Oct 12

LOOKING FOR:  BETTY POLLOCK  ( she has been found)

Nome: Esdras Avelino Leitão
Email: esdrasal (at) netscape.net

Date: Saturday, October 06, 2012

Subject:

Gostaria de uma ajuda dos senhores para localizar um membro do Peace Corps Volunteer (Voluntarios da Paz) que serviu no antigo Territorio de Roraima (hoje Estado Roraima), nos anos 1971 e 1972.

O nome da pessoa que procuro é BETTY POLLOCK e o ultimo contato que tive com ela foi em 1973 quando ela já estava de volta aos Estados Unidos e morava em Daly City. California.

É uma pessôa que foi muito amiga da minha familia, especialmente dos meus filhos.

Gratos pela atenção,

Esdras

15 Feb 12

Some of you knew PCV Kit Taylor, who left NE Brazil around 1967 after he and his wife were accused on the front page of the Journal de Pernambuco of promoting birth control ("genocidio!")

Despite not knowing each other in Brazil we became good friends after he married Colleen Hogan, a woman who fell in love with Brazilian music after being a housemate of mine.  She met Kit at a Brazilian music performance in Seattle.   It was wonderful having Kit nearby (just across Puget Sound in Kingston) who always seemed interested in reminiscing and discussing any and all Brazilian topics.

I am attaching Kit's obituary.   His wife Colleen's address:  Colleen Hogan-Taylor, PO Box 1716, Kingston WA 98346.  She is planning a great memorial service on  Saturday, Feb. 25th at 2 pm at the Pavilion in historic Port Gamble.  Let me know if you plan to attend.  -- Cliff

PS:  Visit Kit's website (noted in the obituary) for some outstanding photography.

PPS:   Please forward this to others who may have known Kit.  Thanks!

Submitted by:

Cliff Sanderlin PB 68-71
15 Feb 12

Kit Sims Taylor

October 11, 1942 - January 6, 2012

Adventurer, explorer, economist, photographer

Kit Taylor was born with a strong, adventurous spirit, drive, tenacity, a kind heart, and a fierce sense of social justice. Only a strong and tenacious person could live 14 years as Kit did after surviving esophageal cancer against formidable odds.  On his five-year checkup, another cancer emerged but he survived that too. However, pancreatic cancer finally bested him, but not before he made two last trips—to San Francisco and Paris—with his wife Colleen Hogan-Taylor.

Whether bicycle commuting across the lake from Portage Bay to Bellevue, running marathons, paddling a kayak from Nanaimo, BC to his houseboat in Seattle, or taking exquisite photographs, Kit mastered everything he set out to do.

An expert in labor economics in Latin America, Kit taught economics for 30 years at Bellevue Community College.  At age 55, he was the first non-techie to set up an on-line college course at BCC, clearing the way for future Web-based instructors, most of them much younger than he.
 
Kit was an outstanding traveler-explorer-guide, careful to plan his trips in detail but always open to detours if he or his traveling companion saw something of interest. He was also a hardy traveler. In 2008 he and his nephew, Harrison, retraced Humboldt's expedition of 1800 down several river systems in the Amazon Basin through parts of Columbia, Venezuela and Brazil.

In 2010 he and Colleen visited Braga, Portugal for the Semana Santa (Easter) Festival where he took stunning photos, and was the only non-Portuguese person to win an award for his photos.  That same year, he also walked 150 miles through Portugal on one of the famous Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage trails.  Examples of these and his other work are on his website, A Roving Vision, which is continuously updated.

Scholarly, diligent and obsessive, he started each day by completing the New York Times crossword puzzle. Always busy and active, he also wrote travel articles and occasional letters to the editor that were printed in the New York Times, often protesting proposed legislation that would benefit the rich but harm those who were struggling. Kit often said that he had nothing against the rich; he just thought everyone should be. As an economist he believed strongly that America has sufficient wealth that everyone could enjoy a decent standard of living if it were distributed fairly.
 
Here are some of the philosophies that guided Kit throughout his life: Without love, one has very little joy. One must become a skilled guide to forge one's own path and assist others. Being a loyal friend lays the foundation for making and keeping friends. He was a lively debater with definite theories and opinions but was not afraid to change his mind if given enough credible evidence to convince him.

