being commissioned a vice consul, was assigned to the consulate general. Subsequent assignments included Montreal, Yokohama, To- ronto and Washington, D.C. He was assigned to Vancouver in 1970 and retired as consul in 1975. Following retirement, he settled in Sartell, Minn., moving to Silver Spring, Md., in 1991. Mr. Eilers is survived by his wife of 62 years, Jean of Silver Spring Md.; nine children, Bob Eilers of Mount Airy, Md., Doug Eilers and Paul Eilers of Albuquerque, N.M., Pam- ela McKeehan and Lynn Chapman of Silver Spring, Md., Lois Rotondi of Rockville, Md., Joan Horn of Walk- ersville, Md., Ann Eilers of Potomac, Md., and John Eilers of Palo Alto, Calif.; and six grandchildren. Carl Leo Gebuhr , 91, a retired FSO with USIA, died on July 30 of cancer at his home in Murfreesboro, Tenn., surrounded by his family. Born on Jan. 7, 1917, in Council Bluffs, Iowa, to Martina and John Gebuhr, Mr. Gebuhr was one of four siblings in a close family of Danish immigrants. He graduated from the University of Iowa in 1943 and served as a U.S. Navy recruiter and gunnery officer in World War II. For three years after the war, he worked as a press agent for the Columbia Broad- casting System. Mr. Gebuhr joined the State Department in 1948 and was posted as a radio/motion picture officer in Stockholm. Subsequent assignments included Germany, Pakistan and Vietnam. At USIA headquarters in Washington, D.C., he served as a management analyst, desk officer for Scandinavia, defense affairs adviser in the office of policy, and adviser to the commanding officer of the John F. Kennedy Center for Military Assist- ance at Fort Bragg, N.C. Mr. Gebuhr’s diplomatic career had many highlights. He participated in the development of the Amerika Haus in Germany after World War II and helped develop and direct the psychological operations campaign in Vietnam in the late 1960s. He devel- oped programs for RIAS, the only free radio station broadcasting from West Berlin across the communist bloc countries in the late 1960s. During the Indo-Pakistani war of 1965, Mr. Gebuhr negotiated and directed the emergency evacuation of all western dependents from Lahore. Then, in 1970, he traveled with the crew of the Apollo XII spaceship as USIA adviser for the astronauts’ world good-will tour. He enjoyed meeting many celebri- ties and dignitaries he personally admired, family members recall, and especially treasured the opportunity to host a visit by Duke Ellington to Lahore. Mr. Gebuhr was active in Unitar- ian-Universalist Church affairs, serv- ing as president of several societies: the Fellowship in Lahore, the Eno River Unitarian Fellowship of Chapel Hill/Durham, N.C., and the First Unitarian Church of Nashville, Tenn. In retirement, he served as presi- dent of the Chapel Hill (N.C.) Interfaith Council for Social Service and Friends of the University of North Carolina Television, and was a board member of the Chapel Hill Public Housing Authority. He also served as president of the Rutherford County Literacy Council, and was a literacy tutor and a long-time volun- teer with the Alive Hospice of Murfreesboro. And he was a member of the board of the Nashville U.S. Association for the United Nations for several years. Mr. Gebuhr was predeceased by his parents, his first wife, his three sib- lings and his son, Richard Gregory Gebuhr. He is survived by his wife, Fran (Brandon) Gebuhr; his daugh- ters Karla Robeson and Rebecca Mc- Closkey; his stepdaughter Kelly For- rest; his stepson Kinsey Brewer; his grandchildren Kristina and Timothy Robeson, Matthew and Alex McClos- key; and a great-grandson, Ethan Robeson. Mr. Gebuhr believed deeply in public service, and his body was donated to Vanderbilt Medical School for research. Memorial contributions can be made to the American Cancer Soci- ety, the Alzheimer’s Association, the Alive Hospice of Murfreesboro (1639 Medical Center Pkwy., Suite 202, Murfreesboro TN 37129), or the Greater Nashville Unitarian Univer- salist Congregation (374 Hicks Rd., Nashville TN 37221). Elisabeth Church Hayne , 84, wife of retired FSO William Alston Hayne, died on April 2 in Napa, Calif., of complications from an Alz- heimer’s-related illness. Born in her family home at Villa Novo, Pa., Mrs. Hayne remained at heart a Philadelphian and staunch supporter of the Phillies baseball team wherever she lived. Following graduation from the Agnes Irwin School in suburban Philadelphia, a year at the Brownmoor School in 76 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / O C T O B E R 2 0 0 8 I N M E M O R Y u u u