Obituary - THE LIFE AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF DAVID S. KITSON - He served as Deputy Peace Corps Director in Costa Rica, 1970-73.
Obituary - THE LIFE AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF DAVID S. KITSON - He served as Deputy Peace Corps Director in Costa Rica, 1970-73.
THE LIFE AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF
DAVID S. KITSON
(By his wife, Beverly S. Kitson)
Born in Massachusetts in 1935, David S. Kitson received his undergraduate university education. He served as a volunteer in the Peace Corps in the Philippines along with his wife, Beverly. Upon return from there he did his masters degree in Latin American Studies at the University of Wisconsin. He served as Deputy Peace Corps Director both in Jamaica, 1967-70, and in Costa Rica, 1970-73.
Upon completion of his time with the Peace Corps, he decided to stay on in Costa Rica where his young children could become bilingual. David and Beverly bought their ocean view property in Nosara, Guanacaste in 1970 and from then on they had a permanent vacation sight. David was the Director of Costa Rica Academy for five years, 1973-78. Retiring from the education scene in 1978, he worked with the Peace Corps Training Center preparing volunteers to serve in Costa Rica.
Then in 1979 the family moved back to the States where David worked for the Agency for International Development. After two years of service with A.I.D. in El Salvador, David and his family returned to Costa Rica in 1983, also with A.I.D. Here he worked in many projects in the general development field: education, appropriate technology, rural development, and cooperatives to mention a few. David gave a lot of help to the Nosara fishing co-op which was trying to get started during the early 1980s. Because of his knowledge of the Touristic potential of the Nosara area and the need for development In this area, he was instrumental in getting many bridges installed to provide the area with an all-year road.
For the family, Nosara became the center of their leisure time activities. Most vacations were spent at the beach cabin and even many long weekends. David was instrumental in getting the Nosara Civic Association, which represents the mainly foreign community of retirement homes, Bocas de Nosara, to donate to the Vida Silvestre Department the first 200 meters of beach front property for a wildlife refuge. He worked with government officials and community people to establish guide lines for the protection and use of this area.
In 1987, Dave was off again, this time to El Salvador, for a seven-year tour of duty. He was instrumental in implementing the Peace Accords which involved American AID projects in El Salvador.
At long last he was ready to retire to his newly constructed home in Nosara in December of 1993. David put all of his considerable energy and intelligence into a number of programs for community development, beach and wildlife protection and cooperation between the local Nosara community and the mainly foreign development project -- Bocas de Nosara. But a long happy retirement was not in the picture. Six months after retiring he was diagnosed with asbestos cancer and nine months later he was dead. His love for Costa Rican and especially for the community of Nosara was great and will, through a Memorial Library in his name in the town of Nosara, transcend the great beyond.
