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Alphabetical seating found his wife
Bill Burns, who went on to run the CIA, met Carty at the very beginning of his diplomatic career. She became a very successful diplomat in her own right and most recently served as deputy ambassador at the US Mission to the United Nations.
The couple moved constantly through his career, and she put up with a lot of those moves. They have two daughters and two grandsons.
The daughters learned to become more adaptable, tolerant, and observant while moving around the world, which sounds a lot better than it feels at sixteen, when you are changing high schools.
How do diplomats' children grow up differently?
Sociologist Ruth Hill Useem coined the term third culture kids in the 1950s, after fieldwork with American families living in India. The term describes children raised outside their parents' home country, who build their identity from both the home culture and the places they lived. Later research found that many of them develop strong adaptability and cross-cultural skills. Many also describe struggling to answer the question of where they are from.
Why do diplomats move posts so often?
Foreign Service officers are expected to serve anywhere the government sends them, and they rotate to new posts every few years. Regular rotation spreads hardship assignments across the corps. It also gives officers varied experience and keeps them from putting down deep ties that could cloud their judgment. The usual tour at a posting lasts two to four years.
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