GROUP III RPCVS Celebrate Peace Corps Origins
in Ann Arbor, Michigan

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In June 2008, sixteen members of Peace Corps/Philippines Group III reunited in Ann Arbor, MI to honor the origin of the Peace Corps.

The group paid their respects to the late John F. Kennedy by gathering on the steps of the Michigan Union (see photo) where JFK first proposed a Peace Corps during a Presidential campaign stop in Ann Arbor less than a month before the 1960 election. Nearly 10,000 students gathered at 2:00 AM on October 14th 1960 to hear Kennedy challenge them on “your willingness to … not merely to serve one year or two years in the service, but on your willingness to [live and work abroad] and contribute part of your life to this country. The event is commemorated by a permanent plaque mounted at the entrance to the Union and an imbedded disk on the steps marking the exact place where JFK stood that night.  

Participating in the Ann Arbor reunion: Kathy Hannan Rohan, