Joseph Carvajal

Joseph J. Carvajal
Pisgah Forest - Joseph J. Carvajal, 77, of Pisgah Forest, passed away on Saturday, May 23, 2009, at his residence.
He was a native of New Orleans, the son of the late Captain Joseph Carvajal of the U.S. Maritime Service, and the late Vyna Richoux Carvajal of La Rose, on the Bayou Lafourche in Louisiana's Cajun country.
Prior to moving to Transylvania County in 1990, he was a longtime resident of the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. He was a graduate of George Washington University in D.C., and a former U.S. Foreign Service Officer (Press Attache). As a teen just out of high school, he served as an aerial photographer and photo-intelligence specialist in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War and later became a White House and Capitol Hill news photographer. He went on to a number of publicity, P. R. and public information positions with various Federal agencies over a forty year period (nine of those years were spent in foreign lands.) In the course of his government assignments, he circumnavigated the globe.
He produced numerous made-for-TV documentaries and public service announcements featuring a Who's Who of Hollywood celebrities. His film, "Solar Energy", starring Eddie Albert, won an international film festival award. He was a member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and of the National Press Club. He was also a member of Mensa, the high I. Q. society. In 1977 he was elected as national president of the National Association of Government Communicators. He retired from government service as a GS-15 Division Director at the Department of Energy in D.C. During the first Persian Gulf War, he returned to the National Capital Area to become Project Manager for a five-year defense contract at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station, producing training videos, manuals and other materials related to classified military programs.
Mr. Carvajal was involved with Community Theater as a lifelong avocation, around the country and overseas and also did some professional acting on stage and on local television in D.C. He was a past-president of Brevard Little Theater and a longtime actor/director with that group, winning a number of awards. He and his wife Nedra, his life's companion since 1960, traveled the world together during their Foreign Service years. He has left a website for anyone interested in some of the highlights of his life and career; www.joecarvajal.com .
Mr. Carvajal was preceded in death by his son Steven, and by his sister Florence Pitre. He is survived by his wife and their daughter Robin, and by two brothers, Robert and William and four sisters, Dolores Hall, Daisy Chaboudy, Vera Ryals and Laura Lasserre and numerous "Cajun Cousins".
Funeral services will be conducted in New Orleans.
To sign Mr. Carvajal's guestbook on line, please go to "Obituaries" at www.moore-fh.com

Moore Funeral Home is serving the family.