Obituaries

He had no immediate family survivors.

James V. Martin Jr.Foreign Service Officer

James Victor Martin Jr., 89, a Japanese specialist in the State Department who retired in 1973 as country director for Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Islands, died Nov. 12 at the Methodist Home of Washington. He had congestive heart failure.

Dr. Martin was born in Japan to American parents. His father was a Methodist missionary.

He was a 1938 graduate of DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind., and received a master's degree (1939) and a doctorate (1948) in international affairs from Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He served in Navy intelligence during World War II.

He joined the State Department in 1946 and held many assignments as a political officer at U.S. consulates around Asia.

After retiring from State, he spent eight years as a data processor at the Drug Enforcement Administration.

He settled in the Washington area about 1970, and his memberships included Chevy Chase United Methodist Church. His avocations included watercolor painting and making wood-block prints.

His wife, Elizabeth Smith Martin, whom he married in 1941, died in 2002.

Survivors include three children, Susan Martin of Mill Valley, Calif., Sarah Brown of Bethesda and David Martin of Silver Spring; a brother; a sister; and a grandson.

Jeanne Estelle TrapaniHomemaker

Jeanne Estelle Trapani, 79, a homemaker, died of complications of cancer Dec. 9 at her sister's home in Rockville. She lived in Potomac Woods.

Mrs. Trapani was born in Criglersville, Va., and moved to the Washington area as a young woman. She married in 1954 and lived in Wheaton and then Rockville.

She enjoyed traveling, gardening and the arts, and she was a member of the Memorial Foundation of the Germanna Colonies in Virginia.

Her husband, Dr. Robert-John Trapani, died in 2000.

Survivors include two sons, Robert-John Trapani Jr. of St. Petersburg, Fla., and Gregory Trapani of Westminster, Md.; three sisters, Betty Warsavage of Odenton, Florence Hopkins of Rockville and Jackie Kaiss of Adelphi; and five grandchildren.