The Foreign Service Journal, November 2016

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 2016 69 Service officers and staff, as well as to their widows and divorced spouses. He was a member of DACOR and the American Foreign Service Association. Mr. Shumate is survived by his wife of 38 years, Caroline Taylor; his daughter, Vanessa Campbell Hooper of Mittagong, Australia; his son, John David of Dal- las, Texas; and three grandchildren, Erin Hooper, Colin Shumate and Kira Page Shu- mate. His daughter Jennifer predeceased him in 1998. n JeanMaryWilkowski, 97, a retired Senior Foreign Service officer and the first career female ambassador to an Afri- can nation (Zambia), died on July 27 in Bethesda, Md., after a lengthy illness. Born on Aug. 28, 1919, to Ernest and Mae Wilkowski in Rhinelander, Wis., Jean Wilkowski earned a B.A. in journalism from Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College in Indiana. She earned anM.A. from the University of Wisconsin, and went on to receive six honorary degrees. She taught various courses at Barry College in Florida before embarking on a 35-year career in the U.S. Foreign Service in 1944. Her first post was Trinidad. She con- centrated on trade and economics during assignments in Colombia, Italy, France, Chile and Honduras. She helped negotiate the expansion of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, which led to creation of the World Trade Organization. Ms. Wilkowski was appointed U.S. ambassador to Zambia in 1972. During her tenure there, she helped change U.S. policy in Southern Africa. Ambassador Wilkowski also served as a diplomat in residence at Occidental Col- lege in California. Before retiring from the Foreign Service in 1980, she worked with Notre Dame President FatherTheodore Hesburgh on the U.S. preparation for the 1979 United Nations Conference on Sci- ence and Technology for Development in Vienna, which included a research visit to the People’s Republic of China. Amb. Wilkowski devoted her retirement years to various economic development and aid projects. She served as the first female FSO on the board at DACOR and was honored to receive the prestigious Foreign Service Cup there. She served as chair of the board with Volunteers in Technical Assistance for 12 years. During that time, she held senior positions on the board of Corn Products/ Best Foods, advising on corporate opera- tions abroad. Amb. Wilkowski received the Cross of Merit, proMeritoMilitensi, from the Sov- ereignMilitary Order of Malta in 1971 for humanitarian service to 50,000 war refu- gees in Central America. She was invested in 1991 and conducted several humanitar- ianmissions to Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Cuba. She was a WoodrowWilson Founda- tion Fellow and a scholarly author. Her autobiography, Abroad for Her Country (pun intended, as she told two University of Wisconsin graduates in an April 2009 interview) chronicles her Foreign Service experience. Throughout her life, Amb. Wilkowski lived her faith daily and inspired others to do so. She funded schools andmissions in Africa and Cuba—which her family trust continues to fund today. She was a lay member of the Bishops’ International Policy Committee and an international consultant to the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities. Amb. Wilkowski was preceded in death by her parents and her brother, Lt. Col. (ret.) Ernie W. Wilkowski. She is survived by her nieces Mary Trogg, Kathleen Hand- ley, Stephanie Turnquist andMargaret Wade; her nephew, Frederick Wilkowski; and their extended families. n