Marion Naifeh

Marion Carolyn Naifeh (April 11, 1928 — May 20, 2023) was an American author and educator who, with her husband, the late diplomat George Naifeh, represented the United States in diplomatic missions in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia over nearly three decades. As an author, Naifeh published three books. Her 2003 publication, The Last Missionary in China, was described by noted Harvard University sinologist Ezra Vogel as "a touching, well-written, well-researched account of the life and times of a missionary who died in China in 1951 after 34 years there, by his daughter. Objective, nuanced, broad-gauged" Naifeh's 2016 book, Foreign Service, chronicles her family's life in the U.S. diplomatic corps during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Also in 2016, she published Finding my Mother: The Red Box, a memoir of her mother.

Early life Naifeh was born to missionary parents in Wuhu, China, in 1928. Her father, B. W. Lanphear (1886-1951), was headmaster of the St. James Middle School in Wuhu, China. Her mother, Carolyn March (1889-1928), worked in the YWCA in Tianjin, China. Naifeh's mother died soon after giving birth to her daughter, who was subsequently raised by two servants in her missionary household.

Although Naifeh had no biological siblings, her father unofficially adopted 16 Chinese children who were orphans or otherwise abandoned, and she grew up with four of them – George, William, Jimmie and Stephen – whom Naifeh considered to be like brothers to her. Naifeh's first language was Chinese; at age three, she is said to have told her father, in Chinese, “Foreign Devil, leave my land!” Naifeh's father sent her to Worcester, Massachusetts, where she was raised by relatives and where she learned English and, eventually, Spanish, French, Russian and Arabic.

Naifeh spent her youth shuffling between boarding schools in China – the American schools in Nanking, Guling and Shanghai – and Worcester. She graduated from Classical High School in Worcester in 1945 and entered Wheaton College the following year.

Years School Location 1961-1962 University of Tulsa Tulsa, Oklahoma 1963-1965 Baida American School Baida, Libya 1965-1967 University of Benghazi Benghazi, Libya 1967 Silver Spring High School Silver Spring, Maryland 1968 English Literacy Program Lagos, Nigeria 1976-1978 Umm Ammar Girls’ Secondary School Abu Dhabi, UAE 1979-1985 Georgetown University Language Institute Washington, D.C. 1980 Second Foreign Language Institute Beijing, China 1982-1984 Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies Washington, D.C. 2007-2010 General Education Degree Program, Sisters of the Valley Gloverville, South Carolina

Foreign postings In Meshed, Iran, Naifeh worked as assistant to the American consul. Marion almost died after the child was stillborn, so she went to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to await the birth of their third child, Carolyn (b. 1956), who would later cofound Our Place Nashville, a community for adults with developmental disabilities.

Dates of residence Years Location 1928-1931 Wuhu, China 1931-1935 Worcester, Massachusetts 1935 Nanjing, China 1936-1938 Guling, China 1938-1941 Shanghai, China 1941-1945 Worcester, Massachusetts 1945-1947 Norton, Massachusetts 1947-1948 Mexico City, Mexico 1948-1949 Norton, Massachusetts 1950-1951 Washington, D.C. 1951-1952 Meshed, Iran 1952-1953 Tehran, Iran 1953-1956 Baghdad, Iraq 1956 Springfield, New Jersey 1957-1959 Chicago, Illinois 1959-1963 Tulsa, Oklahoma 1963-1965 Baida, Libya 1965-1967 Benghazi, Libya 1967-1968 Washington, D.C. 1968-1969 Lagos, Nigeria 1970-1972 Karachi, Pakistan 1972-1973 Minneapolis, Minnesota 1973-1974 Washington, D.C. 1974-1978 Abu Dhabi, UAE 1978-1979 Amman, Jordan 1980 Washington, D.C. 1980 Beijing, China 1980-1998 Washington, D.C. 1998–present Aiken, South Carolina