She said her "body returned" to Texas in August but her thoughts linger on the daily rituals of the rural country and its inhabitants. She's wrapped herself in the transitional guilt that often occurs when returning to First World affluence. Overstocked shelves of laundry detergent still make her grimace. These reactions come from a former market research consultant and three-time cancer survivor who once thought: "How am I ever going to learn a language at 59, live through winters with no heat and no water? Well, it became my life very quickly."
Eileen Marin, 61, returned to Texas in August after serving two years in Armenia
Baby boomers give Peace Corps a chance
12:00 AM CST on Wednesday, December 3, 2008
By JESSICA MEYERS / The Dallas Morning News
jmeyers@dallasnews.com
Caption: Eileen Marin, 61, returned to Texas in August after serving two years in Armenia. 'It was part of a journey that started years before,' said Ms. Marin, who sold her home in Richardson when she joined the Peace Corps and now lives in Frisco. Photo: Juan Garcia?DMN
Eileen Marin didn't think "change" when she listened to President-elect Barack Obama's recent endorsement of the Peace Corps.
She'd heard it almost a half-century ago, when President John F. Kennedy used similar words to inspire baby boomers like Ms. Marin, some of whom are just now acting on them.
Peace Corps applications have increased as economic uncertainty looms, a nascent administration takes shape, and a generation of retirees turns to overseas service in their twilight years.
But it's not zealous college students as much as their parents who are helping to fuel the increase. Applications among those born in the aftermath of World War II have spiked across the country and doubled in Texas in the past year as some choose to fulfill a volunteerism mission statement they heard throughout their childhood.
"It was part of a journey that started years before," said Ms. Marin, a 61-year-old who sold her Richardson home when she joined the Peace Corps and moved to Armenia a little more than two years ago.
She said her "body returned" to Texas in August but her thoughts linger on the daily rituals of the rural country and its inhabitants. She's wrapped herself in the transitional guilt that often occurs when returning to First World affluence. Overstocked shelves of laundry detergent still make her grimace.
These reactions come from a former market research consultant and three-time cancer survivor who once thought: "How am I ever going to learn a language at 59, live through winters with no heat and no water? Well, it became my life very quickly."
It's fast becoming the decision of other baby boomers, who now make up 5 percent of the Peace Corps' 7,876 volunteers and 9.2 percent of applicants, the highest percentage in the agency's 47-year history. In Texas the number of 50-and-older applicants has doubled in the past year. Dallas-area baby boomer applicants have also doubled and now make up 11 percent of the regional total.
"A lot of seniors say they've had great jobs, a good life, but they don't just want to retire and sit around," said Linda Tucker, a local recruiter who served in Africa with the Peace Corps while in her 50s.
"I'm a Kennedy kid, so it was always in the back of my mind to do Peace Corps," said the 61-year-old Dallas resident. She'd pocketed the idea of traveling across the African continent or volunteering with the Peace Corps until after her two boys grew up. Then National Geographic, a growing restlessness and an echoing call to duty motivated the HIV/AIDS counselor to apply.
Older volunteers
Ms. Tucker assumed an age-limit existed until she discovered that basic life-training and an established skill set are actually what the Peace Corps craves.
"A lot of them have been in the workforce for 30 years," she said. "They are very flexible and bring a lot of experience."
These kinds of volunteers may even end up monopolizing fewer spots, said Shannon Borders, the Dallas Regional Office's spokeswoman. With an $18 million shortfall over this year and next, the agency is cutting 400 positions nationwide. The Bush administration has requested $343.5 million for next year, just 4 percent more than the 2008 congressionally approved budget of $330 million.
This hasn't stopped the applications, which have increased 16 percent this year, the largest boost in five years. Converse-clad students and gray-haired women packed a South Dallas classroom at a recent information session. One commercial real estate agent had just been laid off. Another attendee was about to graduate from college with a fashion merchandising degree and few job opportunities.
Off to Romania
Something beyond economics motivated 66-year-old J. Tom Ashley III to accept an assignment in Romania starting in May. The semiretired McAllen, Texas, architect said he's "getting a bit bored" and "ready to roll up my sleeves and get back into working mode."
But he's elected to do this by teaching environmental education in Eastern Europe.
"It's always been an uphill battle with people saying what is cheapest, what is fastest," he said, admitting a wave of pre-move flutters. "But I'm just ready to kind of go and see a different sunrise."
