Today I’ll be filling my online “book bag” with all of the events I plan to attend at VA Book 2010. I can’t leave until late Thursday morning, alas, so I’ll miss the Festival Luncheon with Michael Malone. I think tickets are still available, so if you can leave earlier or will already be in Charlottesville, think about going…Malone is a wonderful author whose latest novel “The Four Corners of the Sky” is the quirky tale of a pilot named Annie and her quest to learn her mother’s name.
Of course, I’ll also be missing plenty of Wednesday programs, including Memoir: Wtinesses to History. One of the books to be discussed is David Newsom’s “Witness to a Changing World,” presented by his wife, Jean Newsom. I’d like to give both Newsoms a special shout-out. David Newsom, who served in Naval Intelligence and the U.S. Foreign Service, taught at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service for many years before retiring to Charlottesville and teaching at The University.
It was while Newsom was teaching in Washington, DC that I met his wife Jean, who was the head of the Editorial Office for the School of Foreign Service’s Center for Strategic and International Studies. She hired me as an intern, and was probably one of the best bosses I’ve every had — she even offered to help me get a scholarship to the School of Foreign Service to earn a master’s degree while continuing to work in her office.
When I did return to the Center to work during a winter break, I was supposed to be staying with some young alums from my college who were in the Foreign Service. Unfortunately, one of their colleagues had to leave a conflict zone quickly — and there wasn’t a room for me.
I was all set to leave and return to school — but Jean and David Newsom were having none of it. They installed me in their Georgetown home’s guest room for three weeks so that I could complete my internship and finish my graduate school applications. They shared dinners with me and treated me like a family member, even though as an awkward undergraduate who had no idea what she wanted from life I could not have been a particularly gracious guest.
What I remember most about those days is being amazed at what a team the Newsoms were — while both were consummate professionals in their careers. David and Jean Newsom convinced me that it was possible to have a long, happy marriage in which both partners retained and maintained strong, separate identities, even while serving their country.
In retrospect, is it any wonder I eventually declined the offer of a scholarship to Georgetown for grad school in order to marry my West Point cadet boyfriend? He’s now my husband of many years. Thank you, Newsoms, for allowing me to be a witness to your own history.
