Joseph J. Carvajal
May 23, 2009
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

Some of Joe's activities with the theater include
The Premature Corpse, Director You Can't Take It With You, Director Theft, Director Angel Street, Actor Come Back Little Sheba, Actor The Mouse Trap, Director, 2000 Bus Stop, Director Dangerous Corner, Actor A Christmas Carol, Actor,2007
Received the Beulah Zachary Award in 2008
Received several Best Actor Awards and other miscellaneous awards during his 20 years with the Brevard Little Theatre
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