The Foreign Service Journal, November 2021

94 NOVEMBER 2021 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL acknowledge and thank the staff for the excellent care Ms. Cooper received at the Virginian Senior Living Community, where she resided since 2014, and for the staff of VITAS Healthcare for their assis- tance in her final months. Preceding Ms. Cooper in death were her parents and family members: Hubert Cooper, Versha Reed, Bernard Cooper, Jewel Medley, Mattie Patrick, Drema Kay Cooper, Gladys Guthrie, Mary Louise Cooper, Mamie Venable, Luverna Cooper, Tressie Preston and James Cooper. She is survived by her sister, Hilda Lorene Reedy, of Pueblo, Colo.; many nieces and nephews, and great nieces and great nephews; and her grandniece, Jamie Cooper Moales, of Hillsborough, N.C., who provided care and companionship to Ms. Cooper for more than a decade. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to National Presbyterian Church or Hospice in Ms. Cooper’s memory. n James Colin “Jim” Curran , 92, a retired Foreign Service officer, died on May 1 at Pheasant Wood (Nursing) Center in Peterborough, N.H., after six months of complications from circulatory disease, neuropathy, chronic obstructive pulmo- nary disease and COVID-19. Born in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Mass., in April 1929, he was the youngest of three sons of Louis Frederick Curran, a cardiologist and physician-in- chief at Carney Hospital, staff physician at Boston City Hospital and a professor of clinical procedure at Tufts Medical School, and of Anastasia Eleanor “Ann” (Zollo) Curran, a head nurse and home- maker. At age 14, he lost both his father (heart attack) and oldest brother, Louis Jr. (Battle of Anzio, World War II), and was then raised by his mother and older brother Robert. Mr. Curran finished Boston English High School in 1946 and attended Notre Dame University in South Bend, Ind., on a Navy ROTC scholarship, graduat- ing cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in English in 1950. He then served for 35 months as a gunnery officer on a destroyer escort, followed by 18 years in the Navy Reserve. He was discharged in 1971 with the rank of lieutenant. On Oct. 12, 1953, he married his high school dance class partner, Mary Green- ish “Polly” Emery, one of three sisters from the West Roxbury neighborhood of Boston. A year of further study at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., earned Mr. Curran a bachelor’s degree in Foreign Service studies in 1954. He entered and remained with the Foreign Service for the next 24 years, from 1955 to 1979, serving initially as a personnel assistant with the Board of Examiners in Washington before being posted to Tehran, Cape Town, Dar es Salaam, Lomé and Melbourne. He specialized in economics. His service included an academic year each at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University (earning a master’s degree in international economics in 1966) and at the U.S. Army War College. In 1967 Mr. Curran received a Superior Honor Award related to his successful negotiations with the Tanzanian gov- ernment in settling claims arising from expropriated property, including a 7,000- acre farm. In 1971 his research report on China and its construction of the Tanza- nia-Zambia (Tan-Zam) Railway was cited for distinction by the Commandant’s Board at the U.S. Army War College. Upon his retirement, following a tour of China, the Currans purchased a summer guest house, “Birch Ridge,” from retired Ambassador Cecil B. and Elsie (Grew) Lyon in Hancock, N.H., and retro- fitted it for year-round living. A man of many passions, in retirement Mr. Curran indulged himself in reading and writing, photography, theater, art, music, politics, world history, public schools and continuing education, all matters Irish, home maintenance and improvement, and African carvings and wildlife. He was active in several local groups: Hancock Depot Association, Monadnock Music, Grand Monad- nock Arts Council, Granite State Opera, Monadnock Summer Lyceum and the Monadnock United Way. Blessed with self-confidence and the gift of gab, Mr. Curran led his children in singalongs on family road trips and safa- ris, participated in community theater, and enjoyed traveling frequently with and hosting visits by his many friends and extended family. Mr. Curran acted on his strong interest in domestic politics, thrice running as a Democrat for state representative for Hillsborough District 3 and serving one term before declining to seek reelec- tion, exhausted by the inefficacy of the 400-seat body. He remained active to the end with the Hancock Town Democratic Committee. He is survived by his wife of 69 years, Polly, now in Peterborough, N.H., and seven of their children: daughters Bon- nie (and Gary) Bokenkamp of Cape Cod, Moira Ellen (and Willy) Suter of Manassas, Va., and Sarah Roberta Butler Annecone of Boulder, Colo.; sons Louis B. (and Jolie Susan) of Balti- more and San Diego, Benjamin (and Haregewoin/“Mimi”) of Washington, D.C., Edmund of Rosebank, Australia, and Sean Emmett of Manchester, N.H.; 17 grandchildren; 11 great-grandchil- dren;14 nieces and nephews; and a sister- in-law, Nancy E. Meanix of Honey Brook, Pa. He was predeceased in 1990 by son Matthew Padraic.