December 28, 2004: Headlines: COS - Philippines: Romance: Best Places Hawaii: Barbara Leedon says Tommy found out that I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Philippines by reading our alumni newspaper
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December 28, 2004: Headlines: COS - Philippines: Romance: Best Places Hawaii: Barbara Leedon says Tommy found out that I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Philippines by reading our alumni newspaper
Barbara Leedon says Tommy found out that I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Philippines by reading our alumni newspaper
Barbara Leedon says Tommy found out that I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Philippines by reading our alumni newspaper
Forty Years Later
Dedicated to Tommy
Submitted by Barbara Leedom
Tommy found out that I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Philippines by reading our alumni newspaper. I'd been featured in an article because hundreds of alumni of our New Jersey high school had sent me thousands of books to distribute to the schools where I was teaching English.
I'd seen Tommy at three class reunions. He'd married the prettiest girl in our class and started a rug cleaning business. We'd been sweethearts for two years in high school. Then he went in the army. He came home and asked me to marry him and I'd said no. He wanted to settle down in the town where he'd lived all his life. I knew he'd done that. I wanted to see the world. I did that.
So there I was on a torrid day in Laoag City, Luzon, Philippines reading my mail. Tommy wrote that his wife had died. He said he'd thought of me every day of his life and wondered if I had any vacation time. "We could meet in Hawaii," he wrote. "I've never been to Hawaii. You probably have. You've been everywhere."
This wasn't exactly true. I'd been a lot of places in my job as an English teaching consultant, mostly to developing countries. I'd never been to Hawaii, although I was planning to go in December. It was the halfway point of my two year stint in the Peace Corps.
I hadn't thought of Tommy every day of my life, but I'd thought of him often. I was glad I didn't marry him. It wouldn't have lasted. I was not the stay-at-home type. But I was now getting ready to settle down somewhere after a life of travel and this amazing cross cultural Peace Corps experience.
I penned a carefully written letter to Tommy. He'd signed his letter "Always, Tom." Of course, he'd be called Tom now. We were both sixty years old. He'd called me Rosie in high school, and he wrote Rosie in his letter. I'd not been called Rosie since high school. I was Rose to everyone who knew me. Somehow, though, I thought it was fine for Tommy to call me Rosie again.
We met in Maui. He was there when I got off the plane, and he rushed to me and hugged me. I felt like a teenager. He looked a little craggy around the eyes, but he was still the sweetheart I knew forty years ago.
When this story was posted in December 2004, this was on the front page of PCOL:
| The World's Broken Promise to our Children Former Director Carol Bellamy, now head of Unicef, says that the appalling conditions endured today by half the world's children speak to a broken promise. Too many governments are doing worse than neglecting children -- they are making deliberate, informed choices that hurt children. Read her op-ed and Unicef's report on the State of the World's Children 2005. |
| Our debt to Bill Moyers Former Peace Corps Deputy Director Bill Moyers leaves PBS next week to begin writing his memoir of Lyndon Baines Johnson. Read what Moyers says about journalism under fire, the value of a free press, and the yearning for democracy. "We have got to nurture the spirit of independent journalism in this country," he warns, "or we'll not save capitalism from its own excesses, and we'll not save democracy from its own inertia." |
| Is Gaddi Leaving? Rumors are swirling that Peace Corps Director Vasquez may be leaving the administration. We think Director Vasquez has been doing a good job and if he decides to stay to the end of the administration, he could possibly have the same sort of impact as a Loret Ruppe Miller. If Vasquez has decided to leave, then Bob Taft, Peter McPherson, Chris Shays, or Jody Olsen would be good candidates to run the agency. Latest: For the record, Peace Corps has no comment on the rumors. |
| The Birth of the Peace Corps UMBC's Shriver Center and the Maryland Returned Volunteers hosted Scott Stossel, biographer of Sargent Shriver, who spoke on the Birth of the Peace Corps. This is the second annual Peace Corps History series - last year's speaker was Peace Corps Director Jack Vaughn. |
| Charges possible in 1976 PCV slaying Congressman Norm Dicks has asked the U.S. attorney in Seattle to consider pursuing charges against Dennis Priven, the man accused of killing Peace Corps Volunteer Deborah Gardner on the South Pacific island of Tonga 28 years ago. Background on this story here and here. |
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Story Source: Best Places Hawaii
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Philippines; Romance
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