Hariadene Johnson

Hariadene Johnson of Waco, died Wednesday, January 11, 2006 at home. Graveside services will be held at a later date to be determined. OakCrest Funeral Home is handling the arrangements.

She was the daughter of A.C. and Hariadene (nee Holmes) Johnson who preceded her in death. Born in Waco and a graduate of Waco High School where she excelled on the debate team led by Mattie Bess Caulfield, she attended the University of Texas at Austin graduating Phi Beta Kappa. Hariadene received her Master of Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI.

Hariadene spent her entire career with the Agency for International Development in Washington, D.C. During her 30 years, she was Deputy Director of Camaroon, Chad and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Central African Republic; Desk Officer of Zaire and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi; Office Director of East Africa including Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Uganda, Djibouti (French Somaliland), Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Seychelles, Mauritius, Comoro Islands, and Madagascar; Desk Officer of Liberia, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Zaire, and Congo Brazzaville. She lived in Africa and with all of those positions she traveled a great deal.

When she was assigned to Washington, D.C., she was the Assistant Director of Central Africa that included Senegal, Mali, Mauritania, Upper Volta, Niger, Dahomey, Benin, Botswana, Swaziland and Lesotho.

Working in the Africa Desk she was the first woman to hold many of her positions. During the 1970's and 80's long before Madeline Albright and Condi Rice appeared on the scene, Hariadene was the African Office Director of Development Planning, and as such worked with the Congressional committees on Budget and Donor evaluation. This was most unusual, first of all because she was a Civil Servant as opposed to being a Foreign Service Officer. And secondly, because she was also serving as Head of Planning for the Asian Bureau, Office Director for the newly independent states of Russia and Eastern Europe and Special Assistant for Planning for the Bureau of Private Enterprise and Special Assistant for Planning for the Bureau of Science and Technology.

She served on four transition teams between Democrat and Republican administrations. She worked with and became acquainted with quite a few Secretaries of State. She enjoyed a wide circle of friends within and without the diplomatic community.

Two of her most enjoyable assignments were in Granada and Fiji. In Granada she was the Acting Director of A.I.D. and in Fiji she headed up the long-range strategic planning team. She always loved to be challenged and believed in changing things for the betterment of peoples everywhere. She was forced to take early retirement due to health concerns.

She is survived by a sister, Janean Johnson Cleveland of Waukesha, WI , 11 nieces and nephews, 24 great nieces and nephews, and her pet dog of many years, Kelly. A sister, Mary Cherry North, predeceased her.

Memorial guestbook is online at www.oakcrestfuneralhome.com