Friday, June 8, 2007
John R. HortonCIA Senior Executive
John Ryder Horton, 86, a CIA senior executive in the directorate of operations who became chief of the Soviet bloc division, died June 3 at Asbury-Solomons Island continuing care center in Solomons, Md. He had bladder cancer.
Mr. Horton joined the CIA in 1948 and was chief of station in Hong Kong, Uruguay and Mexico. He was in Mexico during the 1968 student riots.
He was chief of the Western Hemisphere division before retiring in 1975 as chief of the Soviet bloc division, covering the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact nations. He received the CIA's Distinguished Intelligence Medal.
He briefly emerged from retirement in 1983 to serve as national intelligence officer for Central and Latin America. He resigned after a dispute with CIA Director William J. Casey over what Mr. Horton considered political pressure to radically rewrite intelligence analysis of Mexico.
Mr. Horton was a Chicago native and attended Indiana University before joining the Navy in 1940. He received a master's degree in international relations from the University of Chicago in 1948 and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
He had served in the Pacific during World War II, eventually being assigned to assist Chinese guerrilla troops. This became the subject of his 1994 memoir, "Ninety-Day Wonder." His wartime decorations included the Bronze Star with Combat V.
In retirement, he wrote three espionage novels and started a small vineyard on his property in Hollywood, in Southern Maryland. He also started a tree farm and became involved in environmental conservation, including pressuring St. Mary's County and the state to preserve 2,000 acres of land near the St. Mary's River. He received a Sierra Club award for his efforts.
He was a former board member of the Three Oaks homeless shelter in Lexington Park.
Survivors include his wife of 60 years, Grace Calhoun Horton of Solomons; four children, Andrew M. Horton of Falmouth, Maine, Mary H. Welch of Washington, David R. Horton of Burlington, Vt., and Jane B. Horton of Atlanta; a sister; and seven grandchildren.
-- Adam Bernstein
James EliopoloConsulting Engineer
James Eliopolo, 82, founder of an engineering consulting firm based in Bethesda, died of sepsis June 2 at Rockville Nursing Home. He lived in Bethesda.
Mr. Eliopolo founded James Eliopolo and Associates in 1957 in Washington and later moved the firm to Bethesda. His business provided electrical and mechanical engineering services to government and private industry clients. He also offered expert-witness engineering and investigation, and testimony, in connection with litigation projects. He retired in 1985.
Active in several professional groups, Mr. Eliopolo served as president of the Consulting Engineers Council of Metropolitan Washington, president of the Washington Building Congress and chairman of the D.C. Board of Registration for Professional Engineers.
Mr. Eliopolo was born in Savannah, Ga., where as a young man he achieved the rank of Eagle Scout with gold palm and was selected for membership in the Order of the Arrow. He was appointed assistant Scoutmaster at 15 and served as a summer counselor and bugler. In high school, he played football and basketball. He was a member of the state's ROTC band and was a solo clarinetist and glockenspiel player.
During World War II, Mr. Eliopolo served in the Army in the European and Pacific theaters and was awarded several military service medals. After the war, he graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
In 1950, Mr. Eliopolo moved to Washington and worked as an electrical engineer for C. Warren Bogan and Associates, an engineering consulting firm. After two years, he became chief electrical engineer.
He attended the University of Maryland's University College for paralegal studies and also studied business administration for real estate courses. He had a real estate license in Maryland, where he founded the firm of J.A.E. Real Estate, specializing in buyer-brokerage and consultation services in the Ocean City, Md., area.
His hobbies included bowling, jogging and golf. He was a member of the Kenwood Golf and Country Club since 1960 and served as chairman of the golf committee, the Kenwood board of governors and the Kenwood executive committee.
He was played a key role in the founding of the Maryland Interclub Seniors Golf Association. He was a member of the Georgia Tech Club of Washington and bowled with the Georgia Tech Club team in the intercollegiate alumni bowling league. He was captain of the team in 1964 when it won its only championship.
Mr. Eliopolo regularly attended Fourth Presbyterian Church in Bethesda.
Survivors include his wife of 49 years, Kathryn Pewitt Eliopolo of Bethesda; three children, John G. Eliopolo of Mount Holly, N.J., James J. Eliopolo of Rockville and Kathryn A. Gauditis of Los Angeles; a sister; and two grandchildren.
-- Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb
Natalie Brown O'KeefeModel, Homemaker
Natalie Brown O'Keefe, 76, a fashion model at Washington area department stores as a young woman and a Marine Corps wife and homemaker, died May 23 of cardiac arrest at her home at The Fairfax retirement community in Fort Belvoir.
Mrs. O'Keefe was born in Fairfax and grew up her on parents' farm, Brimstone Hill, in Fairfax Station. She graduated in 1949 from Marymount School in Arlington County.
After high school, she went to modeling school and modeled for about two years at Hecht's, Woodward & Lothrop and other department stores. In 1950, she married a Marine Corps officer, and the couple spent the next 30 years at bases in Florida, Hawaii and North Carolina and at the Naval War College in Newport, R.I.
After Mrs. O'Keefe's husband retired in 1977, the couple settled in Fairfax Station and worked in real estate and land development.
Mrs. O'Keefe was an accomplished painter, mostly of landscapes, a gardener and a bridge player. She and her husband spent much of their time traveling the world.
Her husband, retired Marine Col. Keith O'Keefe, died in 2005.
Survivors include four children, Shawn Klupchak of Chicago, Gene O'Keefe, Kitty MacFadden and P.D. O'Keefe, all of Fairfax Station; seven grandchildren; and a great-granddaughter.
-- Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb