Avis Howard (Thayer) Bohlen

Avis (Thayer) Bohlen was born in Philadelphia, September 18, 1912, the daughter of George and Gertrude (Wheeler) Thayer, the eldest of six children. She attended Bryn Mawr, but did not graduate, spent a year studying abroad, 1932-1933, and on a visit to her brother in the U.S. embassy in Moscow, 1934, met Charles Eustis Bohlen, whom she married in 1935. They had three children: Avis Thayer (born April 20, 1940), Charles Eustis (April 11, 1947), and Celestine Ellen (December 17, 1950). Their tours of duty included the Soviet Union, 1938, Japan, Soviet Union 1953-1958, the Philippines, and France 1962-1967. Charles Bohlen was ambassador to the Soviet Union, the Philippines, and France. He died in 1974. ATB was active in the American Association of Foreign Service Wives and, after her return to Washington, in the 1970s, she was a freelance landscape designer. The Avis Bohlen award administered by the American Foreign Service Association, was established in her honor in 1982 to give credit to the wives of Foreign Service officers.

From the guide to the Papers, 1929-1981, (Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute)