Saturday, January 7, 2006
Tybel B. LitwinCIA Official
Tybel B. Litwin, 82, a retired official of the Central Intelligence Agency's Foreign Broadcast Information Service, died of respiratory failure Dec. 11 at a hospital in Boston. She had lived nearly 50 years in Arlington before moving to Lexington, Mass., in 1999.
Mrs. Litwin, who studied Romance languages in college, began her civil service career in the 1940s as a foreign broadcast monitor and translator with the Office of Strategic Services, a predecessor to the CIA.
A charter member of the CIA in 1947, she worked her way up from an editor and analyst to become, in the mid-1970s, one of the first women to obtain senior intelligence service status.
She held a succession of managerial and executive positions overseeing the collection, translation and analysis of information gathered from foreign media.
Her professional honors include the CIA's Intelligence Medal of Merit.
After her CIA retirement in 1985, Mrs. Litwin joined the senior technical staff at Logicon Inc. in Arlington. She worked there for 12 years.
She later was a consultant and volunteer teacher of English as second language with the Arlington Literacy Council.
She practiced tai chi and studied watercolor painting and pastel drawing at the Torpedo Art Factory in Alexandria.
Mrs. Litwin, a native of New Haven, Conn., graduated summa cum laude from the University of California at Berkeley, where her father was a professor of mathematical logic.
Her husband of 19 years, Herman M. Litwin, died in 1969.
Survivors include a daughter, Janice Litwin of Lexington; and a granddaughter.
Henry E. MooberrySea Cadet Corps LeaderHenry E. Mooberry, 77, lieutenant commander of the Navy's Washington area Sea Cadet Corps for the past 28 years, died of acute gastrointestinal bleeding Dec. 7 at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Washington.
So important was he to the organization that the division was renamed for him three months ago.
"NSCC is much like the real Navy on a junior scale," Mr. Mooberry told "The Waterline," a naval newsletter, in 2004. "We try to make it as real as possible. Our cadets go through boot camp, they drill, and they take regular Navy courses and exams, including the Basic Military Requirements course. They have to earn their stripes and crows. . . . [But] I haven't had anyone fail boot camp in the last six or eight years. They build confidence and come back here like World War II veterans telling war stories."
Dozens of graduates of the program have attended the Naval, Air Force and Coast Guard academies and Mr. Mooberry estimated that 300 to 400 enrolled in ROTC.
"We stress the importance of working hard at school," he added. "I've had parents call me six months or a year after their child has joined, and they say, 'I don't know what you guys do, but he is up in the top 10 percent of the class.' "
Mr. Mooberry was born in Rochester, N.Y., and served in the Navy in the Pacific theater during World War II. After the war, he worked for the Associated Press until the 1960s, when he went into public relations, working for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, President Richard M. Nixon and Vice President Spiro T. Agnew.
He retired in 1975 and turned to full-time volunteer work at the Navy Yard. He was a Silver Spring resident.
His marriages to Martha King, Allyn Mooberry, Evelyn Farland and Shelagh Mooberry ended in divorce.
Survivors include his wife, Jeannette Salom of Washington; a daughter from his third marriage, Michelle Hess of New Hope, Pa.; two children from his fourth marriage, Henry Mooberry of Lower Lake, Calif., and Tracy Lawson of Forestville, Calif.; a sister; and four grandchildren.
Marguerite M. HeffronTeacher's AideMarguerite M. Heffron, 82, a teacher's aide at Capitol Heights Elementary School in Prince George's County from 1968 to 1980, died of congestive heart failure Dec. 29 at Redmond Regional Medical Center in Rome, Ga. She had lived in Summerville, Ga., since 1988.
Mrs. Heffron also worked as a substitute teacher at the elementary school after she and her husband, who had been a sixth-grade teacher there, retired.
She was born in Johnstown, N.Y, and was a former resident of Oxon Hill.
She was a member of the chapel at Andrews Air Force Base and as a volunteer did hospital visitations.
She also was a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars ladies auxiliary, the American Legion ladies auxiliary and the Order of the Eastern Star.
Her husband, Eugene R. Heffron, died in 1983.
Survivors include four daughters, Eileen Knauss of Forestville, Kathleen Mehrer of Carlisle, Ind., and Rebecca Boe and Jean Chesley, both of Summerville; two brothers; a sister; eight grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren.
Bob E. MorganComputer SpecialistBob E. Morgan, 75, a computer specialist for federal agencies, died Dec. 22 at Inova Fairfax Hospital. He had a fall early last month at his home in Great Falls and also had a form of leukemia known as myelodysplastic syndrome.
Starting in the late 1940s, Mr. Morgan spent more than 30 years as a Navy Department civilian. Early on, he assisted in the conversion from punch-card equipment to a computer system.
He then began to work on more sophisticated technology within what became the Naval Sea Systems Command, where he applied his computer expertise to data-processing policies as well as financial and technical matters.
He also played a major role in creating an integrated management information system throughout the nation's naval shipyards.
