The Foreign Service Journal, October 2018

42 OCTOBER 2018 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL officer in Seoul. From there she transferred to Rangoon to run the Office of Human Resources. Wherever she was, Jessica’s passion for life and for her daughter, her blistering frankness and her irrepressible energy were effervescent. She shared her views, her plant-garnished cocktails, her friendship and her compassion with equal fervor. When Jessica was tragically killed in an accident in Vietnam in March 2017, her birth family and her traveling families came together to grieve, to remember and to bring her home to Louisiana and to all the other places she loved. Jessica’s journeys are not just tales of many travels during a too-short life. They are the story of an FS community that supported her—and supports us all—on our itinerant journey through life. Absorbing the Shock Like all of her many friends, I was shocked by the news that Jessica had died while on vacation in Vietnam. We exchanged what little we knew on Facebook, united by a quickly established memorial page. She had taken a last-minute weekend trip with embassy friends, then came a motorcycle accident and tragedy. We shared photos and memories as the news spread; we shared our shock and sorrow, as well. Like the other 500 people who eventually joined us on Facebook, I couldn’t believe she was gone. I could imagine, though, what it would take to bring her home. The death of an embassy colleague is devastating. You are torn between overwhelming grief, the need to inform and com- fort others, and the imperative to make decisions. It fell initially to her traveling companions and embassy teams in both Viet- nam and Myanmar to care for the surviving victims, protect Jess and support her family. As the news spread around the world, Jessica’s friends and families began to pull together. In Rangoon Jessica’s supervisor and friend, Lisa Povolni, was enjoying a slow Sunday when she heard the news. Many of the responsibilities were hers as management counselor; she would take on many more as Jessica’s friend. Lisa remembers: “I went to the embassy and started logging on to the computer to get Jess’ next-of-kin information. I sent that to the ambassador and deputy chief of mission; and the ambassador called Jess’ mother. He asked her mother how she wanted to notify Jessica’s daughter. Jess’ mother asked us to handle the notification, but then to immediately Facetime her, so she could talk to her granddaughter.” “A small group of us went to Jessica’s apartment,” Lisa recalls. “We broke the news to her daughter, and spent the next hours comforting her and talking to her family. We found out that Jess’ grandfather was in Australia and could get to Rangoon quickly.” That quickly turned into a three-country odyssey that involved Consulate Sydney, Embassy Kuala Lumpur and continued engagement by Embassy Rangoon to overcome visa and travel obstacles; but he made it in time to attend Jessica’s flag cer- emony the first work day after the accident. “The entire embassy community gathered at the flagpole; and staff, mostly local staff, had purchased hundreds of flow- Jessica and her HR team at Embassy Rangoon at an awards ceremony in December 2014. Left to right: Julia Swe, Susan Nwe, Jess, Jenny Thi and Khin Mar. COURTESYOFSUSANNWE