Obituary for Peru RPCV Keith McNeill
In late 1960s, the country was embroiled in the civil rights movement. Keith McNeill graduated from college and moved straight to the heart of racial conflict in Alabama and Mississippi. He lived with an black Baptist minister and worked organizing labor unions . From there, McNeill joined the Peace Corps, which took him to Peru in 1965. He organized a coffee cooperative and formed relationships with the residents there. He later returned to visit the families he'd helped. But McNeill also volunteered in his own backyard. He moved to Greeley about 30 years ago and spent many hours dedicated to movements throughout Weld County. "Whenever he saw a cause that was worth fighting, he was right there," his daughter, América McNeill, said.
Obituary for Malawi RPCV Bobbie Mullinix Miles
She was a former high school basketball coach and teacher in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina. Her last position was girls' basketball coach and physical education teacher at West Montgomery High School. She retired after 36 years of service in public education. She was a member of the West Montgomery Sports Hall of Fame. After retiring she spent three years in the Peace Corps. in Malawi.
Obituary for Chile RPCV Janet Berkenfield
After graduate studies at Stanford, Ms. Berkenfield joined the Peace Corps in 1965, developing health programs in Chile. Janet Berkenfield was a dedicated public health professional who worked to help immigrants, young mothers, and children during a career that lasted more than 40 years. "Janet had a true gift in starting up new projects and in administering the details of their implementation," Cindy Rogers, Ms. Berkenfield's supervisor at the state Department of Public Health and colleague of 14 years, said in a statement. "She worked tirelessly to bring the reality of her vision of systems that worked for the benefit of children."
Obituary for Philippines RPCV Linda Laighton Bahr
A graduate of MacMurray Collge in Jacksonville, Ill., Mrs. Bahr taught hearing-impaired students through the Northwestern Illinois Association. She took a break from teaching in Illinois schools to teach the hearing impaired in the Philippines from 1985 to 1987 by volunteering for the Peace Corps. Her two-year stint in the Philippines allowed her to learn about another culture firsthand and ignited an interest in world travel. She went on to visit Nepal, Hong Kong, Costa Rica, Brazil, Peru and Thailand "She liked going to places that other people don't necessarily find comfortable," explained Larry Bahr.
Obituary for Senegal RPCV Ruth Chapin Wolfe
After working 20 years as a bookkeeper and raising her children, she decided to go to college. She obtained her Bachelor of Science from Florida State University in Tallahassee. In her 50s and unable to obtain employment with her social welfare college degree, she joined the Peace Corps. She was assigned by the Peace Corps to Calack, Senegal where she spent two years teaching English to the Wolof speaking students of Calack.
Obituary for Togo RPCV Paul McKenzie
From 1975 to 1978, he taught English, coached basketball and developed a tree nursery as a Peace Corps volunteer in Togo, in West Africa. The Peace Corps, his wife said, was one of the formative experiences of his life. In 1980, he moved to Washington, where he joined the Department of the Navy. At the time of his death, he was deputy director for technology integration for the Naval Surface Warfare Center of the Naval Sea Systems Command.
Obituary for Somalia RPCV Charlie Nelson
After a tour together in the Peace Corps, the Nelsons -- who met while earning their degrees at the University of Minnesota -- went house shopping. He wanted a Victorian that was "untouched," Angie Nelson recalled Sunday, but he discovered the real estate agent was steering the couple clear of a fatigued section of North Minneapolis, where Nelson ended up finding a house he loved so much he purchased it on sight. "When we moved in, Minneapolis was tearing everything down around us," she said of the neighborhood. "We recruited our friends to come in and buy them up." And so began the Old Highland Neighborhood Association. Nelson joined the Historical Society that same year and supervised the statewide survey for the National Register of Historic Places. In 1974, he became the state architectural historian and in 1978, the historical architect.
Obituary for Korea RPCV David Alvord III
He and his former wife Rosemary Kirwin-Alvord served for two years in Korea, were Peace Corps recruiters in Seattle and later held administrative positions in Micronesia. Having become fluent in Korean, David taught English to South Korean Air Force pilots. Prior to his death, he completed an assignment in South Korea, where he was teaching South Korean educators English teaching methods.
Andrew Salmon writes: "He came to Korea with the first U.S. Peace Corps contingent in 1966. Stationed in rural Kangwon Province, he fell in love with the country and its people. A photograph from that time shows him carrying an A-frame, surrounded by grinning farmers. In 2002, he returned here to teach English. I am not sure what brought him back. Perhaps he had been financially unsuccessful; he certainly never had much money (though it never bothered him). He also had little time for technology. He despised cell phones, and when I set up a hotmail account for him, he insisted that he knew how to use it, but (as far as I know) never did. What he did have was time for people. His enthusiasm for travel, mountain hiking, athletics, dogs, and, of course, his beloved Korea and Idaho were infectious. Several times, just seeing his figure in the distance -- or hearing his booming voice, which preceded him by a considerable distance -- would bring smiles to faces. My four-year-old daughter loved being around him."