IN MEMORY
Foreign Service officer, currently assigned to Charleston, S.C.; Michael
Eugene Grover of Jamaica Plain,
Mass.; and Ellen Grover Reber of East
Douglas, Mass. He is also survived by
a sister, Mrs. Jean Sylvester of Buffalo,
N. Y., and 10 grandchildren.
Contributions in his memory may
be made to the AFSA Scholarship Program.
Virginia Spitler Jones, the wife of
retired FSO Ambassador Marshall P.
Jones, died on March 17 of pneumonia at the West Meade Health Care
Center in Nashville, Tenn.
Born in Kentland, Ind., on Sept. 2,
1918, Virginia Jones was the only child
of a farming family. Like many other
rural families, they were hit hard by the
Great Depression and moved off the
farm to Mishawaka, Ind., adjacent to
South Bend, where she attended grade
school and high school. After graduation, she went to work at the Ball Band
Rubber Company (later Uniroyal) in
Mishawaka, where she met Marshall P.
Jones, a salesman and recent graduate
of Depauw University. In 1942, Virginia and Marshall were married in Las
Vegas, N.M., just before he enlisted in
the U.S. Army.
During World War II, Virginia
Jones went to work for the University
of Notre Dame, in an office under the
Golden Dome (the campus landmark
atop the university’s main building)
while Marshall Jones was serving with
the Eighth Army Air Force Bomber
Command, based at High Wycombe
Abbey in England. She later said that
the sight of the Golden Dome every
morning and the vibrant life of the university around her helped to sustain
her during the long years of the war.
After her husband’s safe return in
1946, the couple moved to Indianapolis, Ind., where he went to work for the
Veterans Administration, and their first
son was born the next year. Mrs. Jones
took classes in American and English
literature at the Indianapolis campus
of Indiana University and, although
she never attained a college degree,
this experience cemented a lifelong respect for literature, poetry, history and
the value of higher education.
In 1950, Mrs. Jones began preparing herself to become an Air Force
wife again. Her husband anticipated
being recalled to active duty for service
in Korea and at that point expected to
make the Air Force a career. When he
was not called up after all, she encouraged him to pursue an international career of service with the State
Department. In 1951, after his selection for the Foreign Service, they
moved to Bethesda, Md.
The Jones’ first overseas post was
Tel Aviv (1954-1956). This was followed by Belgrade (1956-1959); while
stationed there, Mrs. Jones went to
Germany for the birth of their second
son. After a tour in Washington, they
moved to Seoul (1961-1963), where
their third son was born. In 1966, she
took on a new role as the wife of
an ambassador in Blantyre, Malawi.
While there, she did volunteer work
with leper colonies and devoted herself to the role of wife of the chief of
mission and representative of the
United States in this landlocked, poor
but beautiful country in Africa’s Rift
Valley.
After her husband’s retirement in
1971, they left the Washington area
and moved to an active small college
town, Murray, Ky., which was reminiscent of the Indiana communities
where they had each grown up — but
warmer. Here she adapted to yet another new life as the wife of an active
member of the community and local
politician, doing service work and helping him with his involvement in activities with Murray State University,
election to the city council, and service
on the board of a savings and loan.
While living in Murray, she also
perfected an old tradition of her family,
making many exquisite quilts for her
children and grandchildren, and continued to read history and literature.
Mrs. Jones moved to Nashville,
Tenn., following the death of her husband in 1985 to be close to two of her
sons. She also made visits back to the
Washington, D.C., area where her
other son lived. She became an even
more voracious reader and continued
her tradition of service, receiving several awards for the thousands of hours
she gave to St. Thomas Hospital.
She is survived by her three sons,
Marshall P. Jones Jr. of Washington,
Va.; Tarpley B. Jones of Nashville,
Tenn.; and Zachary C. Jones of Brentwood, Tenn. She also leaves six grandchildren (Erin Jones Swenson, Tarpley
Brooks Jones Jr., Madison Jones, Jordan Jones, Grant Jones and Turner
Jones), and two great-grandchildren
(Mountain and Caroline Swenson).
Edward Eugene Keller Jr., 79, a retired FSO, passed away at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C.,
on Feb. 11 from complications of
Parkinson’s disease.
Mr. Keller was born on Feb. 19,
1929, in San Francisco, Calif., and grew
up in San Mateo, where his father, Edward Eugene Keller Sr., was a former
mayor. After graduating from Tufts
University in Boston in 1951, he served
