JOHN S. CONNOLLY Jr.

CONNOLLY JOHN STODDARD CONNOLLY, JR. "Jack" (Age 87) Died February 3, 2015 at his Springfield, VA home of complications following heart surgery five weeks earlier. He is survived by his beloved wife of 62 years, Gretchen Gillam Connolly; son David Connolly (Julie) of Afton, VA; daughter Christine McLernon (Dean) of Springfield; three granddaughters; and three great grandchildren. His first wife, Margaret F. Roberts, died of polio in 1950; their son, John III, died in 2008. Jack was born in Washington, DC, the son of Jack and Lucille Maule Connolly. He grew up in Paris, France (where his father produced early newsreels) and Larchmont, NY. In his early years, Jack's varied jobs included short-order cook, securities sales, surveyor and fraternity house manager. Enlisting in the Army after high school, he served in an airborne division in Occupied Japan. Returning to Washington, DC, he concurrently began work at the Department of State and studies at George Washington University, where he joined Tau Kappa Epsilon, graduating in 1954. During his State Department career, he attended the Program for Management Development at Harvard and the Sloan Program of Management at Stanford. He lived with his family in Malaysia, Singapore, Laos, Belgium, Hong Kong, and Palo Alto, CA, with many additional solo postings in trouble spots around the world. After retiring in 1978, he helped found the American Institute in Taiwan and consulted for the State Department another thirty years. In a biography he wrote for his 50th high school reunion, Jack cited the following among his "unusual experiences": "Seven civil wars, numerous coups, bombings, rocket attacks, riots, demonstrations and one mugging... Tramping around mountains in northern Laos visiting tribesmen who had never seen a Caucasian... Travelling as a deck passenger on a tramp steamer carrying a diplomatic pouch into Sumatra during a revolution... Helping to open embassies in the former USSR regions of Central Asia and the Baltics... Almost being shipwrecked off Nova Scotia. Most proud of the Department of State Award for Valor, the Sloan Fellowship, and a wife who still talks to me." Jack had a lifelong passion for sailing, hailing back to his job as a cabin boy aboard the Effie M. Morrissey (now the Schooner Ernestina) owned by Captain Robert Bartlett. He cruised the waterways whenever time permitted. He took great joy in mentoring others, many of whom became informally "adopted children." Jack loved his country and the State Department; even in his last days in the hospital, he was attempting to recruit nurses into the Foreign Service! Jack will be inurned on June 19 at Arlington National Cemetery, followed the next day by a celebration of his life at Osprey's Point at Belmont Bay, Woodbridge, VA. For details, contact the family. Memorial gifts may be made to the Schooner Ernestina-Morrissey Association, the Senior Living Foundation of the Foreign Service, the March of Dimes, or the charity of your choice. Memorial gifts may be made to the Schooner Ernestina-Morrissey Association, the Senior Living Foundation of the Foreign Service, the March of Dimes, or the charity of your choice.