BETHEL — A well-attended lecture in the 2011 Bethel Historical Series, sponsored in part by a grant from the Maine Humanities, was held in the Dr. Moses Mason Exhibit Hall on June 16. It was titled, “From Bethel to Norway via the Congo: Margaret Tibbetts and U.S. Foreign Relations, 1949-1964,” and was presented by Andrew DeRoche, lecturer in American history at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

DeRoche earned his undergraduate degree in history from Princeton University followed by a history masters degree from the University of Maine and a Ph.D. in history from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Born and raised in Maine and the grandson of the late Jay and Melva Willard of Bethel, DeRoche is a specialist on U.S./Zimbabwe relations and wrote a biography of Ambassador Andrew Young. His lecture provided numerous insights into Bethel native Margaret Joy Tibbetts’ African experience in the Congo (now Kinshasa) and Mozambique, which helped improve American understanding of affairs on that continent.

Margaret Joy Tibbetts was born in Bethel in 1919. She graduated as valedictorian of her 1937 class at Gould Academy. She completed her education at Wheaton and at Bryn Mawr. She served with the Office of Strategic Services prior to joining the State Department in 1945 and the Foreign Service in 1952. In addition to her African assignment, she was also posted in Brussels and London before her appointment by President Lyndon Johnson as U.S. Ambassador to Norway in 1964. She became the first female Deputy Assistant Secretary of European and Canadian Affairs in 1969. Following her retirement in 1971, she was a visiting professor at Bowdoin College and active in community affairs in Bethel including years as Bethel Library Board secretary, Gould Academy trustee and Bethel Historical Society president.

Following her death in 2010, Rozanne Ridgway wrote of her in the January 2011 issue of State Magazine, “An ambassador who happened to be a woman, a diplomat who had no peer regardless of gender, Ambassador Tibbetts returned to Maine to care for her mother, teach at Bowdoin and grow blueberries. This was consistent with the personal balance and perspective of one who wore yellow waders to call at the Foreign Office on rainy days. She like, Frances Willis before her, is a Foreign Service legend.”

Founded in 1966, the Bethel Historical Society is western Maine’s largest and most comprehensive historical agency. For more information call 824-2908 or 800-824-2910 or email info@bethelhistorical.