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Christine Shelly, 54, former Deputy Commandant for International Affairs from July 2002 to August 2004, died on Saturday, December 17, in Northern Virginia, following a long illness.
Shelly, a career diplomat, entered the State Department Foreign Service in 1975 after completing degrees at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
Prior to her assignment to the United States Army War College, Shelly served as Political Adviser to the Chief of Staff of the Army, General Eric K. Shinseki, from June 1999 through June 2002.
Shelly’s prior political-military experience includes assignment with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Brussels, Belgium, from 1990-1993 where she served as an advisor to the NATO Secretary General. From 1987-1990, Ms Shelly served in the U.S. Mission to NATO.
In 1993, Shelly was appointed by Secretary of State Warren Christopher as his Deputy Spokesman and Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Public Affairs. As Deputy and later Acting Spokesman, she regularly conducted State Department press briefings.
Her other Foreign Service overseas assignments include the U.S. Embassies in Lisbon, Portugal, Cairo, Egypt and Ottawa, Canada.
Throughout her career, Shelly twice received the State Department’s Superior Honor Award. She was also a 2001 recipient of the Adjunct Faculty Award in National Security Affairs, given by the State Department Foreign Service Institute. At the completion of her assignment with the Army War College Shelly was awarded the Distinguished Civilian Service Medal from the Army and the Superior Service Award from the State Department.
A memorial service will be held on January 8, 2006 at her family’s home in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
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Christine, along with Mike McCurry, was my immediate supervisor at the State Department. You might remember her from her days as the Assistant Spokeman (as she liked to be referred to), or seen her on CNN and CSPAN during the early years of the Clinton Administration. For those who've watched the movie "Hotel Rwanda", that's Christine giving the State Department press briefing on June 10, 1994.
The obituary gives a concise overview of her career, but there's more to the story. Christine was a tough taskmaster and a perfectionist, but in a male-dominated, old-boy institution like the Foreign Service where women have to fight to get ahead, she held her own and was a role model for every woman at State. Christine was the consummate professional - always prepared for her briefings, available to the press corps, and she treated me as her equal - not just her secretary.
In her personal life, Christine and her husband owned a farm in Catlett, Fauquier County, Virginia, where she was an avid horsewoman. She loved nothing more than going there after work, saddling up one of her small herd.
Christine died in Arlington, Virginia on December 17th, 2005, of ovarian cancer. She was only 54 years old.
An addendum: Christine's obituary was only released by the State Department
this month, and there is no mention of her being the former Assistant Spokesman. I seached The Washington Post website trying to find her obituary but, as unbelievable as it sounds, there was abolutely nothing about her death published.
I just learned about this today from a former colleague, who had just found out about it herself. :mad: