70 NOVEMBER 2023 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL arship and held first position on the order of merit list for academic excellence during his three years in the program. In 1990, he graduated summa cum laude as a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society with a degree in history and a commission in the U.S. Army as a second lieutenant. Following his marriage to Gretchen at Ft. Myer, Va., in August 1990, he was assigned to the officer’s basic course at the field artillery school at Fort Sill, Okla. He continued his training at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, Calif., earning certification as an advanced military linguist in German. Assignments followed in Germany with the Third Infantry Division, first with the 5/41 Field Artillery in Schweinfurt, as a fire support officer for the 3/4 Cavalry, and later as the division’s military liaison officer in Würzburg. Michael attended Advanced Officer Training at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., earned his airborne wings at Fort Benning, Ga., and finished his military career as an intelligence officer for the Third Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg, N.C., in 1997. Military decorations include the Meritorious Service Medal, Airborne Wings, National Defense Medal, Army Achievement Medal, and Army Commendation Medal. In January 1998 Michael entered the U.S. Foreign Service as a consular officer. His first assignment, to Yaoundé, included such highlights as the eruption of Mt. Cameroon in March 1999; victory of the country’s men’s soccer team, the Indomitable Lions, in the 2000 Olympics; and a threat of expulsion from the country for consorting with political opposition. Subsequent posts as a junior officer included Frankfurt, where his first son, Jack, was born, and Hong Kong. Michael served as consular chief at the U.S. embassy in Accra, where he earned his first nomination for Consular Officer of the Year. Highlights of his four years in Accra include the birth of his second son, George, and serving as a control officer for President Barack Obama’s first visit to Ghana in June 2009. Returning to Washington, D.C., in 2011, Michael earned a master’s degree at the National Defense University in 2012 and served in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research as the deputy director for terrorism, narcotics, and crime from 2012 to 2014. His final overseas assignment was as consular chief at the U.S. consulate in Mumbai. Returning to Washington in 2018, he was promoted to the rank of Counselor in the Senior Foreign Service, and served as director of the Post Analysis and Support Division in the Bureau of Consular Affairs’ Office of the Executive Director, and deputy director of the National Vetting Center. There he was nominated a second time for Consular Officer of the Year for his work during the COVID-19 pandemic. He retired in September 2021. Michael was a member of the German Catholic Mission of Washington, D.C., the American Foreign Service Association, the WVU Alumni Association, and Phi Beta Kappa. An avid hiker, camper, and outdoorsman, he belonged to the Izaak Walton League and the Appalachian Trail Club. Michael was preceded in death by his son Henry David Evans in 2007. He is survived by his wife, Gretchen, of Falls Church, Va.; sons Jack and George; his father, Philip B. Evans (and wife Daniele) of Le Pradal, France; his mother, Mary R. White (and husband Ralph) of Williamsburg, Va.; his brother Daniel J. Evans (and wife Kimberly) of Madison, five Taliban detainees for Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl. When Amb. Dobbins stepped down as special representative a year later, John Kerry, then Secretary of State, described him as “one of the finest Foreign Service officers of his generation.” He returned to RAND, where he continued to turn out analyses and reports. In 2017 he published a memoir, Foreign Service: Five Decades on the Frontlines of American Diplomacy (Brookings Institution Press), which won the Douglas Dillon Award that year. He remained a prolific writer; just a few weeks before his death, despite the advanced state of his disease, he was one of the authors of a report on rebuilding Ukraine. Amb. Dobbins is survived by his sons, Christian and Colin Dobbins; his brothers, Peter and Andrew Dobbins; his sisters, Victoria Dobbins and Elizabeth Fuller; and two grandchildren. His wife passed away in 2012. n Michael Philip Evans, 54, a retired Senior Foreign Service officer, passed away peacefully at home in Falls Church, Va., on Oct. 26, 2022, surrounded by his family. Michael was born on May 16, 1968, to Mary Rose Reeder and Philip Burnham Evans in Athens, Ga. He grew up in Arlington, Va., and Morgantown, W.V., graduating as a National Merit finalist from Morgantown High School in 1986. He matriculated at West Virginia University, where he was a member of the honors program and a resident adviser. Michael met his future wife, Gretchen Elizabeth Krantz, in his first semester German class, which began his family’s lifelong connection to the language and culture of that country. During his sophomore year, he earned a Reserve Officers Training Corps schol-
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy ODIyMDU=