Beverly Redgate, 66,was in the Peace Corps in Poland from 1996 through 1998 training teachers to teach English
Travel goals kept woman going during cancer battle
By Brian Feldman
Special Correspondent
Posted April 12 2004
Beverly Redgate, 66, started traveling young. At age 3, she took off on a brief sojourn a few blocks from home, and she has never looked back.
The Pompano Beach resident has enjoyed a lifetime of travel, teaching and painting. Recently, after overcoming a serious bout with cancer, she put together a short list of places to explore.
Last year, just barely recovered from a two-year battle with neck and head cancer that saw the removal of 70 percent of her tongue and some muscles in her neck, she knocked Antarctica off her list.
"I was so sick and tired of laying on the bloody couch; after I was done with the radiation, I got online and got a ticket to get going again," she said. "Travel is an escape. It is growth, an excitement, light bulbs going on. It's the thrill of turning a corner and seeing something new."
Redgate has been on every continent and in 100 countries. Now she is starting to pack for a backpacking trip through Namibia. She'll go there after spending some time in Cape Town, South Africa.
She says she only has travels to Mongolia, Patagonia at the southern end of South America, the Amazon and Papua, New Guinea, left. But then she rattles off other remote corners of the world that she longs to add to her travel scope.
She started traveling in earnest when her first husband was posted to Germany in the Army. During their 10-year stint there, she was able to see a great deal of the continent.
"I had my four kids in five years. I learned French, taught English and did a lot of traveling," said Redgate, who is divorced.
She has also lived, worked and traveled in Africa and was in the Peace Corps in Poland from 1996 through 1998 training teachers to teach English.
"I love change," she said. "That's what is so appealing about teaching. For me, teaching is growth."
Redgate doesn't visit a country just for the sake of saying she was there. Her trips last at least a month so she can drink in the language, learn customs and interact with the natives.
"For me, a week is not manageable in terms of traveling all that way and then doing a country justice. A week and you're barely getting over your jet lag. And there are some places that are so interesting, you want to go back to them."
Redgate has used her experiences traveling to create folk art that festoons the walls of her home.
"I like being Beverly's friend because she is a life learner," said Colette Saucier, 43. "In the past three years, she has developed quite a skill in making pottery. It took her a little while to become skilled at it, but once she learned, she has become highly creative in what she has been doing."
Saucier said Redgate dealt with the possibility of death, and rather than succumbing, she overcame it. "Beverly told herself she wasn't going to let herself be despondent or depressed," Saucier said. "When she mastered the pottery herself, she discovered that she would like to help other cancer survivors to deal with their stress and emotions by working at the potter's wheel."
As part of her travels, Redgate has added San Miguel de Allende in central Mexico to her itinerary to take classes with the potters there.
"I want to continue to discover and to see the world, but I realize the time is short. My goal is to live each day to the fullest degree possible," she said.
Do you have a recent story of hope? Have you overcome adversity in raising a family, been involved in a rescue or beaten the odds medically? Contact Steve Plunkett at splunkett@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4775.
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