John writes – Peace Corps Worldwide

“Remembering Ethiopia” John Coyne (Ethiopia)

May 06 2024

John writes — The only Peace Corps official to visit my classroom at the Commercial School in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, was Sargent Shriver. In November, 1962, he saw my tenth graders among other Volunteer classrooms he was visiting in his swing through East Africa. In his usual manner, he came rushing through the classroom door with his hand outstretched and bursted out, “Hi, I’m Sarge Shriver.” I flippantly replied, “No kidding?” It was uttered more in surprise than rudeness. I was thrilled by Shriver’s visit. It was the first time my students had been quiet since September. To rescue myself and the class, I asked Sarge to tell my students about the Peace Corps in Ethiopia and his trip, and he told us all about seeing the Emperor, and having told His Majesty that there would be another 200 PCVs coming to the Empire the next fall. Our first group . . .

RPCV Couple — Joseph and Cristina Kessler killed in Illinois RV/Train Crash

May 01 2024

John writes — Taylorville (IL) Daily News – Posted Sunday Night by Leroy Kleimola The Christian County IL Coroner has released the names of the couple who died in the RV/Train Crash in rural Christian County. Joseph M and Cristina Kessler of Sarasota Florida were pronounced deceased. Both victims were 73 years of age and Joseph was identified as the driver. Preliminary autopsy results show they died of multiple blunt force injuries. According to the family, they had been on a journey to vicit all 50 states and nearly all US National Parks. The Kesslers were killed in their RV after it was struck by a train late last week between Stonington and Blue Mound. (Open this link ) Cristina Kessler – Author. World Traveler. Photographer. Here is a March 2024 interview I had with Christina about her Peace Corps life and books. Cristina Kessler is an award-winning author of . . .

Why Peace Corps Volunteers?

Apr 22 2024

John writes — Peace Corps Volunteers are the ones who tell the real story of the Peace Corps. They tell of their experiences in essays, articles, short stories and memoirs. Stories that are the historical documents of the agency. These remembrances are valuable to the host country as future generations will know how American Peace Corps Volunteers came to teach their children, care for their parents and grandparents, and help develop their country. By reading what PCVs have to say, host country nationals will know what once their homes were like, and these PCVs cared enough to write down the memories of living and working with their ancestors. For us, they are a treasure of literature and life.

Mad Men and Women of the New Peace Corps

Dec 12 2023

John writes — In this series that I published years ago and republishing for those who have come lately to the site, I will attempt, in short-hand fashion, to tell the history of the first years of the agency and the men and women who created the Peace Corps. The history begins In those early days of 1960s the agency was full of Mad Men (and a few Mad Women) who were living in a world-of-work atmosphere very much like the provocative TV AMC drama Mad Men, the program that followed a handful of ruthlessly competitive men and women in New York City who worked in advertising on Madison Avenue. They were living (in case you never saw the series) in an ego-driven world where “selling” was all that matters. That series, set in the early Sixties and has everything many of us grew up with: cigarette smoking, drinking, . . .