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But our two Jeep mates -- Keo Viphakone from Luang Prabang and John Cool from Beaver, Pennsylvania -- were beaming under their coatings of dust.

Together they had probably done more than any other men to help push Laos toward the 20th century -- constructively.

Mr. Keo, once a diplomat in Paris and Washington, was Commissioner of Rural Affairs.

John, an engineer and anthropologist with a doctorate from the London School of Economics, headed the rural development division of USOM, the United States Operations Mission administering U.S. aid.