Eulogy to John M. Granville by USAID Administrator Henrietta H. Fore
Funeral Mass
Saint John Vianney Church
Orchard Park, New York
January 9, 2008
I am Henrietta Holsman Fore, the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, referred to as USAID, and Director of United States Foreign Assistance. I am grateful to Mrs. Granville, to John's sister Katie McCabe, and the entire family for giving me the opportunity to tell you about the work John loved so dearly and about how much he meant to his colleagues.
I am also representing President Bush and Secretary Rice who have both sent their condolences in letters to John's family. John's name will be permanently engraved on the memorial walls of both the Harry S Truman Building -- which is the Department of State headquarters -- and the USAID headquarters in the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C.
John Granville represented the best of the spirit of America: a love of country, a passion for adventure, intelligence, compassion, and an abiding desire to make this a better world for the less fortunate. As a diplomat and an international development officer, he worked hard and he worked well at all levels of society, from the grassroots to the highest levels of government.
John was part of the team helping to make democracy and self-government a reality for the people in southern Sudan. His team assisted the new Government of Southern Sudan, established only in 2005, with such fundamentals as its first constitution, budgets, constituent communications, and legislative drafts and procedures. A successful democratic government in Southern Sudan is the foundation of peace and improved economic conditions for the region.
I am certain you all have a favorite picture of John at different stages in his career and life. The one I like best is of him out in the field, smiling and surrounded by villagers who have just received radios. That photo captures the essence of USAID's democracy officers and what they do. Through their hard work, John and his colleagues have brought hope to people who were completely isolated by 25 years of war. The 50,000 radios that he helped to distribute, and the broadcasts funded by USAID, are helping Southern Sudanese exercise their rights and learn their responsibilities as citizens under their new government. This access to free and independent information is a priceless gift. John's smile expresses the enthusiasm and the joy of field work shared by our entire USAID team in Sudan.
While not in the field, he was focused on management duties. Recently, in Sudan's Blue Nile state, he worked with the local governor on the best ways USAID could help the state government deliver health and education services to its citizens.
John promoted peace, leading by the example of his keen and sincere understanding, which was first formed with the guidance of his family and teachers in his home town. His life was all too short, but it was abundant in generosity. As a graduate of Canisius High School in Buffalo, John embodied the motto of the Jesuit schools: "Men for Others." At Canisius - where young men are taught to expand their horizons, and to harness their faith and their intellects to help others -- John gained his first enthusiasm for international development. It is deeply fitting that Canisius has established a scholarship in his memory.
When John Granville went to Sudan to help people build foundations of just and democratic governance, he was representing his loving family, his friends and classmates, his faith community. He was representing Buffalo. He was representing America and he was representing you.
Last week, I asked his USAID colleagues to record their memories of John. They recall his sense of humor and his infectious good will. John was a man who was genuine. "The consummate professional" and an "incredibly dedicated individual." John not only did great work, but he did it honorably. One colleague at the Sudan mission said that he was "the glue of the place."
These remembrances paint the picture of who John Granville was and what he will always mean to us. So does the sheer number of people who have traveled here from all over the world to celebrate his life. Your presence here today shows how valued, and how valuable, John's life and work were. John will live on through our memories, and the work he did will affect generations of Africans and Americans to come.
John's sacrifice reminds us that our nation and its instrument for foreign assistance, the United States Agency for International Development, are a force for peace and prosperity in the world. We are moved beyond words at this tragedy, but buoyed by his faith and his spirit. We could not be more proud of John Granville's enormous contribution to advancing the United States' mission in Sudan. At the highest levels of the U.S. Government we recognize his service, and the sacrifice he paid for our country. Our greatest honor to him is to renew our commitment to the values he lived by and to love our work as he loved his.
May God bless you John, and may God bless our nation which you have served so well.
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