Kit was born in Warsaw, Indiana to Cynthia Holmes and Grover Sims. His mother divorced Grover and later married Russ Taylor, who adopted Kit. Russ provided a wonderful role model with his commitment to family, tenacity and talents as an iron worker.  
 
After finishing high school in Southern California, Kit and his best friend, Andy Harris, hitchhiked from Hermosa Beach to New York City. They hopped a Danish freighter bound for Brazil where Kit was smitten. After finishing an English degree at UC Berkeley, Kit and his first wife, Karen, served as Peace Corps volunteers in Brazil's northeastern region.  His love for Brazil was solidified and he returned to explore many times throughout his life. Kit earned an MA in Agricultural Economics in Florida, and published his thesis, "Sugar and the Underdevelopment of the Northeastern Brazil, 1500-1970."
 
Two more marriages came and went before Kit met Colleen, the love of his life, at the Owl Tavern where they had gone to listen to Brazilian music.  They were married in 1989 and spent 10 years on one of the oldest houseboats on Portage Bay.  They moved to Kingston in 1999. Over their 22 years of marriage, Kit and Colleen lived an idyllic Northwestern life shared with friends and family in and around Seattle and Portland, including the houseboat community and Kingston. They kayaked, canoed, hiked and explored national parks, ancient sites in Mexico, remote areas of Brazil on extensive trips, and enjoyed European elegance and charm in Spain, Portugal and Paris.

Upon his retirement from teaching, he pursued photography with his typical intensity and soon mastered it.  His photos of natural wonders, people, landscape, and street activities, especially those taken in America’s Southwest, Brazil, Spain, Portugal and Mexico, won him many awards. He was humbled and honored when the Collective Visions Art Gallery in Bremerton invited him to become a member exhibitor.  

One of Kit’s earlier marriages resulted in a warm, loving relationship with a stepdaughter, Lori Klein, whom he escorted down the aisle at her wedding.  Lori held him in her arms when he passed away at home in Kingston on January 6.
 
Kit is survived by his loving wife Colleen Hogan-Taylor, his step-daughter Lori of Pendleton, Oregon, and his mother, Cynthia Taylor of Silverdale all of whom feel a great loss.
 
A memorial service will be held Saturday, Feb. 25th at 2pm at the Pavilion in Port Gamble. The family wishes to thank Group Health and Kitsap Hospice for their kind, loving and wise care. In lieu of flowers, it is suggested that donations be made to the American Cancer Society or The Nature Conservancy.
 

16 Jan 12

Charles Edward Bosley

"I am forwarding sad news I received last week that Chuck Bosley, our PC/NE Brazil director (1967-70) died last March 9, 2011. (Perhaps some of you may have already known.) His daughter, Cassie, sent the obituary posted below and the attached memorial card her younger sister, Martha, had produced.

For me, it was a privilege to serve as a member of the staff team he led for those two years. I last saw Chuck during a trip to Washington, DC about 25 years ago, and had spent an afternoon/evening with him and Bonnie in Shephardstown upon our return from Brazil in August, 1972. I enjoyed the annual Holiday greetings he & I exchanged over the past 15+ years."

It was during my COR tour that I worked with Chuck.

Ron Faas
16 Jan 2012
Contractor's Overseas Rep
National 4-H Foundation (NE & Amazon), 67-70
Regional Program & Training Officer (NE Brazil) 70-72

Charles Edward Bosley, 84, lately of Stonington, Maine, died peacefully on March 19, 2011. Charles, known to his friends as Chuck lived in Shepherdstown, from 1970 to 1995 and served as mayor of Shepherdstown for two terms (1972-1976), working hard for equity in the quality of living for all residents.

He was born in Evanston, Ill., in November of 1926, and was raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he lived with his mother, Alice (who lived in Shepherdstown also in the 1980's) and an extended family of aunts, uncles and cousins.

During World War II, he served in the Navy on a hospital ship. After an honorable discharge, he moved to California, where he worked as the editor of the Contra Costa Times in Walnut Creek. He also served on Capitol Hill, working for U.S. Congressman Cohelan and for U.S. Senator Engle, both of California. He worked tirelessly for civil rights and equality, including as lobbyist for disarmament and legal aid. He worked for the Agency for International Development in Quito, Ecuador (1965-1967) and was the Peace Corp director of Northeast Brazil (1967-1970).

