Marilyn Priscilla Johnson (June 19, 1922 – September 19, 2022) was an American diplomat who served as United States Ambassador to Togo. She was appointed to that position on September 23, 1978, and left her post on July 29, 1981. She graduated from

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and he ...

with a B.A. in 1944 and from

Middlebury College Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalists, Middlebury was the first operating college or university in Vermont. The college currently enrolls 2,858 undergraduates from all ...

in 1952 with an M.A. She enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served as a lieutenant from 1944 to 1946. From 1952 and 1959, Johnson taught French at high schools. She was a

Fulbright scholar The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

in France from 1957 to 1959, and a Smith-Mundt grantee in Guinea from 1960 to 1961. Between 1962 and 1964, she taught English as a foreign language in various schools inside Cameroon and Mali. She joined the Foreign Service in 1964, and was a cultural affairs officer in Bamako, Mali, and Tunis, Tunisia, as well as public affairs officer in Niamey, Niger. From 1971 to 1974, Johnson was the Deputy Assistant Director of the Information Centers Program. The following year, she attended the Senior Seminar in Foreign Policy, and from 1975 to 1976 she learned Russian through training. In 1976 she was cultural affairs officer in Moscow, Soviet Union. In September 1978 she was assigned as United States Ambassador to the Republic of Togo until July 1981. Johnson died at her home in Bethlehem, New Hampshire, on September 19, 2022, at the age of 100.

References

1922 births 2022 deaths Diplomats from Boston Ambassadors of the United States to Togo Radcliffe College alumni American women ambassadors Middlebury College alumni United States Foreign Service personnel United States Navy personnel of World War II American women in World War II Female United States Navy personnel Military personnel from Massachusetts American high school teachers American expatriates in Cameroon American expatriates in Mali American expatriates in Tunisia American expatriates in Niger American expatriates in the Soviet Union 21st-century American women American women centenarians {{US-diplomat-stub