Mary S. Olmsted

AMBASSADOR MARY SEYMOUR OLMSTED

Mary Seymour Olmsted, 98, the first female U. S. Ambassador to a Pacific Islands nation and who established the first U. S. Embassy in Papua, New Guinea, passed away peacefully on July 13, 2018 at her home in Collington Life Care Community, Bowie, MD. 

After receiving her B.A. from Mount Holyoke College in 1941 and her M.A. from Columbia University in 1945, Ambassador Olmsted joined the Foreign Service and served in Montreal, Amsterdam, Reykjavik, Vienna and New Delhi. She was appointed by President Gerald Ford to establish the embassy in Papua, New Guinea, and it was formally opened in September 1975.  In 1978, President Jimmy Carter appointed her to serve concurrently as U. S. Ambassador to the Solomon Islands.

Ambassador Olmsted was born on September 28, 1919 in Duluth, Minnesota.  She spent much of her childhood in Titusville, Florida.  After her retirement from the Foreign Service, she lived in the Washington, D. C. area.  She is survived by her cousins David P. Alderson II of Houston, TX; Helen M. Alderson of Kennett Square, PA; Roberts W. Brokaw III of Wilmington, DE and Jeannette B. Lindvig of Malvern, PA.  She was preceded in death by her parents, George C. and Zadia Olmsted and her brother, John M. “Jack” Olmsted.

During her lifetime, Ambassador Olmsted established an Endowed Fellowship at the University of Hawaii to assist students from Papua New Guinea pursuing graduate degrees in any area of study - The Ambassador Mary Olmsted Endowed Fellowship.

A Memorial Service for friends and family will be held at Collington, 10450 Lottsford Road, Bowie at 2:00pm on November 9, 2018. Interment will be in the Olmsted family plot in Chattanooga, Tennessee.  Gravesite service to be under the direction of St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church, Signal Mountain, Tennessee.

In lieu of Flowers, the family suggests donations be made to the Collington Foundation, Inc, 10450 Lottsford Road, Mitchellville, MD 20721.