Presentation Date: April 27, 2017
Stephen O. Almy, CIA Officer (Retired)
Steve and his twin brother were born in Washington, D.C. in 1938. They also had an older brother and sister, both now deceased. Between Army service stints in World Wars I and II, his father was a stockbroker and later became a member of the newly created Securities Exchange Commission. His mother was a housewife. He grew up in Chevy Chase, Maryland.
He attended:
-- Bethesda Chevy Chase (BCC) High School and graduated in 1956
-- St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland for three years.
In 1959, Steve volunteered for the US Army draft. After basic training, he was stationed at a Nike antiaircraft missile site near Swormville, New York next to the Canadian border. Two years later with unsigned discharge paperwork in hand, his service was involuntarily extended for six months by the Berlin Crisis of 1961. He was finally discharged at Fort Snelling, Minnesota in the grade of E-3.
Continuing his education, he earned a:
-- BA in History at the American University in Washington, D. C. where he met his future wife, Anna Belle.
-- MA in Archaeology at the Knubley School in Athens, Greece.
In 1964, Steve joined the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Washington, D. C.
In 1965, he married Anna Belle at Fort Lesley J. McNair in Washington, D. C. Traveling together to five countries including the Middle East, they adequately learned the local languages as needed. During the Vietnam War, one volunteer assignment included interrogating captured North Vietnamese soldiers in the jungles of Southeast Asia.
After 30 years with the CIA, Steve and Anna Belle retired in 1994. The couple resides in Placerville.