Dedicated to the memory of Steve
With love and sadness, we celebrate the life of Stephen Bolz Espie, a dedicated global citizen, diplomat and writer. Steve passed away peacefully on the evening of December 25, 2016, in Charlottesville, Virginia. This site is a tribute to Steve.
He was born on March 4, 1932, in Wyckoff Heights Hospital,Brooklyn, N.Y., the only child of Hannah Bolz Espie and Stephen Clark Espie. Steve grew up in Ridgewood, Queens, attending Ridgewood’s P.S. 93 and later, Grover Cleveland High School. During his youth,Steve became a life-long fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers, discovered a love of literature, and spent every summer at Rocky Point, Long Island, cultivating a passion for nature and outdoor pursuits. At the age of 17 he won a scholarship to attend Amherst College in Massachusetts. He graduated Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa in 1953 with a degree in English Literature, after completing his thesis on the novels of Joseph Conrad.
Steve’s academic career included a year on a Fulbright Scholarship in New Zealand, to write a dissertation on 19th-century English novels. It was during this first foray overseas that Steve’s curiosity for and insatiable love of exploring the world was born. While journeying back from New Zealand, Steve’s ship stopped at Naples, Italy, and he was drawn to travel around Europe before going home. It was during his years at university that he established the multiple passions that shaped him for years to come, including fine wines, mountaineering and of course, travelling the world.
Steve met his future wife, Alberta Jackson, in New York City, shortly before he began working as an Editor at Time Life. Introduced by Alberta’s cousin, May Kanfer, and her husband (also Stephen), he and Alberta were married on November 30, 1957,in the Presbyterian Church, Jacksonville, Florida. Their first child Serafina was born in Brooklyn, in 1963.
After joining the U.S.State Department Foreign Service in 1966, Steve’s first posting was to Manila, Philippines, working for the U.S. Information Agency (USIA). His son Jason was born in Manila, 1968. His time in Manila was the beginning of a glorious career for him, which continued to enrich and shape the lives of Steve and his growing family for decades to come.
In 1972, Steve was posted to the Embassy of the United States, New Delhi, India, and became editor of USIA's SPAN magazine, a bi-monthly dedicated to Indian and United States’ interests in education, travel, technology, public policy,environment, media, lifestyle, and culture. Soon after they arrived in New Delhi, Steve’s youngest son Ethan was born.
After a three-year ‘home’ posting to Washington, D.C., Steve’s next foreign posting was to Vienna, Austria, in 1980,where he was the USIA's Director of the Regional Program Office [RPO]. In this position, he spent much of his time making official visits to many of the then-Communist countries' capitals in Eastern Europe.
The remainder of Steve’s Foreign Service career included a second posting to New Delhi, and on to Islamabad, Pakistan.He retired from the diplomatic service having reached the esteemed rank of Consul. Prior to returningto Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2009, to live near his son Jason, Steve enjoyed nineteen years of retirementliving in India, having developed a love of the culture and people. Steve is survived and remembered with great fondness and affection by his three children, Serafina, Jason and Ethan.
He was born on March 4, 1932, in Wyckoff Heights Hospital,Brooklyn, N.Y., the only child of Hannah Bolz Espie and Stephen Clark Espie. Steve grew up in Ridgewood, Queens, attending Ridgewood’s P.S. 93 and later, Grover Cleveland High School. During his youth,Steve became a life-long fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers, discovered a love of literature, and spent every summer at Rocky Point, Long Island, cultivating a passion for nature and outdoor pursuits. At the age of 17 he won a scholarship to attend Amherst College in Massachusetts. He graduated Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa in 1953 with a degree in English Literature, after completing his thesis on the novels of Joseph Conrad.
Steve’s academic career included a year on a Fulbright Scholarship in New Zealand, to write a dissertation on 19th-century English novels. It was during this first foray overseas that Steve’s curiosity for and insatiable love of exploring the world was born. While journeying back from New Zealand, Steve’s ship stopped at Naples, Italy, and he was drawn to travel around Europe before going home. It was during his years at university that he established the multiple passions that shaped him for years to come, including fine wines, mountaineering and of course, travelling the world.
