Alan Malcolm Campbell

Alan Malcolm Campbell was born in Western Pennsylvania on October 19, 1939.  It was the year of “The Wizard of Oz” and “Gone with the Wind.”  After graduating from Turtle Creek High School and Monmouth College, he entered the Army.  The Army sent him to the Foreign Language Training Center in Monterrey, California where he excelled in the Russian language.  His first posting was at the White House the day after President Kennedy’s funeral.  He was one of four translators for the Moscow-Washington Hotline.  At that time it was a teletype, not a big red phone.  He worked with President Lyndon Johnson and got to know and admire Lady Bird Johnson.  During his posting in the Army he was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS).  He lived in Washington, DC from 1963 to 1974.  A few years after his disability retirement and honorable discharge, he went to work at the Library of Congress as a Russian translator in the Psychology section.  In 1970 he joined the staff of the National Academy of Sciences as a program officer for Russian and Eastern European Studies.  He traveled many times to Russia and Eastern Europe.  Also in 1970, he met Richard Faircloth, his life partner and later husband.  In the 1990s, after a reduction in force at the Academy, he worked for the Friendship Force and the Fulbright Fund.  When his MS progressed he retired and began volunteer work.  He moved to Northern Virginia in 1974.  He volunteered at Christ Episcopal Church in Old Town Alexandria as a Russian interpreter for their Children of Chernobyl exchange program and was one of the founding teachers of the church’s English as a Second Language school.   After he started his volunteer work he joined Christ Church.  On May 13, 2016 he and Richard were married by the clergy of the church.  For the last ten years he was wheelchair and bedbound, but he still traveled until 2014.

Over his lifetime he enjoyed travel all over the world, sea cruising, playing the piano, retreating with Richard to their mountain house in Linden, Virginia, church work, seeing friends, eating out, classical music, art, movies, live performances, his family, his Scottish heritage and his dogs.  He enjoyed a rich life despite his disability.

Alan died in the arms of his husband listening to classical music in Hospice at INOVA Alexandria Hospital.  The cause of his death was listed as “complications of MS.”

He is survived by his husband Dr. Richard Faircloth, his brother Rev. John Thomas Campbell and sister-in-law Sharon Campbell, extended family David and Christine Faircloth, Kellie and Brandon Weinmann, his niece Joy Furby, many cousins, and his Scottish Terrier Hamish “Mak” McClure.   He was predeceased by his mother and father, Rebecca and John “Scotty” Campbell, and his brother William Campbell, and his best friend Gus Nasmith.   He is also survived by many friends.

"My Prayer"
 

When the twilight is gone and no songbirds are singing
When the twilight is gone you come into my heart
And here in my heart you will stay while I pray

My prayer is to linger with you
At the end of the day in a dream that's divine
My prayer is a rapture in blue
With the world far away and your lips close to mine

Tonight while our hearts are aglow
Oh tell me the words that I'm longing to know

My prayer and the answer you give
May they still be the same for as long as we live
That you'll always be there at the end of my prayer

~The Platters
 

To plant a beautiful memorial tree in memory of Alan Malcolm Campbell, please visit our Tree Store.