Retirement: Carolina Friends of the Foreign Service

 During his 27 years with the Foreign Service, Ed Williams, founder of the Carolina Friends of the Foreign Service, always planned to retire to Chapel Hill, the site of the University of North Carolina, from which he graduated in 1950.

Enough retired Foreign Service hands had migrated to the area for Ed to think of forming a luncheon group.  In early 1984, Ed started seeking out people from the retired foreign affairs and military communities to start a social group.  His first luncheon on May 21, 1984, was attended by nine people, the founding members of the group: Henry Mattox, Roy Melbourne, Dorothy Eardley, John Lund, Paul Morris, Harrison Lewis, Gilbert Chase, Shepard Jones and Ed.

At the initial meeting, the group agreed to meet every two or three months and invite a speaker for the occasion.  Dorothy Eardley volunteered to assist Ed at the gatherings and to pass out name tags and collect money for meals.

By the next meeting, on November 2, 1984, the word had gotten out and new people joined the group including Bill Dale and Curt Jones.  Ed arranged for Professor Enrique Baloyra from the political science department of UNC Chapel Hill to speak to the group.  For the next 20 years, Ed continued to line up speakers and manage the myriad details for the group.

In 1996, the luncheon group brought together the co-founders of American Diplomacy, an electronic journal of commentary and analysis on international issues that is published in cooperation with UNC’s College of Arts and Science (www.unc.edu/depts/diplomat/).  The online publication describes its founders as a group of retired American diplomats residing in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill triangle area of North Carolina

In 2004, when the luncheon group had grown to a size that Ed felt was a little too much for him to handle, at his request a steering committee was formed to plan and manage the group’s events.

Today, the membership has evolved into an educational professional group with a new name, Carolina Friends of the Foreign Service; a 10-member steering committee; and a membership of 131.  CFFS welcomes not only Foreign Service and military retirees, but anyone who has worked or served abroad, is interested in foreign affairs, or is thinking about a career in a foreign affairs agency.

The most recent luncheon was held October 21, 2011.  FSO Bill Lucas spoke to the group about his recent assignment in Afghanistan, where he worked with American, international and Afghan partners to establish the rule of law.  Members attended from all around the state, in some cases from more than 200 miles away.

Hanson R. Malpass, a retired FSO, is chairman of the CFFS Steering Committee. This article was printed in the January 2012/Foreign Service Journal.