The Foreign Service Journal, December 2008

Elizabeth Ravdin Bergus , 80, wife of the late FSO and former amb- assador Donald C. Bergus, died on Dec. 18, 2007, in Cape May Court- house, N.J. A resident of the island town of Strathmere, N.J., Mrs. Bergus was born in 1927 in Philadelphia. She attended Friends Central School, Sarah Lawrence College and the School of Nursing of the University of Pennsylvania. In 1950, she met and married FSO Donald C. Bergus. The couple began their married life in Bei- rut, eventually serving in Paris, Wash- ington, D.C., Cairo, Ankara and Khar- toum. Despite the era’s limits on a wo- man’s role— in the Foreign Service at that time, a diplomat’s wife was not permitted to hold an outside job — Elizabeth Bergus carved out a role as her husband’s closest political confi- dant and a bridge to local civic lead- ers, especially women’s groups. As her husband rose through the ranks, Mrs. Bergus’ diplomatic duties grew until she was organizing and presiding over more than 500 official recep- tions, diplomatic dinners, committee meetings and other events annually. Her organizational skills carried her family — including daughters Eliza- beth and Priscilla, and son George — through 12 major household reloca- tions. Upon her husband’s retirement in 1980, the couple returned to Mrs. Bergus’ summer childhood home in Strathmere, where with her husband’s support she continued her active pub- lic service. As president of the Strathmere Improvement Associa- tion, she led a vigorous, three-year campaign to get state and township authorities to replace the town’s bank- rupt water company and provide healthy water for the town’s residents. In 1986, she and her husband led efforts to build a modern firehouse that could also serve as a disaster- response shelter and community meeting place. As a member of the Strathmere Volunteer Fire Company, Mrs. Ber- gus responded to emergency call-outs 24 hours a day and served as its secre- tary. She was elected a Strathmere Fire District commissioner and serv- ed as clerk of the Fire Commiss- ion. In her 60s, she became a certi- fied emergency medical technician, later becoming one of the first EMTs in New Jersey to be qualified to ad- minister cardiac defibrilation. Joining the Volunteer Ambulance Corps in the nearby city of Sea Isle, N.J. — and later named its president — she was among the top responders to emer- gency calls across the island. An active citizen advocate in local township affairs, she was a member of the zoning board and also served as deputy emergency manager, monitor- ing storm and other disaster threats and helping to organize evacuations from this vulnerable area. Despite her active public service, Mrs. Bergus was, first and foremost, devoted to her family. Her home was a center not only for her children and grandchildren, but to nieces and nephews as well. Mrs. Bergus’ husband, Donald, died in 1998. She is survived by her daughter Elizabeth Grace Bergus, of Pitman, N.J.; son George Ravdin Bergus (and his wife, Rebecca), of Iowa City, Iowa; daughter Priscilla Bergus Laurence (and her husband, Andrew) of London; five grandchil- dren and one great-granddaughter. In lieu of flowers, contributions in her honor may be sent to the Strath- mere Volunteer Fire Company to be used for medical equipment. Elden Burt Erickson , 88, a retired Foreign Service officer, died on March 30 in Solomons, Md. Mr. Erickson — Eric to his friends — was born in Norway, Kan. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Emporia State Univer- sity, where he majored in education and languages. In 1942, unable to pass the physi- cal examination for officer candidate school, Mr. Erickson enlisted in the Army Air Corps. He spent more than a year with the Judge Advocate Gen- eral’s office in Florida, most of the time engaged in court reporting thanks to his facility at shorthand — a skill that was to prove invaluable in D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 8 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 73 I N M EMORY