Fifty years ago on March 1, 1961, President John F. Kennedy signed an executive order which established the Peace Corps. Three days later, he appointed Sargent Shriver, his brother-in-law, to be the organization’s first director. Shriver was charged with getting this new program going right away by finding countries willing to host American volunteers and finding qualified men and women to serve.
Five months later, the first group to leave America included 29 men and 21 women who arrived in Ghana on Aug. 30, 1961. Almost all were assigned to secondary schools. Tanganyika was the next country. Nigeria and several others followed.
My college roommate, Parker Borg, went to the Philippines. Before he left, he encouraged me to apply. Many years later he became the US ambassador to Iceland and Mali.
Starting with Ghana, more than 200,000 people have now served in some 139 countries all around the globe. The mission for this independent government agency “to promote world peace and friendship” has essentially remained the same with three simple goals:
1. Help the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women.
2. Help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.
3. Help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.
This mission was very attractive to many Americans, especially those soon to graduate from college. I applied in November 1961. Just before Easter in 1962, I was invited for training at Georgetown University to go to Ethiopia in the northeast highlands of Africa.
We trained for eight challenging weeks trying to learn the language of Amharic, Ethiopia’s history and what we could about her ancient and rich culture, and getting into the best physical shape possible.
Just before my 22nd birthday, some 500 of us flew to Addis Ababa, the capital, to be assigned to secondary schools throughout the empire. My group of 10 drove 12 hours to the city of Jimma in Kaffa Province, the birthplace of coffee, some say. There I taught music (in college I had been a music major), French and English, the language of instruction, from seventh grade on.
By November, we felt pretty well established. Three of us drove back to Addis Ababa for a weekend. My purpose was to find a piano I heard I could rent to help me with my teaching. I found it and started to make arrangements.
That same weekend, Sargent Shriver had arrived. It was his practice to visit as many countries as he could to see how the volunteers were doing and to help identify new host countries. We met at a gathering at Harris Wofford’s house. Harris had previously worked with Shriver in helping to formulate the Peace Corps. Now he was Ethiopia’s first director. He would later become a United States senator from Pennsylvania.
Several of us told Shriver about our work in our various communities and schools. Dick Howrigan and I talked about Jimma. Dick, a former volunteer fireman from Vermont and, after the Peace Corps, a member of the Vermont House, told about Jimma’s need for a fire truck. When Shriver got back to the States, he indicated that a fire truck was something he wanted for Christmas. Seagraves, a fire truck manufacturer, sent one to Ethiopia!
I told him about my efforts to rent a piano in Addis by giving up smoking so I could pay the monthly rental of $30. Shriver instructed the Peace Corps instead to buy that piano for me, which was then shipped down to Jimma.
That gift changed the course of my life. In addition to teaching music to grades 7-12, I also wrote the music for two original Amharic high school musicals — “Androcoles ina Ambesaw” and “Robin Hood.” They were produced in Jimma, performed there and in Addis Ababa at the University’s newly formed Creative Arts Center. Those shows affected the lives of many of our students.
My lyricist later became a fighter pilot for the Ethiopian Air Force. One actor became a flight attendant for the country’s airlines. Another, Haile Gerima, graduated from UCLA Film School, directed several films and recently won the highest award for best film made in Africa in 2008 — called “Teza.”
Because of those shows, Marianne Fearn, their director, and I were invited to re-enlist for a second term to work at the Creative Arts Center. The piano went with me and was a great help in the writing of music for Orchestra Ethiopia for which I was director and a production of “Medea” which starred Marianne. That orchestra later toured parts of America and even performed on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” A CD from France produced in 2008 features its music.
In the years since, I have written other music for children’s theater, piano, chorus and some other projects. I also established a career in arts administration inspired by my work in Addis Ababa. In New Hampshire, I was the youngest director of a state arts council in the nation. I then moved from there to Omaha, Neb., to manage a united arts program. My career ended in Wyoming, where I managed that state’s arts council.
After that initial meeting at the Wofford’s home in Addis Ababa, I saw Shriver a couple of times more. Once it was in New Hampshire when he was hoping to be nominated by his party for president. The other time was at the Peace Corps’ 20th reunion. There I could thank him for all he had done for so many people. For me personally, that piano and Peace Corps experience helped make possible my future and the impact some of my efforts have had with others.
Robert Sargent Shriver died this past January. He was 95 and suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. His wife, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, died in 2009. They had five children, including Maria Shriver, who is married to actor and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. As director, Sargent Shriver made the Peace Corps succeed and held that position until 1966. He next headed President Johnson’s War on Poverty. He was ambassador to France and also was a vice presidential candidate with George McGovern in 1972. He ran for president in 1976 but failed in the primaries. He was then a member of a law firm and was president and chairman of the board of the Special Olympics, which his wife started.
In 1994, President Bill Clinton awarded Shriver the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award.
“In my lifetime,” Clinton later said, “America has never had a stronger warrior for peace and against poverty than Sargent Shriver.”
John Coe of Winchester was one of the earliest Peace Corps volunteers. A composer and state arts council director for New Hampshire and Wyoming, he is retired.
Five months later, the first group to leave America included 29 men and 21 women who arrived in Ghana on Aug. 30, 1961. Almost all were assigned to secondary schools. Tanganyika was the next country. Nigeria and several others followed.
My college roommate, Parker Borg, went to the Philippines. Before he left, he encouraged me to apply. Many years later he became the US ambassador to Iceland and Mali.
Starting with Ghana, more than 200,000 people have now served in some 139 countries all around the globe. The mission for this independent government agency “to promote world peace and friendship” has essentially remained the same with three simple goals:
1. Help the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women.
2. Help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.
3. Help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.
This mission was very attractive to many Americans, especially those soon to graduate from college. I applied in November 1961. Just before Easter in 1962, I was invited for training at Georgetown University to go to Ethiopia in the northeast highlands of Africa.
We trained for eight challenging weeks trying to learn the language of Amharic, Ethiopia’s history and what we could about her ancient and rich culture, and getting into the best physical shape possible.
Just before my 22nd birthday, some 500 of us flew to Addis Ababa, the capital, to be assigned to secondary schools throughout the empire. My group of 10 drove 12 hours to the city of Jimma in Kaffa Province, the birthplace of coffee, some say. There I taught music (in college I had been a music major), French and English, the language of instruction, from seventh grade on.
By November, we felt pretty well established. Three of us drove back to Addis Ababa for a weekend. My purpose was to find a piano I heard I could rent to help me with my teaching. I found it and started to make arrangements.
That same weekend, Sargent Shriver had arrived. It was his practice to visit as many countries as he could to see how the volunteers were doing and to help identify new host countries. We met at a gathering at Harris Wofford’s house. Harris had previously worked with Shriver in helping to formulate the Peace Corps. Now he was Ethiopia’s first director. He would later become a United States senator from Pennsylvania.
Several of us told Shriver about our work in our various communities and schools. Dick Howrigan and I talked about Jimma. Dick, a former volunteer fireman from Vermont and, after the Peace Corps, a member of the Vermont House, told about Jimma’s need for a fire truck. When Shriver got back to the States, he indicated that a fire truck was something he wanted for Christmas. Seagraves, a fire truck manufacturer, sent one to Ethiopia!
I told him about my efforts to rent a piano in Addis by giving up smoking so I could pay the monthly rental of $30. Shriver instructed the Peace Corps instead to buy that piano for me, which was then shipped down to Jimma.
That gift changed the course of my life. In addition to teaching music to grades 7-12, I also wrote the music for two original Amharic high school musicals — “Androcoles ina Ambesaw” and “Robin Hood.” They were produced in Jimma, performed there and in Addis Ababa at the University’s newly formed Creative Arts Center. Those shows affected the lives of many of our students.
My lyricist later became a fighter pilot for the Ethiopian Air Force. One actor became a flight attendant for the country’s airlines. Another, Haile Gerima, graduated from UCLA Film School, directed several films and recently won the highest award for best film made in Africa in 2008 — called “Teza.”
Because of those shows, Marianne Fearn, their director, and I were invited to re-enlist for a second term to work at the Creative Arts Center. The piano went with me and was a great help in the writing of music for Orchestra Ethiopia for which I was director and a production of “Medea” which starred Marianne. That orchestra later toured parts of America and even performed on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” A CD from France produced in 2008 features its music.
In the years since, I have written other music for children’s theater, piano, chorus and some other projects. I also established a career in arts administration inspired by my work in Addis Ababa. In New Hampshire, I was the youngest director of a state arts council in the nation. I then moved from there to Omaha, Neb., to manage a united arts program. My career ended in Wyoming, where I managed that state’s arts council.
After that initial meeting at the Wofford’s home in Addis Ababa, I saw Shriver a couple of times more. Once it was in New Hampshire when he was hoping to be nominated by his party for president. The other time was at the Peace Corps’ 20th reunion. There I could thank him for all he had done for so many people. For me personally, that piano and Peace Corps experience helped make possible my future and the impact some of my efforts have had with others.
Robert Sargent Shriver died this past January. He was 95 and suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. His wife, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, died in 2009. They had five children, including Maria Shriver, who is married to actor and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. As director, Sargent Shriver made the Peace Corps succeed and held that position until 1966. He next headed President Johnson’s War on Poverty. He was ambassador to France and also was a vice presidential candidate with George McGovern in 1972. He ran for president in 1976 but failed in the primaries. He was then a member of a law firm and was president and chairman of the board of the Special Olympics, which his wife started.
In 1994, President Bill Clinton awarded Shriver the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award.
“In my lifetime,” Clinton later said, “America has never had a stronger warrior for peace and against poverty than Sargent Shriver.”
John Coe of Winchester was one of the earliest Peace Corps volunteers. A composer and state arts council director for New Hampshire and Wyoming, he is retired.
