Jean-Louise N. Thacher

 
JEAN-LOUISE NAFFZIGER THACHER "Beenie"  
An advocate of greater understanding of the Middle East, where she lived and traveled for many years, died November 28, 2010 at the age of 89 in San Francisco, CA.Mrs. Thacher was born in San Francisco in 1921 and graduated from Stanford University in 1944. She served in the Red Cross as a psychiatric social worker in military hospitals from 1944 - 1947. She married Nicholas G. Thacher, a U.S. Foreign Service Officer, in 1947. Together they lived in Karachi, Calcutta, Baghdad, Jidda, Tehran and Washington, D.C. Her husband retired as Ambassador to Saudi Arabia in 1973.Mrs. Thacher was an avid student of each of the countries where she lived. Her bibliography of English translations entitled: An Annotated Partial Bibliography of Contemporary Middle Eastern and North African Poetry, Prose, Drama and Folktales was published in 1991. She was also a founding member of a writing group of San Francisco women that published two books, including: The Subject of Our Lives.She served on the boards of the Near East Foundation, Middle East Institute, The International Hospitality Center, and The Friends of the San Francisco Public Library. She is survived by three children and their spouses, Scott Thacher and Guliz Kurouglu, San Diego, CA, Edith Thacher and Charles Routt, Sacramento, CA and Adam Thacher and Janice Thacher, Piedmont, CA; and six grandchildren. Services to be held in California. To remember her, please make a donation to the Near East Foundation or the charity of your choice.