ICYMI (In Case You Missed It)

We appreciate our new partnership with the Charleston Library Society, which has opened its beautiful and historic space to host some of our events.

MARCH 26. In the Charleston Library Society's Lite Lunch series, WACC member Peter Wild traced the evolution of money-laundering and the banking industry's tools to counter this illegal activity. Wild is an expert and international consultant in anti-money-laundering.

APR 17. Former diplomat and international affairs scholar Barbara Bodine packed the house at the Charleston Library Society where she discussed the ever-evolving events and complex players in the Middle East. Bodine currently directs Georgetown University's Institute for the Practice of Diplomacy.

APRIL 17. The 2025 Harrington Award was presented to Citadel Cadet Andrew Palmer. Colonel Harrington passed away in February; however, WACC will continue to honor his legacy with this annual award. More details here. 

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Upcoming Events

MAY 20. Award-winning journalist Andy Alexander will discuss new and emerging threats to journalists around the world and here at home. At the Charleston Library Society. Tickets available here. 

MAY 22. Author and journalist Stephanie Baker shares details from her book, Punishing Putin, and how a shadow-war has become Europe's biggest armed conflict since WWII. At the Charleston Library Society. Tickets available here.

SEPTEMBER 18. CIA expert Rolf Mowatt-Larssen and his wife Rosie at the Charleston Library Society. Rosie Mowatt-Larssen's shares her journey in Story of a CIA Wife: Married to the Craft. 

APRIL 21-29, 2026. Join fellow globetrotters on a small-group journey that explores the history, art, and culinary treasures of Umbria, Italy. Details here. 

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Member Spotlight

"I promise, I am not stalking you!" This is how I greeted Evelynn Putnam the third time I saw her in just as many weeks. 

It's no wonder I kept running into her. Evelynn volunteers with Chamber Music Charleston, Dock Street Theatre, Flowertown Players, Footlight Theatre, Pure Theater, South of Broadway, Spoleto, Piccolo Spoleto, and the Charleston Literary Festival. 

Her memberships in the Gibbes, the Charleston Library Society, the Charleston Museum, and the two preservation societies have given Evelynn a deep appreciation of Charleston and its history, importance, and idiosyncrasies. Being a member of the SC Native Plant Society and the Sierra Club inspired her to develop a pollinator garden at home.  

Evelynn's curiosity about other cultures knows no bounds as she participates in national or ethnic association events in Charleston—the Chinese, Indian, and Polish associations; the Greek festival; the Dante Alighieri Society; Alliance Francaise; and the Italian film festival.

But until I sat down with Evelynn at a recent Preservation Society event, I never realized our common ground in the U.S. Foreign Service. Evelynn joined the FS with an MBA from the University of Maryland and embarked on a career with her husband Bill, an interpreter and translator for arms control negotiations. Her career took them to Poland (before the fall of the wall), the Nuclear Risk Reduction Center in Washington, Geneva, Moscow, the Financial Service Center in Charleston (which is why they decided to retire here), Geneva, Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan), and Milan.  

Getting to know so many interesting, educated, and concerned people convinced her that Charleston was a place she could spend more than 3-4 years, a time limit that was familiar from her childhood as an Army “brat” and her career as an American diplomat.

She audits classes at the College of Charleston and supports programs in the College’s School of the Arts, specifically the Halsey Gallery, the International Piano Series, and the Theater Department.

Evelynn keeps physically active with water aerobics and tai chi at a local gym.

And of course she continues to travel, relying more on organized trips and cruises since her husband’s death. She is steadily whittling down her bucket list by one or two trips a year.

With all of her activities about town, Evelynn relies on her two cats to stay grounded. 

Say hello to Evelynn the next time you see her at a WACC meeting or other local event. She's here, she's there, she's everywhere! 

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