In Fond Remembrance: Brent Ashabranner, India 16 and Peace Corps India Director
Sunday, January 22, 2017 at 11:20PM 
Photo by Paul Conklin
WILLIAMSBURG - Brent Ashabranner of Williamsburg, VA passed away Dec. 1, 2016 at age 95. He was born in Shawnee, OK in 1921. He and his wife, Martha White Ashabranner, who survives him, moved to Williamsburg in 1988. They married at 19 and celebrated their 76th wedding anniversary in August. Besides his wife, he is survived by daughters Melissa Ashabranner (Jean-Keith Fagon) of Washington DC and Jennifer Ashabranner of Alexandria, VA; grandchildren Damian Fagon-Karraker, Giancarlo Fagon, and Olivia-Jene Fagon; and a great-grandson, Neo Lukas Fagon. He served in the US Navy as a Seabee in the Pacific during WWII. After graduating with a Masters in English, he taught at OSU for several years. In 1955 he accepted a position to do curriculum development in Ethiopia, leaving the US with his wife and two young daughters for the next 30 years. He worked in Libya, started the first Peace Corps Program in Nigeria, was the Peace Corps Director in India, and then the Deputy Director of the Peace Corps from 1967-1969. After serving for 10 years in the Philippines and Indonesia with the Ford Foundation, he retired in 1985. In his retirement he wrote over 30 books for junior readers on cross-cultural topics and won over 40 awards for this body of work. He will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery at a future date. He will be remembered by friends and family as a warm man with a great sense of humor, who lived his adventurous life with courage.
Published in Virginia Gazette on Dec. 3, 2016
Video Interview from 2015 India XIV reunion: https://india16santafereunion.wordpress.com/brent-ashabranner/
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