The Foreign Service Journal, November 2009

N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 9 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 65 Marleeta F. Basey , 66, a retired Foreign Service secretary, died of can- cer on Aug. 6, at her sister’s home in Lincoln City, Ore. She was a resident of Albany, Ore. Marleeta Basey, known as “Marty,” was born on July 15, 1943, in Toppen- ish, Wash., the daughter of Newton Eugene Basey andMarlea Fay Lowery. She was valedictorian of her high school class in Waldport, Ore., gradu- ating in 1961, and went on to obtain a B.A. in international communications from Stanford University. She joined the Foreign Service in 1964. During her career with the State Department, Ms. Basey served in Paris, Saigon, Beijing and in Belgium at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe. During the Tet Offensive she spent the night lying on her apartment floor with aMarine andM-16 on either side, dodging incoming rounds. She once rode an East German motorcycle through Yugoslavia so that she could write a story about it. Family and friends recall her love of cats and her ability to touch the hearts of all who knew her. She is survived by her sister Shyr- lene Norris of Gleneden Beach, Ore., and her brother Arthur Lowery of Bend, Ore. Michael Arne Codi , 88, a retired Foreign Service officer with USAID, died on June 27 in Naples, Fla. He had been suffering from a stroke and Alz- heimer’s disease. Born in New York City in 1921, Mr. Codi was attending the University of California at Los Angeles when World War II broke out. He joined the Navy and became a pilot, also spending some time in the Coast Guard patrolling the East Coast from above. After the war, he went back to school on the GI Bill, studying at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in Washing- ton, D.C. There he met Marguerite, his wife of nearly 60 years. Mr. Codi began his diplomatic ca- reer with the Department of State in 1950, with a posting to Germany during theMarshall Plan era. He served there with a group of young men who would remain friends for many years and who continued to get together for reunions well into their retirement. He was later posted to Turkey (twice), Lebanon and to Cote d’Ivoire, where he served as re- gional director of USAID for the French-speaking West African coun- tries for five years. He was awarded a medal of honor by Ivoirian President Houphouet-Boigny for his work there. Fluent in French, thanks to his ease in learning languages and help fromhis wife, a native Frenchwoman, Mr. Codi could also get by in Turkish and Ger- man. His main interest and expertise was helping small businesses grow in developing nations. He loved to travel, and took every opportunity to explore countries neighboring his post of as- signment with his family. Upon returning to the United States at the end of 1969, he became involved with USAID’s American Schools and Hospitals Abroad program, which took him to the Far and Middle East, Cen- tral America and back to Africa until 1973. All the friendships and connec- tions he made over the years helped him greatly with this program, and he enjoyed returning to many of the coun- tries where he had once lived. After retiring from the Foreign Service in the mid-1970s, Mr. Codi worked with the International Eye Foundation until 1980, when he and Marguerite retired to Lewes, Del. There he became involved in real es- tate, an interest he shared with his wife, who had been a realtor in Washington, D.C., and who continued her career with Coldwell Banker for many years. The couple loved Lewes and acquired several properties there, notably the Old Shoe Building, one of the oldest in I N M EMORY