F.J. GIES III obituary

F.J. Gies III, 68, of Green Valley, Ariz., died Monday, Nov. 22, 2004, in Green Valley, Ariz.

A service will be in Tucson at Brings Broadway Chapel, 6910 E. Broadway on Friday at 1 p.m. An informal gathering will follow. Interment is scheduled at a later date

at the Southern Arizona Veterans' Cemetery at Sierra Vista, Ariz.

Gies was born Aug. 27, 1936, at Havre, the great-grandson of a pioneer Montana family. He received his primary and secondary education in Montana and Wyoming. A graduate of Casper College, the University of Wyoming and the University of Montana, he also did post-graduate work at the University of Arizona.

Gies entered the military as an enlisted soldier, serving overseas in the Far East Command before returning to Fort Devens, Mass., where he earned a direct commission to second lieutenant. During the Vietnam era, Gies was an operations officer in the clandestine services of the Central Intelligence Agency with assignments in Washington, D.C., Miami and Latin America. As a foreign area officer in the Army Reserve, he attended the National Defense University, the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center, and the Army War College. Mobilization assignments included frequent tours of duty at the U.S. Army Intelligence Center and School, Fort Huachuca, Ariz., and the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, Department of the Army, The Pentagon.

Gies retired as a colonel in foreign liaison, and was simultaneously presented with a service award from the CIA for his exceptional contributions to that agency and the U.S. Government.

Subsequent to his departure from active federal service, Gies joined the faculties at Sahuaro and University high schools, and Pima Community College. He was also a guest lecturer at the University of Arizona. Gies left the classroom in 1987, but continued to reside in the Old Pueblo until 1996. In 1996, he moved to Green Valley, Ariz., where he remained with his loving companion, Rose, until the time of his death.

Survivors include his children, John of Gooding, Idaho, and Lisa of Tucson, Ariz.; former wife, Darlene, of Tucson, Ariz.; and three grandchildren.

Memorials may be made to American Legion Post No. 109 Scholarship fund, 15921 S. Houghton Road, Corona de Tucson, 85641. For more information, call (520) 290-8107.