He was preceded in death by his wife of 55 years, Marilea (Bonnie) Bosley.

He leaves his four daughters, Doris Bosley Langley and three grandchildren, Jeffery, Timothy and Emily, and a great-grandchild, Lucius, all of Martinez, CA; Cassie Bosley and husband Don Berry, two grandchildren, Morgan Condon and Severin Condon and a great-grandchild, Wayland Bosley Norris, all of Shepherdstown, WV; Priscilla Bosley Lynch and grandson, Charles Orion, of Shepherdstown, WV; Martha Louden and husband, Kenny Louden, one grandchild, Caitlin, all in Shepherdstown, WV; and a dear friend and companion Eileen Freeman, of Trenton, Maine.

NOTE: Submitted by John Reeder - PE 69-72

"Chuck was the NE director from 1967 till '70, and a very interesting man.  He, John Burns, and Ron Faas (who was the PC technical officer in the NE) started the many ag programs in the NE, including placing volunteers in the sugar cane program in Pernambuco, called "GERAN."

29 Dec 11

Obit: David Herbet Santana Jr.   Group: Chicago June 66 - Sergipe

17 Jan 11

Otis "Wick" Wickenhaeuser - Espirito Santo PC In-Country Rep

Brazil VII volunteers will be saddened to learn that our in-country representative, Otis "Wick" Wickenhaeuser died Sept. 26, 2009, in Santa Barbara, California. He was 78. He is survived by his wife, JoAnn (who was PCV in Espirito Santo), a son and two grandchildren. I remember him with deep respect and affection. He was wise, witty and kind. We had many long and provocative discussions when he spent over-nights with us in Cachoeiro. Such a good man.

Obit

James Zeno
ES 63-65

1 June 09

Passing of Walkiria Nunes de Sena

I am very sad to send this news but figure someone should. Walkiria passed away in Bahia on April 6, 2009. She had a stoke in February and people were hopeful of a recovery so her passing surprised a number of people. Walkiria was a trainer and mentor to many, many newly arrived volunteers in the '70's and was always kind, generous, and completely open when it came to speaking her mind. I am certain she will be missed sorely by all who knew her.
 

Forte abraço,

Karl Schnell
CE & BA 70-72

4 April 08

Passing of Bento Lobo

Bento Machado Lobo, 78, former PC/Brazil Regional Director for RS, SC & PR (1971/1973) passed away on Feb. 5, 2008 from a respiratory arrest.

His death was reported in many websites:  

> http://www.diarionews.com.br/exibenoticia.php?id=33843 

23 Feb 08

Passing of Jonas Pinheiro

Jonas died earlier this week in Cuiabá as the result of a heart attack.  Although he rose from the humblest of rural beginnings to become State Secretary of Agriculture, Federal Deputy, and then Senator, he is best remembered by members of our training group as the delightful, funny, energetic young rural extension agent who came to Longmont, CO in 1970 to train us in Portuguese and the realities of Brazilian agriculture.  One of my fond memories of Jonas is seeing him practically in tears of laughter as he recounted visiting Boulder, and seeing the initials of Colorado University painted on a mountainside.  Jonas had an enormous and infectious capacity for enjoying life.  His obituary can be found at the following link.  

Art Muirhead
MT 70-73

3 Oct 07

Ken "Paulo" Raeder (MT 68-72)  Training Group WI July 68

Dear Friends,

This is Jackie Raeder-Hydock, Ken's daughter. I wanted to inform all of you who kept in touch with my father over the years that he passed away last night. It is a very difficult time for my family and I as he will be missed. We have arranged his funeral and we hope that you can spread the word and attend. As I went through his email address book he had made many comments about who was good to him and who he felt was a good friend and how you connected with him. It meant so much to me to read what he had written about each and every one of you.

We are holding a wake on Sunday, October 7th at the Fairfax Memorial Funeral Home from 5-9 PM. A Catholic mass will be held at the Church of the Nativity in Burke, Virginia at 10:00 AM Monday, October 8th with a burial to follow at 11:30 AM at the Fairfax Memorial Park.

Please feel free to write back to this email address if you would like additional details. I will be checking his email often.

