Friday, April 4, 2008
Richard Charles SchoonoverForeign Service Officer
Richard Charles Schoonover, 70, a retired Foreign Service officer whose postings included several African nations, died March 12 of cancer at the University of North Carolina Hospital in Chapel Hill, N.C. A former resident of the District, he moved to Chapel Hill in 2004.
Mr. Schoonover was born in Sacramento, Calif., and graduated in 1960 from the University of California at Riverside, where he was student body president. He also did graduate work at the University of California at Berkeley.
He joined the State Department in 1964, working with the U.S. Information Agency. As a diplomat, he served in Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria, Tunisia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Belgium. After he retired in 1996, he accompanied his wife, Brenda Brown Schoonover, to Togo when she was appointed its ambassador. He also participated in the 33rd Class of the Senior Seminar, a Foreign Service program.
Mr. Schoonover was active in several organizations, including service as co-chairman of the Carolina Friends of the Foreign Service and as a board member of the online magazine American Diplomacy. He was an avid golfer and a longtime member of Kenwood Golf and Country Club in Bethesda.
His marriage to Virginia Santee Schoonover ended in divorce.
Survivors include his wife of 40 years, of Chapel Hill; three children from his first marriage, Peter Schoonover and Elizabeth Wrightson, both of Los Angeles, and Stephanie Schoonover of Austin; and one grandson.
-- Joe Holley
Raul RodriguezPainter
Raul Rodriguez, 80, a painter for the Arlington County school system, died March 2 of small cell lung cancer at Inova Fairfax Hospital. He lived in Centreville.
The Havana-born Mr. Rodriguez stayed in Cuba to support his parents for several years after his family lost its coffee business following the 1959 revolution. In 1966, after his six brothers and one sister left, and after he married and his daughter was born, he immigrated to the United States.
He worked for 22 years for the Arlington school system, retiring in 1996.
He enjoyed baseball and watching his grandchildren's soccer games.
His wife, Elisa Bezos Rodriguez, died in 1986.
Survivors include a daughter, Elisa Dacales of Haymarket; two brothers, Ceserino Rodriguez and Miguel Rodriguez, both of Springfield; and two grandchildren.
-- Patricia Sullivan
Jean M. TurpinNurseryman
Jean M. Turpin, 90, a longtime Washington landscaper and nurseryman, died of congestive heart failure March 29 at Laurel Regional Hospital.
Mr. Turpin was born in Mitchell, Ind., and was a 1938 botany graduate from the University of Iowa. He worked on a master's degree at the University of Washington and was a forest ranger in Yellowstone National Park before moving to the Washington area in 1940 to work as a gatherer of census information. During World War II, he worked at the Carnegie Institute and Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in the development of the variable time fuse for artillery shells.
After the war, he worked for J.H. Small and Sons, a Chevy Chase nursery, before starting Turpin's Nursery in 1959. Over the years, his Silver Spring business designed and landscaped yards and gardens for a number of prominent Washingtonians, including Robert F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Marvin Kalb, John Chancellor and David Brinkley.
Mr. Turpin also landscaped Wheaton Plaza and the approaches to the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel and did plantings at the White House. He liked working with soil and did most of the plantings himself.
He retired in the mid-1980s, but he maintained his Christmas tree farm in Garrett County. He also enjoyed traveling, square dancing and reading.
Survivors include his wife of 66 years, Melva Turpin of Silver Spring; three children, Toby Turpin of Burtonsville, Lois Landvoigt of Savage and Janina Plant of Laurel; a sister; five grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
-- Joe Holley
Janet L. PakidisCIA Executive Secretary
Janet L. Pakidis, 62, a retired executive secretary with an office of the Central Intelligence Agency, died March 4 of heart and kidney disease at Capital Hospice in Arlington. She lived in Falls Church.
Mrs. Pakidis, who lived for more than 25 years after a kidney transplant, moved to Northern Virginia with her husband in 1970. After eight years of dialysis treatments for kidney disease, she received a kidney transplant at Georgetown University Hospital in 1980.
Soon after, she re-entered the workforce as an administrative assistant with George Washington University, the Woodward & Lothrop department store and Inova Fairfax Hospital. She joined the CIA in 1985 as an executive secretary in the National Reconnaissance Office. She coordinated liaison efforts involving the CIA, the Defense Department and the private sector.
In 2005, when her health began to worsen, she retired.
Mrs. Pakidis was born in Cincinnati and attended the University of Cincinnati. She was an executive secretary at Baldwin Piano and Organ Co. for several years and also held volunteer nursing positions.
She enjoyed spending time with her family and friends and with her Maltese dog.
Survivors include her husband of 38 years, George Pakidis of Falls Church; a daughter, Paulene Goodman of Alice Springs, Australia; and her mother, Peggy Stiles of Cincinnati.
-- Matt Schudel
Eleanor Janet 'Jan' WelchFeminist Activist
Eleanor Janet "Jan" Welch, 69, who was active in National Organization for Women and the Feminist Majority, died March 31 at her home in Alexandria of complications from pancreatic cancer.
Ms. Welch, a Pennsylvania native, grew up in Washington and graduated from Wilson High School. She received a bachelor's degree from Temple University, where she studied English and horticulture. She owned and operated a landscaping business in Philadelphia and exhibited at the Philadelphia Flower Show.
In the early 1970s, Ms. Welch was chapter president of Philadelphia NOW.
In the late 1970s, she returned to the District and managed Blackstone's Florist for several years. Her love of flowers and plants continued throughout her life. Her favorite job, which was her last, was working for the card and gift shop Pulp in the District, said her partner, Alice Cohan. Ms. Welch began working there in 2003 soon after the store opened on 14th Street NW.
Survivors include Cohan, her partner of 26 years, of Alexandria.
-- Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb