correction
In Monday's obituary about James D. Flanagan, a surviving daughter, Kathleen Stamp of Welcome, Md., was listed incorrectly. (Published 2/27/91)
Dr. Taft started his State Department career as ambassador to Ireland, a post he held from 1953 to 1957. Articles about his confirmation pointed out that his father, who at the time was the highly respected Republican Senate leader, studiously avoided lobbying for him and did not testify on his behalf before the Foreign Relations Committee.
Dr. Taft, who had worked for the government in Ireland from 1948 to 1951, gained a reputation as an effective and popular ambassador in Dublin. At the time of his appointment, the State Department reported that Dr. Taft had done "research work and study in the Old and Middle Irish language and literature" at Yale University. Dr. Taft immediately pointed out that this somewhat exaggerated his linguistic ability.
And he was no dry scholar or inaccessible mandarin. A report appearing in The Washington Post in 1955 told how he "leaves the embassy Chrysler, the chauffeur and his striped pants at home when he goes visiting. He folds his lank figure into a pocket-sized Fiat and chugs the country roads alone."
It went on to say that he emerged in unlikely, out-of-the-way places to introduce himself as the U.S. ambassador. Articles also told of a dry sense of humor and an expertise in such matters as Irish agriculture and public health.
After Ireland, he served on the State Department's policy planning staff until 1960, when he was named consul general in Lorenco Marques, Mozambique. Dr. Taft, who joined State's Foreign Service in 1959, served much of his later career in Washington before retiring in 1977. He worked mainly in the department's scientific, environmental and space affairs bureau.
In retirement, he took up walking as a hobby and took walking tours in Europe and New Zealand. He also served three terms as president of the Cleveland Park Citizens Association and recently was elected president of the Friends of the Cleveland Park Library.
He was a trustee of the Washington International School. He was a member of Diplomatic and Consular Officers Retired, the F Street Club, the Metropolitan Club of Washington and the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club.
Dr. Taft was a 1937 graduate of Yale University and received a doctorate in English literature from Princeton University in 1942. He taught English at the University of Maryland in 1940 and 1941, and at Haverford College in 1941 and 1942.
He was an analyst with military intelligence during World War II. After that, he taught at Yale for three years. He then served in Dublin as special assistant to the chief of the Economic Cooperation Administration mission, which administered Marshall Plan aid. From 1951 to 1953, he worked for the Central Intelligence Agency and the Defense Department.
Survivors include his wife of 48 years, the former Barbara Hoult Bradfield, of Washington; two sons, Sean Thomas Taft of Washington and William Howard Taft IV, who lives in Brussels and is U.S. ambassador to NATO; two daughters, Maria Taft Clemow of Toulouse, France, and Martha Taft Golden of Cranleigh, Surrey, England; his brother, Robert Jr., of Cincinnati; and nine grandchildren.
DORIS V. HERBST
FDA Scientist
Doris V. Herbst, 68, a retired microbiologist at the Food and Drug Administration, where she worked on antibiotic contamination, died of cancer Feb. 20 at Mount Vernon Hospital in Alexandria.
Mrs. Herbst, a resident of Alexandria, was born in Jersey City. She attended Rutgers University and graduated from New York University. She did graduate work at Catholic University.
In 1945, she married Joseph W. Herbst, an Army officer who went into the Air Force when it became a separate service in 1947. She accompanied him on assignments to various posts in this country and in Guam, Puerto Rico and Panama. He was a lieutenant colonel when he died in 1963.
Mrs. Herbst moved to the Washington area at that time and went to work at the FDA. She was the author or coauthor of papers that appeared in professional journals during her years with the agency. She retired in 1987.
Survivors include three children, Diane H. Illch of Arlington, Mark G. Herbst of Alexandria and Paul J. Herbst of Spotsylvania, Va.; and five grandchildren.
HOWARD M. TRUSSELL
Army Official
Howard Marshall Trussell, 75, a retired official of the Army Chemical Corps who later was general manager of a travel agency in Fairfax, died of a heart attack Feb. 21 at Howard County General Hospital in Columbia. He was stricken at his home in Columbia.
Mr. Trussell, who had lived in the Washington area since 1937, was born in Jackson, Miss., and he grew up in New York City. He graduated from the University of Maryland. After World War II service in the Army Chemical Corps in the Aleutian Islands, he returned to the university and received a master's degree in chemistry.
After World War II, he worked briefly for the National Bureau of Standards. He was called to active duty from the reserves during the Korean War. When he returned to civilian life, he went to work for the Army Chemical Corps as a civil servant.
He was assigned to Washington until 1970, when he transferred to Okinawa. He was an assistant to the Army commanding general on the island when he retired from the government in 1974.
Mr. Trussell and his wife spent the next two years traveling the world. In 1979, he became manager of the Beehive Travel Agency in Fairfax. He lived in Reston at that time. He moved to Columbia when he retired from the travel business in 1984.
Survivors include his wife, Louise T. Trussell of Columbia, whom he married in 1941; four children, Stephanie Babcock of Seattle, Adrienne Scott of Baltimore, Howard M. Trussell Jr. of Buffalo and Pamela Quam of Stuttgart, Germany; and five grandchildren.
FLORENCE V. ROBINSON
Church Member
Florence V. Robinson, 95, a member of Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington and United Methodist Women, died of cardiac arrest Feb. 21 at the Asbury Methodist Home in Gaithersburg.
Mrs. Robinson was born in Ruthven, Iowa. She graduated from Radcliffe College.
She married James J. Robinson, an Indiana lawyer who later was a member of war crimes tribunals in Tokyo and Manila after World War II. She accompanied him on these assignments and to Libya, where he was a judge from 1954 to 1969. They settled in Washington in 1970, and Mrs. Robinson moved to the Asbury Methodist Home about five years ago.
Her husband died in 1980. She leaves no imediate survivors.
MARY ELLEN GRACE
Training Agent
Mary Ellen Grace, 66, a retired American Airlines training agent, died Feb. 18 at her home in Alexandria after a heart attack.
Miss Grace was born in Charleston, W.Va. She graduated from Dennison University in Ohio.
In 1948 she moved to the Washington area and began working for American Airlines. She was transferred to Hartford in the mid-1970s, then returned here on her retirement in 1980.
She had been a member of the vestry, the altar guild and the Owls Senior Club at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Alexandria. She also was a member of the Potomac Valley Sheepdog Club.
Survivors include her mother, Nelle Smith Grace, and a brother, Harold E. Grace Jr., both of St. Albans, W.Va.
JAMES D. FLANAGAN
Pepco Analyst
James D. Flanagan, 63, a retired planning analyst with Potomac Electric Power Co. and a charter member and past exalted ruler of the Elks Lodge in Prince Frederick, Md., died of cancer Feb. 21 at Greater Southeast Community Hospital in Washington.
Mr. Flanagan, a resident of Benedict, Md., was born in Pittsburgh. He served in the Merchant Marine at the end of World War II, then served in the Marine Corps from 1946 to 1948. For part of that time he was stationed in China.
He moved to the Washington area in 1950 and went to work for Pepco. He retired last year.
Mr. Flanagan was a member of the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
His marriage to Odette Flanagan ended in divorce.
Survivors include his wife, Margaret V. Flanagan of Benedict; four children by his first marriage, Colleen Bowie and Kathleen Stump, both of LaPlata, Shane Flanagan of Scottsville, Va., and Maureen Saulten of Dothan, Ala.; two stepchildren, Janice Nicholson of Fredericksburg, Va., and Claude Conner of Prince Frederick; a brother, William Flanagan of Prince Frederick; two sisters, Constance Murphy of Huntingtown, Md., and Patricia Varney of College Park; 11 grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.
LOUISE HEINZMAN
Bakery Owner
Louise Heinzman, 94, who with her husband owned and operated Fischer's Bakery on Pennsylvania Avenue in Southeast Washington from 1940 until 1960, when they sold it and retired, died of congestive heart failure Feb. 21 at St. Mary's Nursing Center in Leonardtown, Md.
Mrs. Heinzman, a Washington native, lived in Silver Spring until moving to the nursing home in 1989. As a young woman she worked briefly as a swtichboard operator for Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Co., and in the 1930s she worked briefly as a salesclerk at the Woodward & Lothrop department store.
She was a past matron of the Acacia Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star and a member of Memorial United Methodist Church in Silver Spring.
Her husband, Karl W. Heinzman, died in 1967. Survivors include two children, Karl F. Heinzman of Bethesda and Mildred "Sue" Virnstein of Tall Timbers, Md.; a stepbrother, Henry J. Haeberle Sr. of Washington; four grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.
FREDERICK B. BEILSTEIN JR.
IBM Manager
Frederick B. Beilstein Jr., 69, a retired International Business Machines Corp. manager who was a Washington native and resident, died Feb. 21 at Sibley Memorial Hospital. He had a heart ailment.
He worked for IBM from 1941 until retiring about 1983 as manager of the savings bond department in its consumable products manufacturing unit. He spent most of his career involved in the printing of savings bonds.
Mr. Beilstein was a graduate of Wilson High School. He served in the Navy in the Pacific during World War II.
Survivors include his wife of 48 years, the former Anna DeLois Shoemaker, of Washington; a son, Frederick III, of Atlanta; two daughters, Barbara M. Newby of Vienna and Joan E. Beilstein of Springfield; two sisters, Marie Price and Elizabeth Oakley, both of Washington; and six grandchildren.
MORRIS LEE HARRIGAN
Computer Programmer
Morris Lee Harrigan, 26, a computer programmer at the Defense Department for the last year, died of cancer Feb. 20 at Alexandria Hospital.
Mr. Harrigan, a resident of Arlington, was born in Los Angeles. He moved to the Washington area in 1974. He graduated from Falls Church High School, where he was a running back on the football team, and Virginia State University.
Before joining the Defense Department, he was a kitchen worker at Fairfax Hospital. He also had worked for a formal wear rental company at Tysons Corner and a shoe store in Fairfax.
Mr. Harrigan was a member of the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity.
Survivors include a daughter, Briana Harrigan of Arlington; his mother, Edith Harrigan of Arlington; a sister, Cynthia A. Anderson of Alexandria; and a half brother, Kenneth E. Vice of Wheaton.
ELIZABETH L. CZARNIEWSKI
Secretary
Elizabeth Laura Czarniewski, 76, a retired executive secretary and former Avon lady who had lived in the Washington area since 1951, died of emphysema Feb. 22 at the Iliff nursing home in Dunn Loring.
She was a secretary with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for 20 years before retiring in 1975. She was an Avon lady in Northern Virginia from the late 1960s to late 1980s. Mrs. Czarniewski, who was a native of Pennsylvania, lived in Burke.
Her first marriage, to George I. Hopkins, ended in divorce. Her second husband, Joseph Thomas Czarniewski, died in 1974.
Survivors include three children by the her first marriage, George H. Hopkins of Burke, Stewart E. Hopkins of Pittsburgh and Joanne Bucks of Robesonia, Pa.; a brother, William Kenard of Pittsburgh; eight grandchildren; and eight great- grandchildren.
RHODA F. EBERT
Credit Union Official
Rhoda F. Ebert, 66, a retired credit union official who was Miss Takoma Park of 1942, died of cancer Feb. 22 at a hospital in Lauderdale Lakes, Fla. She had homes in Silver Spring and Coconut Creek, Fla.
She worked for the Library of Congress credit union from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s. She then worked for the Washington Telephone Federal Credit Union, where she became a branch manager, for 10 years before retiring in 1984 after 10 years there.
Mrs. Ebert was born in Chicago and grew up in Takoma Park. She was a graduate of Montgomery Blair High School and attended the old Wilson Teachers College.
Survivors include her husband of 47 years, James, of Silver Spring and Coconut Creek; a son, Daniel, of Poolesville; two daughters, Barbara Rudnick of Richmond and Carlyn Ebert-Feldberg of Roanoke; a brother, Leo Fine of Jackson, Mich.; a sister, Norma Whitney of Annandale; and eight grandchildren.
