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In Memoriam There are two documents for Mike. The first is a eulogy written by Lynn Poulson and distributed to classmates at the LHS 50th year reunion in 2006. The second is Mike's obituary as published in The Washington Post, March 27, 2006. The Eulogy
During the summer of 1956, Mike enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve through the Utah National Guard. He went to Jump School, took the most challenging training and eventually rose to the rank of Captain in the United States Army Special Forces. He married Rene Prince, Lincoln High School class of 1954. They had three children, two sons and a daughter. Rene has been deceased for many years. Mike graduated from BYU with the same angry edge we all knew. He then earned a Master's Degree at the University of Utah and went on to pursue a doctorate in Political Geography at Syracuse University. Sometime before finishing the doctorate he went to Washington, D.C. to work in a small, obscure organization known as the "Overseas Research Bureau." Thereafter his assignments took him to nearly every country in the world: behind the Iron Curtain, Southeast Asia, Australia, Latin America, North Africa, Scandinavia, and all of Europe, to name some. He was engaged in dark and violent service for our country as a field operative of the Central Intelligence Agency. There he rose to a rank equivalent in pay, privileges, and standing to a Full Colonel. He did things in the service of our country that none of us would want to do. There was a tender side to Mike. He married his second wife, Phyllis, in New York thirty years ago. They were devoted to one another. His body was interred in her hometown in Ohio with full military honors. Mike loved dogs. He had two who were part of his family. He even bought a station wagon so he could transport his beloved dogs from place to place. He also cultivated roses. He was a member of the Rosarians. He continued to be a voracious reader with some 2,000 books in his home library. Not long before the end came, he said to his wife Phyllis, "I never thought it would end this way. I always expected that I would be found dead in some back alley with a bullet through my head."
What a guy! He was drawn to sports cars, white dinner
jackets, and secret missions. He was our own Bond, James Bond.
Even though we have seen very little of him in the last fifty years, we
miss him and we appreciate his service to us and to our country.
The Obituary
Mr. Van Quill left a Ph.D. program at Syracuse University in 1963 to serve in the Indochina Wars in Thailand and Laos as a CIA Para-military and FI Case Officer. He departed Laos in late 1974 and remained in the East Asia Division, serving a domestic tour in New York City followed by assignments in North Korea and China Operations. Subsequently, as a Counter-Intelligence Officer, Mr. Van Quill worked against the Soviets. Mr. Van Quill also spent eight years in computer operations serving in a number of missions into Baghdad after the 1991 Gulf War. He retired after a final tour as an Instructor at the CIA training base. Mr. Van Quill traveled extensively on operations in Asia, the middle east, Europe, South Asia, and Latin America. Upon retirement, he continued as a tradecraft instructor on contract to the CIA and to private companies engaged in classified training projects. Mr. Van Quill holds the Donovan Award, the Distinguished Career Intelligence Medal, citations from the State Department, NSA, FBI, four hazardous duty awards, and numerous exceptional performance certificates. Mr. Van Quill was born in Salt Lake City and raised in Utah Valley. He earned his B.S. degree from Brigham Young University and his Master's degree from the University of Utah; he also studied at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Mr. Van Quill was a Special Forces qualified reserve airborne infantry captain. Mr. Van Quill is survived by his wife of 30 years, Phyllis Storey Van Quill of Fairfax, VA; his son Eric, daughter-in-law K.C., and grandson Aaron of Richmond, VA; and his daughter Valerie and son Kurtis of San Francisco. He is also survived by his niece Erin Storey who resides at the home in Fairfax; and sister-in-law Kimberly Storey of Irving, TX. Two nieces, Sharon Clinton and Kevienne Van Quill reside on the west coast. An avid Rosarian, Mr. Van Quill belonged to the American Rose Society. A viewing will be held at the Money and King Funeral Home, 171 W. Maple Ave., Vienna, VA on Wednesday, March 29, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. Interment will be held in Portsmouth, OH, with a private military graveside service. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Greyhound Rescue, Inc., 862 Cressen Drive, Gerrardstown, WV 25420, or to the Fairfax County Animal Trust Fund, 4500 West Ox Road, Fairfax, VA 22030. [Published in the Washington (DC) Post, March 27, 2006] |
On
Saturday morning, March 25, 2006, our friend and classmate, Mike, was
finally overtaken by cancer following a debilitating and painful battle.