Gail Graor, 65, of Royal Oak is a woman of her word. Forty-four years ago, she said she would join the Peace Corps. Inspired by the speech then-Sen. John F. Kennedy gave at the University of Michigan Union on Oct. 14, 1960, challenging students to give two years of their lives to help people in developing countries, Graor said she knew she would volunteer. It was just a matter of when. "I had to decide when I graduated, do I want to enter it now or do I want to wait." She chose to wait and taught Spanish for four decades, three years in Detroit and 37 years at Birmingham Groves High School. Two and a half years ago, keeping the promise she made as an undergraduate college student, she left for Macedonia to teach English to secondary school students. She returned to the United States Dec. 30.
Gail Graor keeps promise to join Peace Corps after 44 years and serves in Macedonia
Volunteer keeps Peace Corps promise after 44 years
By Karen Smith
COMMUNITY EDITOR
Gail Graor, 65, of Royal Oak is a woman of her word.
Forty-four years ago, she said she would join the Peace Corps.
Inspired by the speech then-Sen. John F. Kennedy gave at the University of Michigan Union on Oct. 14, 1960, challenging students to give two years of their lives to help people in developing countries, Graor said she knew she would volunteer. It was just a matter of when. "I had to decide when I graduated, do I want to enter it now or do I want to wait."
She chose to wait and taught Spanish for four decades, three years in Detroit and 37 years at Birmingham Groves High School.
Two and a half years ago, keeping the promise she made as an undergraduate college student, she left for Macedonia to teach English to secondary school students. She returned to the United States Dec. 30.
WORKING FOR NOTHING
"Even the people there didn't understand why I would leave retirement and work for nothing," she said.
Already Graor wants to go back, having fallen in love an ethnic Turkish community in Strumica in southeastern Macedonia.
"It's an incredible experience. There wasn't one second of regret the whole time I was there," she said, even though she sometimes went without water or heat. "To walk among the sheep and cows, and see carts going by, I loved it."
In 2009, Graor, who never married, will return as a private citizen with another Peace Corps volunteer after starting a foundation to provide the Turkish children with shoes, books and school supplies so they may attend school and their community with clean water, a community center and health clinic.
ANOTHER PROMISE
But before she does, she is making good on another promise she made: to return to her volunteer work at St. Mary's Residence for Women in Detroit.
Just about every day of the week, Graor visits with the impaired women living there, playing games and dancing with them; washing, cutting and styling their hair, taking them shopping and for walks and on picnics.
She kept in touch with them while in Macedonia, sending pictures, letters and cards and calling them once a month.
"She said she was going to come back," said Andrea, 55, one of several women who looks forward to Graor's visits.
Those who know Graor say she is a volunteer extraordinaire, with unparalleled commitment and vision.
"I haven't even got an adjective that does her justice," said Sister Mary Hyacinthe, the administrator at St. Mary's Residence. Katrina Meredith, 66, of Austin, Texas, the Peace Corps volunteer with whom Graor served in Macedonia and plans to return, said she has only respect and awe for her.
"When she says she's going to do something, she does it ... and she doesn't do it part way."
EIGHT-HOUR BUS RIDES
Graor, who was serving in Debar on the west side of Macedonia, visited Strumica for the first time when Meredith broke her pelvis and needed help moving to a first-floor apartment.
"Only half of them had water drinkable," Graor said of the Turks living there. "Many had tape worm. When it attaches to the brain or heart, it's over.
"The kids couldn't go to school because they had no shoes or money for books."
Graor started using the vacation time she earned teaching in Debar to volunteer in Strumica, riding the bus eight hours each way.
She worked with Meredith on the scholarship project Meredith started, helping to raise money for the 20 neediest children so they could attend school.
Graor said now that she's back, a part of her is still in Macedonia. But when she was in Macedonia, a part of her was still back at St. Mary's Residence. "I wish I could be in two places at once," she said.
But wherever she is, those waiting for her know she'll keep her promise to return.
ksmith@hometownlife.com | (248) 901-2592
