Many University graduates take their degrees and knowledge and use them in far-reaching parts of the globe.
F. Weston Fenhagen, a 1946 University graduate, certainly was one such alumnus. But after spending much of his career abroad, he decided his life of service would be right at home in Chapel Hill.
A memorial service Friday at Chapel of the Cross on East Franklin Street honored Fenhagen, who died Oct. 8 while serving on the board of directors for The Daily Tar Heel and who friends and family said always held UNC and Chapel Hill dear.
"He loved being in a university town," said his wife, Betsy Fenhagen. "It was icing on the cake to him after being away for so many years."
After graduating with a degree from the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Fenhagen worked as a journalist in both France and Maryland. He then joined the U.S. Diplomatic Corps as a public affairs officer and spent the next 25 years of his life traveling the globe.
"We went to Tunisia, Morocco, the Ivory Coast, Congo and Malaysia, and we felt very lucky to be there," Betsy Fenhagen said.
Being far from Chapel Hill didn't deter Fenhagen's interest in the Tar Heels. "He was always a Tar Heel fan," Betsy Fenhagen said. "In Congo, he would sit with a radio pressed to his ear at 2 a.m. so he could listen to the games."
Fenhagen's daughter, Caitlin, remembers him as a man who loved to travel with his family on trips such as an expedition to Namibia and Zimbabwe five years ago.
"We explored some remote areas of the country and were able to see a rare black rhino. We would never have been able to do it without his imagination," Caitlin Fenhagen said.
