STEPHEN WARD

Stephen E. Ward  
Stephen E. Ward, 81, of Reston, Virginia, died at home, on October 16. Steve was the first of four sons, born to James and Doris Ward of East Orange, New Jersey. He is survived by his two sons, Tony and Andy, two daughters-in-law, five grandchildren, and his beloved wife of 59 years - whom he met when he was 15 years old - Emily Ward. Steve graduated from Amherst College in 1963, received a Master's Degree from the Columbia School of Public and International Affairs, and then embarked on a career as a Foreign Service Officer. In his ten years at the State Department, he was stationed across the Middle East, from Lebanon to Turkey to Jerusalem to Syria, where he survived an attack on the consulate in Aleppo in 1967 and was officially commended for his bravery under pressure. Upon returning home in 1973, he served briefly as a speechwriter for the Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, before going to work as an aide to Senator Lloyd Bentsen. Steve's years with Bentsen included stints on the Intelligence Committee, and on the 1988 Vice Presidential Campaign, where he traveled the country, crafting Bentsen's speeches, talking points, and debate zingers destined for posterity ("Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy"), before returning home to his family after a crushing defeat to George Bush. At this point, Steve left the world of public service and became a lobbyist for the energy industry. He retired at the age of 62. As impressive and varied as Steve's career may have been, he was a man whose identity was not defined by his professional life. His passions ranged from his grandchildren to reading to the New York Yankees to baked goods (consuming, not making) to folk art to the music of Bob Dylan to early morning walks on the beach at his beloved Kiawah Island, South Carolina. His love of language also wasn't confined to political rhetoric; writing was an essential aspect of his life, his way of marking time, and expressing love. Steve was the poet laureate of his family, writing poems to commemorate birthdays and wedding anniversaries, christenings and weddings, special occasions for his adored (and adoring) grandkids, and maybe most important of all, annual Valentine's Day wishes for his enduring crush, his wife, Emily. As he wrote to her in 2004, "I hope this latest love song will/Remind you that I love you still/And will so long as oceans carve/The cliffs of love on our Algarve." A memorial service for local friends will be held at the Avant in the Reston Town Center, details to come shortly.