THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 25, 1995 TAG: 9503250306
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL SIZEMORE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 114 lines
Growing up on the tough streets of inner-city Portsmouth, Bismarck Myrick knew he wanted something better out of life. But those who knew him then could scarcely have imagined just how far he would come.
As some 200 friends and relatives looked on, Myrick was sworn in Friday at the State Department as the U.S. ambassador to Lesotho, a ruggedly beautiful mountain kingdom that has been called ``the Switzerland of southern Africa.''
The route from his boyhood with a single mother in the Jeffry Wilson public housing project to the upper echelons of the U.S. diplomatic corps reflects his quiet determination to make a mark in the world.
``His goals were set,'' recalled E.G. ``Tip'' Corprew Jr., a Portsmouth funeral director and a fellow member of the I.C. Norcom High School class of 1959. ``He wasn't boisterous. He was just quiet, unassuming and likable.''
Myrick, 54, doesn't like to make too much of his humble beginnings. True, he said in an interview before his swearing-in, he did grow up in impoverished circumstances. ``But in spite of that, it was a wholesome and a good learning environment,'' he said. ``I was active in Boy Scouts and a member of my church. I sang in the junior choir. I got inspiration from people in the community.''
Another Norcom classmate, Wilbert Morrison, now a waste-management executive in Washington, said of Myrick: ``He was blessed. Most of our classmates had a drive to want to achieve instilled in us. We were told, `You can be what you want to be.' ''
One of those who helped instill that drive was Frances Paige, a retired teacher who remembers Myrick vividly from her English class at Norcom.
``He was one of the quietest, most gentleman-like young men I have ever had the opportunity to teach,'' she said. ``He is etched in my mind because of his demeanor. He was a role model. He was the epitome of perseverance and commitment.
``I had some of the finest children. I loved them all. But he was one of those that really pulled at my heart strings. He was a person who was about something.''
When Myrick finished high school, there was no money for college. So he joined the Army and immediately began taking courses at night.
Over a 20-year Army career he earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Tampa and a master's degree from Syracuse University. Along the way he did a tour of duty as an infantry commander in Vietnam and was awarded the Silver Star, Purple Heart and four Bronze Stars.
He also worked as a foreign area officer for the Army, specializing in African affairs, which helped him get a State Department job after he left the military in 1980.
After assignments in Washington and Liberia, he was sent to South Africa as consul general. There he played a mediator's role, seeking to bring white business leaders and black activists together as the country dismantled apartheid and set out on the road to a multiracial democracy. He served as a facilitator when then-Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, a good friend, went to South Africa in search of trade opportunities for Virginia businesses.
He hopes that experience will be useful in his new assignment. For all its natural beauty, Lesotho is a poor country. As much as half of its working population is employed in the mines, factories, farms and households of South Africa, which surrounds the small kingdom.
``I am very much interested in finding ways to help the people of Lesotho strengthen their economy,'' Myrick said. ``I hope we can interest U.S. businesses in exploring investment opportunities there. We believe the way forward is through private sector investment.''
During his stay in South Africa, Myrick had the chance to visit Lesotho on vacation and found it ``a charming kingdom. They are a very enterprising people.''
The country is a constitutional monarchy with a figurehead king. A military regime that seized power in 1986 gave way to a democratic government in 1993. The political situation is now relatively stable, Myrick said, ``but it is still a fragile democracy.''
Myrick, who once told an interviewer he had sought a wide variety of assignments in the State Department ``because I might want to be secretary of state one day,'' is more circumspect now about his ambitions.
``My intention is to serve my country in the best possible way,'' he said. ``Hopefully in the future I'll be able to do that in jobs of even higher policy and regional importance. But I don't want to name any jobs. I have to get through this one first.''
For the moment, it's enough to celebrate the new pinnacle he has reached. Myrick, who is divorced, has three children: a daughter in middle school, a son in college and another son in law school. They were among the proud onlookers at Friday's ceremony, along with a sister from Florida. Myrick's mother died several years ago.
He also had a cheering section home in Portsmouth, including Paige, the English teacher.
When Myrick returned from South Africa last year to attend the 35th reunion of his graduating class, ``I was just so thrilled,'' Paige said. ``I just ran up to him and hugged him and hugged him and hugged him.''
But her former student's latest achievement, she said, ``is beyond my wildest dream.'' MEMO: BISMARCK MYRICK
Born: Dec. 23, 1940, Portsmouth
Education: Graduate of I.C. Norcom High School, Portsmouth, 1959.
B.A., University of Tampa; M.A., Syracuse University
Military service: Army, 1959-80. Infantry commander in Vietnam,
1968-69; foreign area officer in Ethiopia, 1974-75; director of African
studies, Institute for Military Assistance, 1975-80
Diplomatic assignments: Political officer, Monrovia, Liberia,
1982-84; Office of Strategic Nuclear Policy, 1985-87; Bureau of
Inter-American Affairs, 1987-89; consul general, Durban and Cape Town,
South Africa, 1990-95; ambassador to Lesotho, 1995-
Family: Divorced; three children.
ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Associated Press
Bismarck Myrick was sworn as U.S. ambassador to Lesotho.
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