God Bless,
Jackie

KPRAEDER (at) aol.com

15 Dec 06

Jack Tuttlebee (PB 64-66)  Training Group WI Sept 64
 

Very sorry to announce that my husband, Jack, passed away in Brooklyn on Dec. 20, 2006. We had just moved there in August from Venezuela and previously from St. Petersburg, FL.  Jack always reminisced about his stay in Brazil and still spoke fluent Portuguese, always like a native Brazilian, as he would proudly say. I only had 6 short years with him. He was my soul mate and I miss him terribly.

Gilda Tuttlebee

10 July 05

John Milton Taber  

Sadly I report the death of John Milton Taber on July 10, 2005. John served as a PCV in the State of Goiás. He died in Curitiba PR and is survived by his wife Josil of Curitiba and Jon of Des Moines. The family can be contacted in the US at 515-280-1615

Tom Pollard
MT 72-75

7 Jan 05

Steve Grossman passed away 7 Jan, 2005.

Remembering Steve

As many of you know, Steve Grossman, who was a regular contributor to this list, passed away on January 7. Some of you knew Steve in person and know that he was a unique human being. And though there are many who knew him better than I did, he was my friend for 40 years. It would seem fitting at this moment to share a few memories of Steve.

Steve and I, along with some others on this list as well as those I’ve copied, first met for Peace Corps training at Sandanona (Experiment in International Living) in Brattleboro, Vermont in the fall of 1964. This was Brazil XVI.

Although people do seem to change through time, I don’t recall Steve changing very much since those enthusiastic days of 40-plus years ago. His friendly nature, kindness, interest in politics, sports and literature, Brooklynite pride, and fondness for imbibing with friends lasted a lifetime.

By some stroke of luck, today back here in Brazil, I came across a Brazil XVI ten-year reunion bio write-up. It includes the mini-bios from 1964 and updates from everyone in 1974. Here are some revealing excerpts. 

From 1964: “23 [age] – 1938 68th Street, Brooklyn, New York. He was born in Stamford, Connecticut on November 17, 1940, and graduated from New Utrecht High School in 1960. [Aside: Steve always insisted that he was younger than me and I always denied it. But indeed he was by nine months.] With a major in geology and a minor in education, he received his B.A. from Brooklyn College in 1964. 

From 1974: [As a PCV Steve taught geology at the university in Curitiba.] “After leaving first Curitiba and later Rio in December of ’66 I returned to the Ghetto from whence I came. There I stayed for six months doing essentially nothing but eating corned beef sandwiches, and explaining saudades to people who didn’t know what the hell I was saying.

That summer (’67) I went off to graduate school at Bull [sic] State University in Muncie, Indiana where I took an M.A. in geography and received a post graduate fellowship in intensive beer drinking as an urban CA activity. I received good grades in all of these study areas.”

[Covering 1968 to 1973, Steve goes on to describe a variety of geographer and cartographer jobs, a brief return to Brazil, a marriage that was to last about four years, and three months spent in Europe.] “In February ’73, my checks were running out, so I managed to arrange a temporary job with Peace Corps. [I believe I assisted with this in my role as Chief of the PC generalist placement desk at the time.] My intention was to return to graduate school in the fall---I had just been accepted---but I was reinvigorated with the Peace Corps spirit just being around Peace Corps Washington. By July, I was offered a position as Desk Officer for Guatemala, El Salvador, and Costa Rica. This job was not boring. ………….”

“The most amazing thing about the last eight years for me is living [in 1974] with Olsen [John], Joslin [Jan], and Mastrangelo [Vito]. You’d think three months at Sandanona would be enough. Paz y libertade.” [Without a doubt the bantering that would go on between Steve and these three friends is something I will always fondly remember.]

Steve loved those years as Peace Corps staff, some parts of which were in-country. I overlapped with him for about a year and I believe we spent a fair amount of time after work at the Farragut Lounge and Chez Francois near the Peace Corps building at 808 Connecticut Avenue. Ah-h-h-h, those were the days!

For the next ten years I saw Steve off and on at parties and for dinner at a Cuban restaurant called Omega and later at a Brazilian restaurant called at the time, I believe, Dona Flor. My wife Henriqueta and I moved back to Brazil in 1981, and upon my return, semi-destitute, in 1984, Steve---who had bought a house in Alexandria, Virginia---offered a room to me. I believe I was there for about one year (!) and Steve never asked me to pay him one cent. And from that year I not only remember Steve’s generosity, but also just how pleasant it was to be around him. He had a wonderful sense of humor. Once we were making black beans, and I can still hear him saying in mock horror, making fun of the American reaction to some things Brazilian, “Oh, they’re So BLACK!!!” 

