Peace Corps / Nepal 22
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Peace Corps / Nepal 22 A Retrospective on the Post-Peace Corps Careers of Trainees, Trainers, Staff & RPCVs Peace Corps / Nepal 22 1970 - 2010 A Retrospective on the Post-Peace Corps Careers of Trainees, Trainers, Staff & RPCVs John P. Hughes, Editor Washington, DC March 2010 Dedicated to the Memory of Mike Furst (1927-2005) Peace Corps Country Director - Nepal 1970-72 Cover Photo: Tommy Randall and Jim Walsh resting at a pass south of Okhaldhunga in March 1972. 2 Contents Preface ................................................................................................................ 5 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 7 Map of Nepal ....................................................................................................... 11 Nepal 22 Training Program ..................................................................................... 12 Rice Fields of the Nepal Terai ................................................................................... 27 Wheat Project in the Nepal Terai .............................................................................. 28 The Nixon Peace Corps .......................................................................................... 29 The Peace Corps & the Draft .................................................................................... 31 HMG & the Panchayat System .................................................................................. 33 Peace Corps Nepal Staff Roster, January 1971 .............................................................. 37 Nepal 22 Trainees, PCVs, Trainers & Staff: Their Stories ................................................. 38 Jack Berghoef ...................................................................................................... 38 Jim Brunetti (“Bruno”) ........................................................................................... 41 Bill Byrne ........................................................................................................... 43 Joe Chandler ....................................................................................................... 45 Bob Davidson (“Bird”) ............................................................................................ 46 Lon Davis ........................................................................................................... 50 Steve Eckerd ....................................................................................................... 52 Buzz Edwards ...................................................................................................... 54 Rand Engel ......................................................................................................... 59 Mike & Shirley Furst .............................................................................................. 63 Marge Ginsburg ................................................................................................... 68 Alex Glassman ..................................................................................................... 70 Bruce Halla ......................................................................................................... 71 Jon Hoag ............................................................................................................ 73 Dave Houtrouw ................................................................................................... 74 John Hughes ........................................................................................................ 76 Kamala Joshee ...................................................................................................... 81 Hal Kaufman ....................................................................................................... 83 Hank Lacy .......................................................................................................... 86 Perry Letson (“Chip”) ............................................................................................ 90 Dave Loyd (“Gitch”) .............................................................................................. 92 Jeff & Sue Malick .................................................................................................. 95 Jim & Jane Martin ................................................................................................. 97 3 John McLeod ......................................................................................................101 Rod McLeod ......................................................................................................103 Buck Million ......................................................................................................104 Bruce Morgan .....................................................................................................105 Roger Newton ....................................................................................................108 Allen Ng ...........................................................................................................111 Bob Nichols .......................................................................................................114 Doug Pachico .....................................................................................................118 Tim Platt ...........................................................................................................121 Steve Randall ......................................................................................................122 Tom Randall ......................................................................................................127 Mark Rasmuson ..................................................................................................134 John Scholz ........................................................................................................137 John Seeley ........................................................................................................139 Chuck Shields .....................................................................................................141 Chij Shrestha ......................................................................................................142 Barry Shulman ....................................................................................................144 George Spanos ....................................................................................................152 Bob Tomory .......................................................................................................155 Buck Trawicky ....................................................................................................160 John Vail ...........................................................................................................164 Randall Walker ...................................................................................................168 Jim Walsh .........................................................................................................172 Brad Whitney .....................................................................................................179 Jerry Withrow ....................................................................................................182 Tim Wyant ........................................................................................................186 Chip Zimmer .....................................................................................................190 Nepal 22 Postings ................................................................................................194 Excerpts from Health Guide for Nepal - Fecal-Oral Diseases ...............................................202 Photo Gallery .....................................................................................................211 4 Preface This effort began in 2002 after I attended the 40th Anniversary celebration of the Peace Corps in Washington, DC. The September 11th terrorist attacks had forced the rescheduling of the celebration from September 2001 to June 2002. Fifty or so former PCVs who served in Nepal attended the renamed “40+1” ceremony and luncheon hosted by the Royal Nepal Embassy at a local Nepali restaurant. I was the only Nepal 22 RPCV who attended but Country Director Mike Furst (1970-72) and his wife, Shirley, were there. It was indeed a pleasure to visit with them after over 35 years and this was the highlight of the celebration for me. Afterwards I asked myself, what happened to all the members of Nepal 22 group? I had been in touch with a few of the gang on an off and on basis, but only a small few. All of the Nepal 22 trainees who showed up at Cactus Corners outside Davis, California, on that warm June day in 1970 are male baby-boomers, probably at the peak of their respective careers. All are also close to retirement. I resolved to use the Internet and Google to search for them. At the time, I traveled a lot for business and had many hours of spare time in hotel rooms with my laptop to devote to the search. I quickly found an abundance of career-related information and photographs that enabled me to draft brief biographical sketches of many of the Nepal 22 trainees and RPCVs. The 25 sketches or so I initially prepared chronicled their careers since leaving the Peace Corps usually based on materials posted at their employers’