Barbara Fagan Thomson, Foreign Service Officer, 85
DGH
Barbara Fagan Thomson, 85, a retired Foreign Service officer who
served as an international economist, died March 3 [2007] of
cardiovascular disease at the Washington [DC] Home's rehabilitation
center. She had suffered injuries in a fall.
Mrs. Thomson was an economic officer in U.S. embassies and an
international economist in the State Department. She served in what
then was Saigon, in Vietnam, and in Rome [Italy]. At State, she worked
on economic policy involving the European Common Market and on
economic research.
She was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and grew up on Long Island,
New York, and in North Carolina. She graduated in 1941 from Duke
University and served during World War II with the Red Cross in India
and China. Continuing her education, she received a master's degree in
public administration from Columbia University in 1951 and a master's
in economics from Harvard University in 1958.
Her Red Cross service awoke a lifelong interest in foreign cultures
and international relations, leading to her being commissioned a
Foreign Service officer in 1952, when relatively few women were
selected. She moved to Washington [DC] and, except for tours of duty
abroad, remained a resident for the rest of her life.
She married another Foreign Service officer in 1965 and resigned her
commission, as then required by departmental policy.
Mrs. Thomson accompanied her husband to Kabul [Afghanistan]. On their
return, the policy was liberalized, and she resumed her career with an
assignment in personnel management. She retired in 1980.
During retirement, she participated for more than 10 years in the
State Department's Freedom of Information program. She was a member of
Diplomatic and Consular Officers, Retired, or DACOR.
Survivors include her husband, David R. Thomson of Washington [DC]; a
daughter, Connie Blatchford of Hanover New Hampshire; two sisters,
Constance F. Russe of McLean [Virginia] and Penelope F. Young of
Richmond [Virginia]; and two granddaughters.
Washington Post
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