Steve later spent some years working as a cartographer for Department of Defense (for which his friends gave him a hard time), but I believe he returned to Peace Corps again at the end of his career. He retired at age 50 and later bought a home near Bethany Beach, Delaware. I did not see Steve as often after that, but I did spend a weekend with him at his place in the summer of 2003. He was still the same old Steve, and he seemed very content living there and with, as usual, many new friends. Of course he still had his rituals, one of which was a nap at about 5 p.m. which then allowed him to go full strength into the night whereas many 60+ people such as myself conk out at about 9:00 or 10:00 p.m.---on our good days. 

It was during these past few years that he became more active on the Internet. He also tried to go back to New York whenever he could, especially during the Brazilian Independence-Day celebration and at the always-open invitation of Joan Boyle (who also trained with us at Sandanona). From some of his messages to this expcv Brazil list, many of you may have picked up on just how badly Steve wanted to go back to Brazil and especially visit Salvador where he had spent some time in 1968. He always hesitated, probably fearful in part because of all the reports of crime.

But Steve deeply loved Brazil and his memories of Brazil. And so last month he went. He had wanted to meet up with me in Ipanema during the first couple days of January but I could not make it. I don’t even know if in fact he ever made it to Rio; he may have gotten ill before he could get there. But the friend of his in Delaware who notified us of his passing wrote: “Just know that he got to visit his beloved Brazil one last time and was so very proud that he could still speak Portuguese so well.”

Maybe Steve should not have returned to Brazil as he was not in the best of health. And yet, and yet, he wanted so much to return again. Life is finite after all, and for me it would have been worse if he had died without fulfilling his dream of going back once more.

From the messages I have seen since Steve’s passing, including reports from Joan Boyle who attended the Jewish burial service on January 9 in Dover, Delaware, three things stand out. One, that Steve had SO many friends, both new and old (including many cyber-friends I’m told). If friends are riches, Steve was one of the richest persons I have ever known. Two, that everyone knew him as being a good, gentle, and sweet man. And lastly, that a piece of the lives of us who were Steve’s friends is gone forever. If we cry, we cry for ourselves. 

Keith Hewitt
ES - 1964-67

Oct 04

To all members of the Peace Corps Brazil family

I am writing to let you know that Dr. Quino E. Martinez passed away on Sept. 30, 2002. Dr. Martinez served in Recife from 1962 -1964 as Peace Corps representative for north east Brazil. During his tenure in Recife, Dr Martinez met with governors and officials from the Northeastern states in order to set up programs. Among people that Dr. Martinez had contact with during those times in official as well informal capacity were people such as Dom Helder Camara, Miguel Arraes, Francisco Juliao and others.

He was a man who never lost the idealism that motivated his association with the Peace Corps.

Abraços tristes,

Louis Martinez

Luchoam (at) aol.com

Jan 03

Charles L. Wright Economist

Charles L. Wright, 57, a senior economist and transportation specialist at the Inter-American Development Bank who directed projects to streamline transportation services in Latin American cities, died of cancer Jan. 9 at Georgetown University Hospital.

Dr. Wright worked for the bank for the past 10 years and wrote or edited many of the bank's series of books and technical papers on urban transportation and traffic safety. Among his books is "Fast Wheels, Slow Traffic: Urban Transport Choices."

Earlier, he was a senior economist of the Brazilian Transportation Planning Agency and an associate professor of economics at the University of Brasilia, Brazil.

He came to Washington in 1992 to serve as a consultant to the National Ports and Waterways Institute in Washington.

Dr. Wright, a Rockville resident, was a native of Marcellus, Mich., and a history graduate of the University of Michigan. He received a master's degree in economics from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and a doctorate in economics from Ohio State University.

In 1990, he was an economics fellow at the University of Michigan.

He was a member of St. Raphael's Catholic Church in Potomac.

Survivors include his wife of 31 years, Maria da Gloria M. Wright of Potomac; four children, Denison M. and Alan M., both of Rockville, and Marcelo M. and Elisson M., both of New York; his mother, Genevieve Elizabeth Wright of Marcellus; two brothers; and a sister.