Steve met his future wife, Alberta Jackson, in New York City, shortly before he began working as an Editor at Time Life. Introduced by Alberta’s cousin, May Kanfer, and her husband (also Stephen), he and Alberta were married on November 30, 1957,in the Presbyterian Church, Jacksonville, Florida. Their first child Serafina was born in Brooklyn, in 1963.
After joining the U.S.State Department Foreign Service in 1966, Steve’s first posting was to Manila, Philippines, working for the U.S. Information Agency (USIA). His son Jason was born in Manila, 1968. His time in Manila was the beginning of a glorious career for him, which continued to enrich and shape the lives of Steve and his growing family for decades to come.
In 1972, Steve was posted to the Embassy of the United States, New Delhi, India, and became editor of USIA's SPAN magazine, a bi-monthly dedicated to Indian and United States’ interests in education, travel, technology, public policy,environment, media, lifestyle, and culture. Soon after they arrived in New Delhi, Steve’s youngest son Ethan was born.
After a three-year ‘home’ posting to Washington, D.C., Steve’s next foreign posting was to Vienna, Austria, in 1980,where he was the USIA's Director of the Regional Program Office [RPO]. In this position, he spent much of his time making official visits to many of the then-Communist countries' capitals in Eastern Europe.
The remainder of Steve’s Foreign Service career included a second posting to New Delhi, and on to Islamabad, Pakistan.He retired from the diplomatic service having reached the esteemed rank of Consul. Prior to returningto Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2009, to live near his son Jason, Steve enjoyed nineteen years of retirementliving in India, having developed a love of the culture and people. Steve is survived and remembered with great fondness and affection by his three children, Serafina, Jason and Ethan.
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Thoughts
Just learned of Stephen's decline and passing today. So sorry for your loss and mourning of the big jolly space he occupied. My memories are brief, but i so enjoyed him hosting our travels of northern india in 1994. Snippets of that journey are never far from mind: Village life, tasty cuisine, boat & train journeys, new experiences, families, and customs. Thank you to your whole family for exposing me to cultures far and wide that changed my life wonderfully. Sweet peaceful wishes for Stephen and i hope a little apple brandy awaits him. Ciao, Tracie
tracie
16th February 2017
In his last years, my father wrote often about poems and literature. He would transcribe some of his favorites, and add in some commentary or other witticisms. I have shared a few that I felt carried some of this selections and commentary. Dickinson. Yeats, Du Maurier, Roethke, Burns, Merrill, Henley, Blake, Eliot, PK Page, Keats, Tennyson were just a few. Stephen was always a steadfast correspondent, with many friends and family, and he kept in touch with many far-flung people through the pen. The written word was important to him, as was engaging in active thought and dialectic.
Jason Espie
5th January 2017
It looks easy from a distance,
easy and lazy, even,
until you stand up to the plate
and see the fastball sailing inside,
an inch from your chin,
or circle in the outfield
straining to bet a bead
on a small black dot
a city block or more high,
in a dark star that could fall
on your head like a leaden meteor.
The grass, the dirt, the deadly hops
between your feet and the overeager clove:
football can be learned,
and basketball finessed, but
there is no hiding from baseball
the fact that some are chosen
and some are not--those whose mitts
feel too left-handed,
who are scared at third base
of the pulled line drive,
and at first base are scared
of the shortstop's wild throw
that stretches you like a gutted deer.
There is nowhere to hide when the ball's
spotlight swivels your way,
and the chatter around you falls still,
and the mothers on the sidelines,
your own among them, hold their breaths,
and you whiff on a terrible pitch
or in the infield achieve
something with the ball so
ridiculous you blush for years.
It's easy to do. Baseball was
invented in America, where beneath
the good cheer and the sly jazz the chance
of failure is everybody's right,
beginning with baseball.
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The prose-poem above, titled "Baseball," was written by John Updike [1932 - 2009]. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. SBE, 5/11/15
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The above email combines two of Stephens's loves: poetry and baseball.
Jason
Jason Espie
5th January 2017
