The Foreign Service Journal, October 2012

72 OCTOBER 2012 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL ate in Kobe-Osaka as an admin officer. There he dealt with the mayor of Osaka on naval visits, experienced anti-nuclear demonstrations and reported on the new trend of American companies, like the producer of Arrow shirts, moving produc- tion to Asia. After arriving in Quito in 1965, he was involved in a short-lived experiment to combine the State Department and USAID administrative offices. Quito was also challenging for its altitude, anti-U.S. demonstrations from time to time and mission adjustment to the PNG’ing of Ambassador Wymberley deRenne Coerr. The family’s next move, in the summer of 1969, was to Nairobi, where Mr. Kessler served as general services officer. Staying on the African continent, he was next assigned to Embassy Freetown. After 17 years overseas, Mr. Kessler returned to the department in 1974 and taught administration courses at FSI. He then moved to the Board of Examin- ers in 1977 and worked on recruitment and issues that arose from the passage of the new Foreign Service Act in 1980. He stayed with BEX until his retirement in 1986, and did several When Actually Employed stints there. Mr. Kessler is survived by his wife Martha, of Fairfax, Va.; five children, Laura, Janet, Earl, Bryan and Andrew; and eight grandchildren, Melinda, Dylan, Charly, Shawn, Allyn, Ella, Harrison and Holden. Contributions in Mr. Kessler’s memory may be made to the Macular Degeneration Foundation, Inc., P.O. Box 531313, Henderson NV 89053. n Richard M. Key , 89, a retired FSO with USIA, died on June 27 in Pompano Beach, Fla., after a long illness. Mr. Key came to the United States from Poland as a child. As an undergrad- uate in a Spanish class at Queens College in New York City before the war, he met his wife, Pearl Frasco. Mr. Key served in the Office of Stra- tegic Services with the U.S. Army during World War II. He then became a profes- sor of Romance languages at Rutgers, Indiana University and the University of Kansas, where he earned his doctorate. Mr. Key joined the State Department in 1956. Over a 21-year career, he served in Panama, Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina and Poland, as well as in Washington, D.C., where he was deputy assistant director of USIA for Latin America. He retired from the Foreign Service in 1977. Mr. Key enjoyed a long and happy retirement of travel, family life and writ- ing, his second love. He completed two espionage novels and numerous essays and travel articles before he fell ill. He also loved photography and had a photo published in Time magazine. He is survived by his wife, Pearl, of Pompano Beach; two children, Dr. Richard R. Key of California and Kristen Westermann of Long Island, N.Y.; and two granddaughters, Kelly Kreis of Stony Brook, N.Y., and Sandy Kreis of Boston, Mass. n JoAnn “Joey” Kula , 74, a retired Foreign Service secretary, died on March 25 in Altamonte Springs, Fla. Beginning in 1981, Ms. Kula’s Foregin Service postings included the U.S. Mis- sion to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris, Ankara, Rabat, Santiago, Riyadh and Asuncion. After retiring in 1996, she did several When Actually Employed assignments in Malawi, Swaziland and Djibouti. Once fully retired, she enjoyed paint- ing, making jewelry and writing. She recently co-authored a book with her best friend: Ticket to Tomorrow: From the Bizarre to the Bazaar (Brighton Publish- ing, 2011). She is survived by her son, Bret Kula, of Deland, Fla.; her daughter, Toni Kula, a Foreign Service office management specialist posted in Washington, D.C.; and twin granddaughters, Ashley and Alexandra Kula, who both attend Ameri- can University in Washington, D.C. n Mrs. Pearl Rachlin Richardson , 85, the wife of retired Foreign Service officer Cecil Richardson, died on May 19 in Washington, D.C., after a brief illness. Mrs. Richardson was born on March 9, 1927, in Brooklyn, N.Y. She earned both an undergraduate and a master’s degree from City College of New York and taught in New York City public schools. Mrs. Richardson accompanied her husband on his many assignments abroad, including to Dakar, Saigon, Lagos, Niamey, Paris, Accra, Brussels, Quito, Tehran, Lima and Nassau. She was an active participant in many activities both here and abroad, earning a Cer- tificate of Appreciation from the State Department for her work in family sup- port during the Iranian hostage crisis. She served as president of the Ameri- can Women’s Club and did educational counseling in Accra and was vice presi- dent of the American Society in Lima. Using her teaching skills, she taught in the Department of Defense school in Sai- gon, where she also edited field reports for an agricultural development project. Even when her husband returned to Washington, she accompanied him on trips abroad as an inspector; and again when, after retirement, he took tem- porary work assignments at numerous posts. These included some 17 different countries, many of which she had not previously visited. Avid traveler that she