He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Oregon in 1936, pursued graduate studies at the University of Minnesota, served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, and served in the U.S. Foreign Service thereafter.
He worked in the consular service, the United Nations, and the Agency for International Development.
Ambassador to Ethiopia from 1967 to 1971, he retired from the United States Foreign Service.
He then taught international affairs at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon.
Most of the museum's Ethiopian Collection, consisting of nearly 100 objects, was acquired through a gift by Jayne Bowerman Hall as a tribute to her late husband.