Diplomat Harriet Elam Weds; Labor Secretary Alexis Herman Announces Her Engagement

Jet, Oct 18, 1999

Reports of nuptials surrounding two of Washington's most eligible ladies who have been single for decades recently dominated the news on Capitol Hill.

Harriet Elam, 58, a woman nominated by President Clinton as the next U.S. ambassador to Senegal suddenly announced plans of her first marriage.

A VIP group of 200 guests celebrated the recent marriage of the loyal Boston native to 68-year-old Wilfred Thomas, the father off our grown children. A private dinner was held at the Park Hill Hotel. Elam is awaiting Senate confirmation as an ambassador. Thomas is a travel agent active in Caribbean causes.

The diplomat told the press that she was engaged back in 1975, but a woman friend to whom she introduced her suitor "took off with her friend."

She told the Washington Post, "After he broke my heart, for 19 or 20 years, I did not care to engage in many relationships. I think it was God's providence that this man should come into my life."

Just as the society world was reeling from the sudden nuptials of the ambassador, the office of Secretary of Labor Alexis Herman approved the release of a statement that the Cabinet member is engaged to Dr. Charles Franklin Jr., a physician, from Silver Spring, MD.

Herman began wearing her diamond engagement ring during the Black Caucus annual legislative weekend. No date has been set for the wedding.