At the Agriculture Department from the early 1980s to the early 1990s, he created a searchable database that helped employees get current technical information.
Since the early 1990s, he had been working at the U.S. Agency for International Development on crucial computer system applications.
Mr. Morgan was born Robert Edward Findlay Jr. in Aurora, Ill., and later changed his name at his mother's request after she remarried. He was a graduate of Southeastern University in Washington.
During World War II, when he was serving in the Army, he settled in the Washington area.
His marriage to Dorothy Burns Morgan ended in divorce.
Survivors include his wife of 40 years, Carol Smith Morgan of Great Falls; two children from his second marriage, Melinda O'Mealia of Rumson, N.J., and Melanie Brose of Fairfax Station; two stepchildren, Carol Strawson of Bala Cynwyd, Pa., and Stanton "Bo" Strawson III of Martinsburg, W.Va.; and seven grandchildren.
George J. ColemanNavy Commander, Vitro OfficialGeorge James Coleman, 87, a retired Navy commander who worked from 1962 to 1984 for defense contractor Vitro Laboratories in Montgomery County, died Dec. 25 at Anne Arundel Medical Center after a heart attack.
Cmdr. Coleman, an Annapolis resident, was a native of Birmingham and a mechanical engineering graduate of what is now Auburn University in Alabama.
He served in the Navy from 1940 to 1962 and was primarily an aviator. During World War II, he participated in the Guadalcanal campaign in the Pacific and later was in the Atlantic.
During the Korean conflict, he was operations officer on the seaplane tender Kenneth Whiting, deployed to the Far East.
His final active-duty assignment was with the Air Force Intelligence Center.
At Vitro, he initially was an administrator and chief pilot for the Stratoscope II high-altitude balloon program. He later helped to vet proposals from potential subcontractors.
His military decorations included the Distinguished Flying Cross, three awards of the Air Medal and the Navy Commendation Medal with combat "V."
His memberships included Veterans of Foreign Wars and Pi Kappa Phi social fraternity.
Survivors include his wife, Geneva Little Coleman, whom he married in 1943, of Annapolis; four sons, James Michael Coleman and Richard C. Coleman, both of Alexandria, Robert B. Coleman of Lafayette, Calif., and George Steven Coleman of Severna Park; a brother; six grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.
Elsa D. ParsonsSchool VolunteerElsa D. Parsons, 80, who had spent the last four years as a volunteer at Deer Park and London Towne elementary schools in Centreville, died Dec. 22 of a heart attack at her home in Centreville.
She volunteered with other senior citizens at the schools, working in the media center and occasionally reading to the students. Mrs. Parsons was also a member of Centreville United Methodist Church.
Mrs. Parsons was born in Athens, Greece, and came to the United States as a war bride in 1947.
She and her husband lived for 15 years on Long Island, N.Y., and moved to the Shenandoah Valley in 1970. She worked for 20 years as a stenographer at Western State Hospital in Staunton, Va. She also worked on the help desk at Blue Ridge Community College in Weyers Cave, Va., for five years.
Her husband of more than 50 years, Duncan B. Parsons, died in 1999.
Survivors include three children, Nancy MacDonald of Ashland, Mass., Robert D. Parsons of Alexandria and Diana Dickerson of Centreville; and five grandchildren.
Clarence Andrew RichterDulles Air Traffic ControllerClarence Andrew Richter, 84, one of the first air traffic controllers at Washington Dulles International Airport, died Dec. 20 of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma at a hospice in Bonita Springs, Fla. He was a resident of Fairfax City before moving to Estero, Fla., in retirement.
Mr. Richter, known as Ric as well as Bud, was born in Lancaster, Wash. During World War II, he hoped to become a pilot, but his colorblindness prevented that. He became a civilian air traffic controller instead and was stationed in the Azores for the duration of the war.
After the war, he was an air traffic controller in Des Moines and Kansas City, Mo., before moving to Richmond in 1948 to become a controller at Richard E. Byrd Airport.
He was in Richmond until 1962, when he was hired at Dulles. He helped prepare for its opening celebration with President John F. Kennedy. Mr. Richter was promoted to director of training before his retirement in 1973.
He continued working at airports in Florida before retiring again in 1999.
Mr. Richter's first wife, Marjorie Fredlund Richter, died in 1967. His marriage to Marilyn Prather Richter ended in divorce.
Survivors include his wife of 23 years, Vera Jane Richter of Fort Myers, Fla.; two daughters from his first marriage, Nancy Ann Carneau of Marathon, Fla., and Andrea Jeanette Casey of Fairfax City; three stepchildren from his second marriage, William Prather, Dianne Reynaert and Patricia Prather, all of Lehigh Acres, Fla.; a stepdaughter from his third marriage, Gail Palmer of Estero; a brother; nine grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
Samuel E. StetsonTechnical WriterSamuel Eugene Stetson, 81, a retired technical writer with the Office of Naval Research, died of a brain tumor Dec. 27 at his home in Arlington.
Mr. Stetson worked about 22 years for the Office Naval Research until 1977, mostly writing operating manuals for the use and maintenance of armaments.
