Vinton Chapin, at 82; was US ambassador
A graveside service was held in Swan Point Cemetery in Providence last Friday for Vinton Chapin, US ambassador to Luxembourg from 1957 until 1960, who died last Wednesday in New England Rehabilitation Hospital, Woburn, of cancer. He was 82.
A Harvard football hero in the 1920s, playing tailback, he was well known in his class. He was president of the freshman class and was graduated in 1923. Though he was in the foreign service for three decades, his life was centered in Boston, his family said.
Mr. Chapin was the first career Foreign Service employee to be appointed to the traditional political patronage post at Luxembourg. He began his career as a vice consul in Prague in 1929 and ended his service as ambassador to the Dominican Republic in 1960
Prior to ambassadorial service, he had a career number two, serving as counselor and deputy chief in embassies in Dublin, Manila, and Havana. He also had been assigned to the London Naval Conference of 1930 and was a faculty member at the National War College in Washington, D.C., in 1951 and 1952, and was appointed deputy assistant secretary general for NATO in Paris from 1952 until 1957. He also served in Haiti, Brazil, and the Netherlands. After retiring in 1961, Mr. Chapin lived in Cambridge.
In World War I, he was a U.S. Marine. He attended St. Mark's School
He leaves his wife, Lilian Aldrich (Winches) of Dublin, N.H.; two sons, Richard Chapin of Cambridge and Aldus Chapin of Washington, D.C.; two stepsons, Charles Winchester of New York City and Gordon Winchester of Oakland, Calif., and seven grandchildren.
Vinton Chapin, at 82; was US ambassador
A graveside service was held in Swan Point Cemetery in Providence last Friday for Vinton Chapin, US ambassador to Luxembourg from 1957 until 1960, who died last Wednesday in New England Rehabilitation Hospital, Woburn, of cancer. He was 82.
A Harvard football hero in the 1920s, playing tailback, he was well known in his class. He was president of the freshman class and was graduated in 1923. Though he was in the foreign service for three decades, his life was centered in Boston, his family said.
Mr. Chapin was the first career Foreign Service employee to be appointed to the traditional political patronage post at Luxembourg. He began his career as a vice consul in Prague in 1929 and ended his service as ambassador to the Dominican Republic in 1960
Prior to ambassadorial service, he had a career number two, serving as counselor and deputy chief in embassies in Dublin, Manila, and Havana. He also had been assigned to the London Naval Conference of 1930 and was a faculty member at the National War College in Washington, D.C., in 1951 and 1952, and was appointed deputy assistant secretary general for NATO in Paris from 1952 until 1957. He also served in Haiti, Brazil, and the Netherlands. After retiring in 1961, Mr. Chapin lived in Cambridge.
In World War I, he was a U.S. Marine. He attended St. Mark's School
He leaves his wife, Lilian Aldrich (Winches) of Dublin, N.H.; two sons, Richard Chapin of Cambridge and Aldus Chapin of Washington, D.C.; two stepsons, Charles Winchester of New York City and Gordon Winchester of Oakland, Calif., and seven grandchildren.
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