LUCIEN KINSOLVING

KINSOLVING--Lucien Lee, age 102, died in North Branford, CT on March 2, 2024, after a lifetime of service, first as an ambulance driver during WWII, then as a career diplomat. He brought to all his endeavors integrity, courage, and honesty. He was a brilliant raconteur, an intellectual, and a great wit. He was born August 19, 1921 and attended St Bernard's School in New York and Pomfret School in Connecticut. He entered Harvard University in 1940 but left in 1942 to join the fight against fascism serving as an ambulance driver with the American Field Service. He was attached to the British 8th Army in General Montgomery's campaigns in North Africa, and then in Syria and Germany He was with the first Allied troops to enter Bergen Belson driving the sick to nearby care. He concluded his studies at Harvard and married Mary Cole in 1946. He received a law degree from the University of Virginia and then entered the Foreign Service. A Middle East specialist, he was stationed in Libya, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria to name some of his posts. In 1973, he volunteered to go to Saigon. He thought the U.S. involvement in Vietnam had been a mistake and wished to mitigate this error. He was evacuated by helicopter from the roof of the U.S. Embassy in April 1975. His career then took him to London and, finally, to war-torn Beirut. After retirement, Lucien and Mary moved to Connecticut where he gardened, worked in preservation, and continued to collect books which reflected his myriad interests. He will be greatly missed by his daughter Lucie Kinsolving and her husband Richard McElhiney of New York, his daughter Katherine Kinsolving of Sharon, CT, his former son-in-law, Richard Baumann, and four grandchildren. There will be a private memorial service.