2006.09.15: September 15, 2006: Headlines: COS - Ukraine: Obituaries: Architecture: The Times: John Zvosec, a Princeton architect who abandoned life in the United States at 70 to work in the Peace Corps in the Ukraine, died late last month doing what he liked best: Helping others
Peace Corps Online:
Directory:
Ukraine:
Peace Corps Ukraine :
The Peace Corps in the Ukraine:
2006.09.15: September 15, 2006: Headlines: COS - Ukraine: Obituaries: Architecture: The Times: John Zvosec, a Princeton architect who abandoned life in the United States at 70 to work in the Peace Corps in the Ukraine, died late last month doing what he liked best: Helping others
John Zvosec, a Princeton architect who abandoned life in the United States at 70 to work in the Peace Corps in the Ukraine, died late last month doing what he liked best: Helping others
Zvosec's life as a successful architect took the surprising turn after Barbara, his wife of 39 years, died in 1998. Zvosec, 76, who died Aug. 30 in Ternopil, Ukraine, spent the last six years of his life helping the handicapped, the homeless, those in need of medical care. He was working with the humanitarian group Caritas at the time of his death. "He said he felt he was tired of the greed in America and wanted to go do the right thing," said Mary Gay Abbott-Young, chief executive officer of the Trenton Rescue Mission and a friend of Zvosec's. "It was a pretty daring thing to do," said the Rev. Dana Fearon, a friend who worked with Zvosec on Eggerts Crossing Village, a low-in come housing project in Lawrence Township.
John Zvosec, a Princeton architect who abandoned life in the United States at 70 to work in the Peace Corps in the Ukraine, died late last month doing what he liked best: Helping others
He built a volunteer life using his daring design
Friday, September 15, 2006
BY JEFF TRENTLY
He was alone, which is not the same as lonely.
He left America, the good life, to become a Peace Corps volunteer.
He was 70 years old.
John Zvosec, a Princeton architect who abandoned life in the United States at 70 to work in the Peace Corps in the Ukraine, died late last month doing what he liked best: Helping others.
Zvosec, 76, who died Aug. 30 in Ternopil, Ukraine, spent the last six years of his life helping the handicapped, the homeless, those in need of medical care. He was working with the humanitarian group Caritas at the time of his death.
"He said he felt he was tired of the greed in America and wanted to go do the right thing," said Mary Gay Abbott-Young, chief executive officer of the Trenton Rescue Mission and a friend of Zvosec's.
"It was a pretty daring thing to do," said the Rev. Dana Fearon, a friend who worked with Zvosec on Eggerts Crossing Village, a low-in come housing project in Lawrence Township.
"I was surprised when he did that," Fearon said of the trek to the Ukraine.
Zvosec's life as a successful architect took the surprising turn after Barbara, his wife of 39 years, died in 1998.
"I lost interest," Zvosec wrote to his friends at the time. "I wanted a change."
And change he did.
"He was a man at a point in his life when he could have retired but he went into the Peace Corps instead," Abbott-Young said. "That pretty much sums up his life.
This was a man who wanted to help others."
In an interview in 2002, Zvosec described his life as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ukraine.
"I wash my own clothes in my bathtub," he said. "We have hot water in the summer and heat our water in pots on the stove for sponge baths. We light our stove with old-fashioned stick matches. To save energy because the city is broke, there is no street lighting at night.
"I live in a nice one-room apart ment on the eighth floor and often the elevator does not work. I walk everywhere or take the tram or bus since the Peace Corps does not permit us to drive a car or a motorcycle. I have not driven a car for about three years and don't miss it at all. I walk about three or four miles each day."
In Ternopil, Zvosec redesigned parks and worked on the pollution in Lake Ternopil. He redesigned the city's most popular square, Shevchenko Square, and led a fundraising project for its restoration.
And he built a life, remarrying Alla Khoperiya, a woman he met in Ternopil.
"I love the U.S., but I just feel more comfortable with this pace of life," he said in 2002.
Zvosec always used his architec ture skills to help people in poverty and who were physically chal lenged, Abbott-Young recalled. His final work in the United States was a building renovation project for the Trenton Rescue Mission.
"He didn't have an interest in great buildings, he had an interest in a great building that was meant to serve the people," Abbott-Young said. "He took the time to understand the people you were going to have in the building. He'd spend hours at the Rescue Mission, asking questions about clients, talking to people."
He was, she said simply, "one of the good guys."
Friends are invited to a memorial program 2 p.m. Saturday at the Lawrence Neighborhood Center, 295 Eggerts Crossing Road, Lawrence.
Contact Jeff Trently at jtrent ly@njtimes.com.
When this story was posted in October 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
| Chris Dodd's Vision for the Peace Corps Senator Chris Dodd (RPCV Dominican Republic) spoke at the ceremony for this year's Shriver Award and elaborated on issues he raised at Ron Tschetter's hearings. Dodd plans to introduce legislation that may include: setting aside a portion of Peace Corps' budget as seed money for demonstration projects and third goal activities (after adjusting the annual budget upward to accommodate the added expense), more volunteer input into Peace Corps operations, removing medical, healthcare and tax impediments that discourage older volunteers, providing more transparency in the medical screening and appeals process, a more comprehensive health safety net for recently-returned volunteers, and authorizing volunteers to accept, under certain circumstances, private donations to support their development projects. He plans to circulate draft legislation for review to members of the Peace Corps community and welcomes RPCV comments. |
| He served with honor One year ago, Staff Sgt. Robert J. Paul (RPCV Kenya) carried on an ongoing dialog on this website on the military and the peace corps and his role as a member of a Civil Affairs Team in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have just received a report that Sargeant Paul has been killed by a car bomb in Kabul. Words cannot express our feeling of loss for this tremendous injury to the entire RPCV community. Most of us didn't know him personally but we knew him from his words. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends. He was one of ours and he served with honor. |
| Chris Shays Shifts to Favor an Iraq Timetable In a policy shift, RPCV Congressman Chris Shays, long a staunch advocate of the Bush administration's position in Iraq, is now proposing a timetable for a withdrawal of American troops. How Mr. Shays came to this change of heart is, he says, a matter of a newfound substantive belief that Iraqis need to be prodded into taking greater control of their own destiny under the country’s newly formed government. As Chairman of the House Government Reform subcommittee on national security, he plans to draft a timetable for a phased withdrawal and then push for its adoption. A conscientious objector during the Vietnam War who said that if drafted he would not serve, Chris Shays has made 14 trips to Iraq and was the first Congressman to enter the country after the war - against the wishes of the Department of Defense. |
| Peace Corps' Screening and Medical Clearance The purpose of Peace Corps' screening and medical clearance process is to ensure safe accommodation for applicants and minimize undue risk exposure for volunteers to allow PCVS to complete their service without compromising their entry health status. To further these goals, PCOL has obtained a copy of the Peace Corps Screening Guidelines Manual through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and has posted it in the "Peace Corps Library." Applicants and Medical Professionals (especially those who have already served as volunteers) are urged to review the guidelines and leave their comments and suggestions. Then read the story of one RPCV's journey through medical screening and his suggestions for changes to the process. |
| The Peace Corps is "fashionable" again The LA Times says that "the Peace Corps is booming again and "It's hard to know exactly what's behind the resurgence." PCOL Comment: Since the founding of the Peace Corps 45 years ago, Americans have answered Kennedy's call: "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man." Over 182,000 have served. Another 200,000 have applied and been unable to serve because of lack of Congressional funding. The Peace Corps has never gone out of fashion. It's Congress that hasn't been keeping pace. |
| PCOL readership increases 100% Monthly readership on "Peace Corps Online" has increased in the past twelve months to 350,000 visitors - over eleven thousand every day - a 100% increase since this time last year. Thanks again, RPCVs and Friends of the Peace Corps, for making PCOL your source of information for the Peace Corps community. And thanks for supporting the Peace Corps Library and History of the Peace Corps. Stay tuned, the best is yet to come. |
| History of the Peace Corps PCOL is proud to announce that Phase One of the "History of the Peace Corps" is now available online. This installment includes over 5,000 pages of primary source documents from the archives of the Peace Corps including every issue of "Peace Corps News," "Peace Corps Times," "Peace Corps Volunteer," "Action Update," and every annual report of the Peace Corps to Congress since 1961. "Ask Not" is an ongoing project. Read how you can help. |
Read the stories and leave your comments.
Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.
Story Source: The Times
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Ukraine; Obituaries; Architecture
PCOL34465
81