Arthur Martin ‘Art’ Giese was born in Philadelphia to Helen Dorothy and Arthur Robert Giese. His dad worked in the carpet industry performing quality control, and they moved as often as a military family most of his life. Art’s preschool memories were of Buena Vista, VA, then of Orr’s Mills, NY, where he lived in a house once occupied by Charles Lindbergh and where connections with West Point began. He watched dignitaries pass en route to Academy ceremonies, attended its sports events and dreamed of being a cadet or a pilot someday. The family moved to Canada, then back to Virginia. He attended junior high and his first year of high school in Lexington, VA, absorbing the history and atmosphere of Washington and Lee University and VMI. The family plunged next into the Deep South, settling in Greenville, MS, where they were viewed as true carpetbaggers, and the new Yankee kid had to fight for every inch of social acceptability. Undaunted, he graduated with honors and excelled at debate, football, tennis, basketball and writing for the school paper. He caught the attention of Hodding Carter Sr., who edited the city paper and who also had an uneasy relationship with the conservative Mississippi Delta. After a year at Tulane, Art entered West Point with the sponsorship of Mr. Carter and others. Even then, back home, he was asked by some older ladies to leave a debutante ball due to improper attire (his dress uniform). Ruffled feathers were soothed, and he was allowed to stay, but somehow he fell in love with the only girl he knew who had refused the debut invitation to go traveling instead. They ended up seeing a lot of the world together.

With his new bride, Leslye, Art started out on the classic Infantry track with Airborne and Ranger training. Social science studies, Russian language courses and especially the SCUSA conferences at West Point had sparked a lifelong interest in the Middle East, so that, after three years in the 101st at Fort Campbell, KY, he left the Army and began a distinguished career as a Foreign Service Officer. His son David was born while Art was undergoing language training at the State Department. This was followed by a two-year assignment in Tehran—where his second son Jeffrey was born—during a particularly volatile era before the fall of the Shah. On returning to the States, as a watch officer in the Operations Center, Art wrote overnight summaries for the White House during the Seven-Day War and the beginnings of the Vietnam War. This was followed by service as Consul and Turkish-speaking State Department officer on the divided island of Cyprus, a political-military office in the U.S. Embassy in Turkey and a DC assignment with the Undersecretary for Arms Control and International Security Affairs. He astounded his engineer roommate by earning a Master of Science in Systems Analysis at Stanford, and put it to use in a liaison position from State to the Pentagon working on contingency planning. An assignment in Brazil and duty on the Central American desk back in Washington bracketed a tour at the National War College.

Looking back with four decades of perspective, it is clear that Art always saw things in fresh and often unconventional ways. Unabashed about not quite fitting into conventional molds, he learned from experience that his instincts were sound and that he could trust them. Art seemed to know he had no time to waste in living his life to the fullest. This outlook gave him both a contagious enthusiasm, which mostly delighted his family and endeared him to many, and a sense of impatience with complainers, slackers, the long-winded and those he considered shallow. Luckily, he could laugh at himself in almost any situation. He was a very effective diplomat and, when Stateside, volunteered for the Speakers’ Bureau to explain government policy. This became increasingly difficult as foreign policy got murkier. Being the State Department’s Deputy Country Director for five Central American republics when the White House’s Iran-Contra policy was imposed inflicted great stress on his sense of Duty, Honor, Country, and was something he could not talk about. In the past, West Point efficiency had always made time for his children, whom he adored. Now he worked overtime and understaffed, neglecting signs of impending cardiac disaster, and died jogging during a break in congressional hearings on the recertification of aid to El Salvador. One of very few diplomats with a West Point background, he was anticipating a posting to head the State Department’s budding counter-terrorism efforts next. One can only speculate that some things might have been different. Although he left the Army early, it can be said that he soldiered loyally for his country for his entire career.

Art would be pleased to know that he has five grandchildren (four boys and a girl), ranging in age from three to thirteen. After firmly establishing themselves in Northern Virginia, both his sons now reside on opposite coasts and continue their DC area work from afar. David lives in New Jersey and owns two music stores in Arlington and Falls Church, VA, while Jeffrey writes and edits the DC public television magazine for WETA from Bellingham, WA.

Leslye affirms that it was both exhilarating and challenging to love, live with and keep up with Art. He said in the last year of his life that he finally felt at peace with who he was, and no one intimidated him anymore. If he had ever been intimidated, no one knew it.

Well done, Art. Be Thou at Peace.

— Leslye Giese Wakefield and Frank Cloutier ’60