He was born in Richmond and raised in the Washington area, where he graduated from Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School.
As a student there, he sang with the school's state champion a cappella choir.
He served in the Army Air Forces during World War II and was an armorer -- a person who maintains and repairs a plane's weapons -- for P-39 Air Cobra fighter planes. At the end of the war, he sang and played the drums in an orchestra of enlisted soldiers who performed at an officers' club at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson.
After the war, he studied engineering at the University of California at Los Angeles. He also sailed across the Atlantic Ocean as a member of an amateur crew on an 83-foot former Coast Guard cutter converted into a private yacht.
He later joined the Air National Guard and served in Korea during the war there as an armorer for F-86 Sabre jets.
Mr. Stetson's interests included jazz and swing music.
He leaves no immediate survivors.
William Joseph CareyAir Force ColonelWilliam Joseph Carey, 85, a retired Air Force colonel who worked in the early 1970s as personnel director at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, died of congestive heart failure Dec. 28 at his home in Clinton.
Col. Carey, who had lived in the Washington area since 1965, was a native of Brooklyn, N.Y.
He joined the Army National Guard in 1939 and was at Pearl Harbor at the start of World War II.
After receiving a commission in 1943, he was assigned to the Army Air Forces and sent to England as a member of a bomb squadron. The squadron was part of the newly formed 492nd Bomb Group, known as the "Carpetbaggers," which flew unescorted night missions to supply resistance groups behind German lines in Western Europe.
After the war, he attended St. John's University in New York and worked in civil transportation. He was recalled to active military duty during the Korean War and decided to make the Air Force his career.
His final active-duty assignment, in 1967, was as a personnel administrator at Andrews Air Force Base.
He was a member of St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Clinton and the Military Officers Association of America.
Survivors include his wife of 58 years, Margaret T. "Peg" Carey of Clinton; two children, Stephen Carey of Ironwood, Mich., and Nancy D'Agostino of Fort Washington; four brothers; a sister; and seven grandchildren.
Evelyn Troell WilliamsonEconomic ConsultantEvelyn Troell Williamson, 93, a retired economic consultant for the Montgomery and Prince George's county governments and other suburban planning organizations, died Dec. 21 of respiratory failure and pneumonia at the Wilson Health Care Center at Asbury Methodist Village in Gaithersburg.
From 1966 until she retired in 1977, Mrs. Williamson researched and wrote publications about the history of Montgomery and Prince George's from a land development perspective.
She also served as executive director of a radio and TV monitoring services business in Washington, which was founded by her husband, Robert E Williamson. He died in 1990.
Mrs. Williamson was born in Uvalde, Tex., and married in 1938. She moved to Washington in 1940 and had lived in Montgomery County since 1955.
She lived in Rockville and Darnestown before moving to Gaithersburg in 1999.
Mrs. Williamson received a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Maryland.
During her retirement, she wrote a book, "The Riches of Montgomery County," and volunteered for the Friends of Montgomery County Animals Inc.
Survivors include her daughter, Karen Williamson of Washington.
Rolland E. 'Bud' Anderson Jr.Agricultural AdministratorRolland E. "Bud" Anderson Jr., 70, a career officer in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service who was its administrator from 1989 to 1991, died of melanoma Dec. 29 at his home in Annandale.
Mr. Anderson was born in Iona, Minn. He graduated from South Dakota State University in Brookings, where he also received a master's degree in agricultural economics in 1962. He served as an Army medic from 1955 to 1957.
Mr. Anderson joined the Foreign Agricultural Service in 1962. He was a major contributor to the U.S. position paper submitted to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade negotiations in 1964 outlining the U.S. claim for compensation for the loss of the U.S. poultry market in Europe -- better known as the "chicken war."
After that successful outcome, Mr. Anderson was sent to Bonn as assistant agricultural attache in 1967. He served there until 1970 and then held a number of senior positions in Washington and abroad, including in New Zealand, the Netherlands and England.
In early 1983, when he was appointed assistant administrator for international trade policy at the USDA, Mr. Anderson dealt with major issues such as the trade-distorting effects of huge European Union agricultural export subsidies and access to the Japanese market for U.S. agricultural products.
After his work as Foreign Agricultural Service administrator, he spent a year completing the senior seminar, an executive program attended by high-level career government officials. He retired in 1995.
Mr. Anderson's honors included the USDA's Superior Service Award (1977) and Distinguished Service Award (1978); and the Department of State's Foreign Service Meritorious Presidential Rank Award (1986) and Foreign Service Distinguished Presidential Rank Award (1988).
Since his retirement, Mr. Anderson had been active in raising money for tuberous sclerosis, a rare genetic disorder of which his daughter Maria Anderson died in 1997.
Survivors include his wife of 46 years, Lorraine Lens Anderson of Annandale; five children, Lisa Anderson of Ottawa, Suzanne Stanton of Omaha and Ron Anderson, Curt Anderson and Gabrielle Anderson, all of Arlington; one sister; and two grandchildren.