Paul A. Hiemstra

I got to know Roy in about 1986 when I was working on the administration of the Fulbright Program and he was applying for his first Fulbright lectureship in Romania.  I had recently returned from Romania after spending a couple of years there doing research on Romanian history, so Roy and I had numerous long-distance telephone conversations (he was in Fairbanks, I was in Washington DC).   I tried to answer the many questions he was asking about what his students and colleagues would be like, and how he could expect to relate to them.  Romania was a very difficult place to live and work in those days due to some extraordinarily harsh political and economic conditions, but I remember thinking to myself how good his questions were, how quickly he picked up on the answers, and how versatile, direct, and sensitive he seemed to be.   I told Roy that his students and teachers in Romania would be wearing their coats and gloves to class because the classrooms would be largely unheated as the government squeezed all available resources into a huge urban construction project in the capital, but Roy assured me quickly and with good humor that anyone who could survive the winter in Fairbanks didn’t mind the cold.    

Just a few months after he had arrived in Romania, I had the chance to visit him there and from the minute he greeted me at the door to his apartment on Strada Dragalina in the city of Cluj, I realized he was already doing well.  He was a sensitive representative of American society and values in a place where people had little contact with the outside world.   He understood the importance of providing a link to the world at large for people whose government was determined to limit and monitor their relations with him and other foreigners, and he handled this responsibility with discretion, honesty, and humility.     

I am very sorry to learn that he has been taken from us so soon, but remember with great respect and appreciation his ability to understand and navigate the constraints and opportunities of difficult situations, and I am grateful for his outstanding service as a Fulbright lecturer in Romania.