Nancy Vivian Rawls was a former Foreign Service officer, US diplomat, United States Ambassador to Togo

United States Ambassador to Togo

This is a list of Ambassadors of the United States to Togo.Until 1955 French Togoland was a United Nations Trust Territory mandated by the U.N. to France. In 1955, French Togoland became the autonomous Republic of Togo within the French Community , although it retained its UN trusteeship status...

 (February 11, 1974-August 8, 1976) and to Ivory Coast, (1979-1983).

Rawls was born on January 24, 1926 in Clearwater, Florida

Clearwater, Florida

Clearwater is a city located in Pinellas County, Florida, US, nearly due west of Tampa and northwest of St. Petersburg. In the west of Clearwater lies the Gulf of Mexico and in the east lies Tampa Bay. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 108,787. It is the county seat of...

. She received an A.B. from Shorter College

Shorter College

Shorter University is a private, coeducational, liberal arts university located in Rome, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1873, it is a Christian university historically affiliated with the Georgia Baptist Convention....

 in 1947.

She joined the Foreign Service in 1947. She was assigned to instructions in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

, Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

, Hamburg

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

, and Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. After a tour of duty in West Germany

West Germany

West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....

, she was assigned to African countries, first to Liberia

Liberia

Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...

 and then to Kenya

Kenya

Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

. After a year of special studies at the National War College

National War College

The National War College of the United States is a school in the National Defense University. It is housed in Roosevelt Hall on Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C., the third-oldest Army post still active. It was officially established on July 1, 1946, as an upgraded replacement for the...

 from 1970 to 1971, she became director of the State Department's policy planning staff for the Bureau of African Affairs in 1971. Rawls was one of the first U.S. Foreign Service women to rise to ambassadorial level and was the first woman to serve as ambassador in two African countries.

In 1974, Rawls became Ambassador to Togo. Two years later, she became the United States alternate delegate to the United Nations. She was then appointed as Senior Deputy to the Director General of the Foreign Service. She was then appointed as Ambassador to Ivory Coast in 1979 and retired in 1983.

Rawls died April 13, 1985 at the Norwalk Hospital, Norwalk

Norwalk

Norwalk is the name of several places in the United States of America:*Norwalk, California, a suburb of Los Angeles*Norwalk, Connecticut, a city in southwestern Connecticut that contains several neighborhoods including Central Norwalk, East Norwalk, South Norwalk, and West Norwalk** The Norwalk...

, Connecticut

Connecticut

Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...

, after a long illness. She was 59 years old and lived in Westport, Connecticut

Westport, Connecticut

-Neighborhoods:* Saugatuck – around the Westport railroad station near the southwestern corner of the town – a built-up area with some restaurants, stores and offices....

.

Her parents, Eugene and Vivian Rawls, and a brother, Eugene, all survive her. They live in Atlanta.