Wifely Duty

The smaller members of the United Nations often find it hard to keep their U.N. delegations up to strength. Budgets cannot stand the cost of salaries for a full complement, and qualified, self-supporting volunteers are rare. Last year Costa Rica's U.N. Ambassador Alberto Canas found one--a charming Alabaman named Henrietta Boggs, 37. Her Costa Rican qualification: marriage from 1942 to 1953 to President Jose ("Pepe") Figueres. Her means of support, Pepe's alimony.

Henrietta agreed to Canas' proposal, got the appointment okayed by Pepe ("Still the most wonderful man I've ever met") and settled into a seat on the Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee until the Eleventh General Assembly session ended last March. For her successor in the current session, Ambassador Canas found someone of equal qualifications and charm. His choice: New York-born Karen Olsen de Figueres, 27, President Figueres' wife since 1954.

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