Richard Funkhouser Richard Edgar Funkhouser ( September 10 , 1917 – May 15 , 2008 ) was an American diplomat and geologist , specializing in oil . He served as United States Ambassador to Gabon . Early years . Born in Trenton , New Jersey , he was the son of noted psychiatrist Dr . Edgar Bright Funkhouser and Evelyn Hayes . He attended Taft School before entering Princeton University where he was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society and Sigma Xi , the Honorary Scientific Research Association . He graduated from Princeton in 1939 . Career . Though Funkhouser had a deferment working as a geologist in Venezuela , he volunteered for the U . S . Army Air Corps during World War II and was with the Cal - Aero Academy Army Air Cadets Class 43 - J . Following training in Texas at Kelly Air Force Base , Cox Field , Paris , Jones Field , Bonham , Brooks Air Force Base , and Bergstrom Air Force Base , Austin , he was stationed stateside in Sedalia Army Air Base , Jackson Army Air Base , and Baer Army Airfield . His first flights of the war began in August 1944 with the 9th Combat Cargo out of Moran Town , India to Myitkyina , Burma . He transferred to Warazup , Burma in January 1945 . After serving in the China Burma India Theater of World War II , flying 302 missions and earning 102 points , he was awarded several medals , and was demobilized in July of the same year as a First Lieutenant . After the war , he worked as a geologist for Shell Oil domestically and Standard Oil of New Jersey overseas . Passing the career U . S . Foreign Service exams , Funkhouser became a Regional Petroleum Officer for the Middle East , assigned to Iraq , Syria and Lebanon in 1953 and then Bucharest , Damascus , and Moscow . He served as United States Ambassador to Gabon from August 9 , 1969 to August 2 , 1970 and then served in the Vietnam War , appointed as civilian deputy to Lt . General Michael Davison at Bien Hoa Air Base . He gained the military equivalent rank of Major General and received the National Defense Service Medal . Interviews conducted by Charles Stuart Kennedy , director of the Foreign Affairs Oral History Program , covering Funkhouser ' s work in Damascus , Moscow , Paris , Gabon , and Vietnam during the period of 1955 - 1972 , are archived at Georgetown University . After 33 years serving in various Foreign Service Specialist positions , Funkhouser retired from the Department of State in 1975 and moved to Scotland as an International Affairs Advisor to the Texas Eastern Corporation . While there , he wrote several papers which today are deposited at the Oil and Gas Institute in the University of Aberdeen . After five years in Scotland , he returned to Washington in 1980 and became the Director of International Affairs in the Environmental Protection Agency and a consultant to the US Department of Education before appointment to his final position as Director of International Activities at the Young Astronaut Council . Personal life . Funkhouser dropped the middle initial " E . " during World War II . In early 1944 , Funkhouser married Phyllis Parkin . They had three children , sons , Phillip Hayes Funkhouser ( died 1961 ) and Bruce Bedford Funkhouser , and a daughter , Blaine Laskowski . He belonged to several clubs and organizations , including Diplomatic and Consular Officers Retired , Metropolitan Club , Chevy Chase Club , the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers , Royal and Ancient Golf Club , Prestwick Golf Club , and Scottish Civic Trust . In the mid 1990s , Funkhouser and his wife survived a plane crash while on holiday in Europe . It had a lasting impact on the health of his wife , partially crippling her . She also began to suffer from dementia and gradually grew weaker and weaker . On May 15 , 2008 , Funkhouser shot his wife dead , before turning the gun on himself in the underground garage of their retirement home in Ingleside , Washington , D . C .