The Foreign Service Journal, November 2021

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 2021 93 IN MEMORY n Joy-Lyn Blake , also known as Lynn Susan Valley, 63, a retired Foreign Service specialist, died on April 13 in Washington state after a brief illness. Ms. Blake, the daughter of Ann Cilley (St. Sauveur) and Norman Russell Valley, was born on Dec. 18, 1957, in Honolulu. She grew up in Gardner, Mass., graduat- ing fromGardner High School in 1975. Ms. Blake was a quick study and held a variety of jobs, enjoying the challenge of learning new things, acquiring new skills and exploring new places. These inter- ests culminated in her joining the State Department Foreign Service, where she thrived as an office management special- ist while traveling the world. She touched many lives as she traveled through life, and will be sorely missed by her family, friends and colleagues. She is survived by her mother, Ann Cil- ley St. Sauveur; her sisters, Carol Kinloch and Judith Rede; her brother, Daniel J. St. Sauveur; her nephew, Ian Kinloch; and her niece, Abigail Kinloch, all of Gardner; and by her aunt and uncle, Susan and Richard Arnold, of Portsmouth, N.H. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Ms. Blake’s name to the Ameri- can Cancer Society. n Carol A. Colloton , 83, a retired For- eign Service officer, died July 22 in Silver Spring, Md. Ms. Colloton was born in Newark, N.J., on Oct. 28, 1937. She earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Rutgers University in 1964, and a master’s degree in political science fromMcGill University in 1968. She joined the Foreign Service in 1976. Her overseas assignments included Vienna, Austria (1980-1988); Nouakchott, Mauritania (1993-1995 and 1998-2000); and Kampala, Uganda (1995-1998). She held several posts in Washington, D.C., and was posted to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York in 2001 before retiring in 2002. In retirement, Ms. Colloton continued working for the State Department until 2017, first assisting with refugee resettlement in the United States for the Bureau of Popula- tion, Refugees and Migration, and then declassifying documents for the Bureau of Administration. Ms. Colloton is survived by daughter Meghan and granddaughters Aislin and Keira, of Charlottesville, Va. n Lola Sybil Cooper , 96, a former Foreign Service officer, passed away peacefully on Aug. 3 at home in Fairfax, Va. Ms. Cooper was born in Frame, W.Va., on March 3, 1925, to James Anderson Cooper and Alda Elizabeth Given Cooper. Ms. Cooper was valedictorian of her senior class and attended courses at Mor- ris Harvey College in Charleston, W.Va. She was two years out of high school when she took the Civil Service exam. She passed with flying colors and was on her way to Washington, D.C., the following week, where she continued to reside until her passing. She was a State Department secretary for 25 years, serving some 20 of those years in the Foreign Service. Her U.S. government career began with the Postal Department. She eventu- ally moved to the State Department and then on to the Foreign Service, where she served until her retirement in 1982. She served as secretary and staff aide to Ambassador William Leonhart in U.S. embassies in Denmark (1955- 1958), the Philippines (1958-1960), Japan (1960-1962), Tanzania (1962-1965) and Yugoslavia (1969-1972). She also served in Washington at the White House (1966-1969) and in the State Department (1973-1975). Her assignment to Tanganyika—the East African state that in 1964 merged with Zanzibar to form the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, and was later renamed the United Republic of Tanzania—took place dur- ing a turbulent and dangerous time for the newly formed country. She later served in Yugoslavia during its commu- nist rule under President Josip Broz Tito. Ms. Cooper was a trailblazer for women in the Foreign Service, working on highly classified and top-secret govern- ment documents including the Mar- shall Plan, also known as the European Recovery Program, which provided aid to Western Europe following the devastation of World War II. After her retirement from the Foreign Service, Ms. Cooper worked for three years as a volunteer for Dr. Richard Halverson, chaplain of the U.S. Senate, from 1982 to 1985. And from 1985 to 1987, she served as personal secretary to Clare Boothe Luce, an American author, politician, U.S. ambassador and public conservative figure. Ms. Cooper also worked as an usher, primarily in the formerly titled Golden Circles Lounge of the Kennedy Center (on the Opera House side), for more than 20 years, until 2014. There, she had the opportunity to meet and greet many famous people and make lifelong friends. She had a special friendship with world-renowned opera singer Plácido Domingo, given his role as director of the Washington National Opera during her tenure there. Ms. Cooper was a devout Christian and a member of the National Presby- terian Church, where she was actively involved for many years serving on the Business and Professional Women’s Guild, and the Washington-Tokyo Women’s Club. Her family would like to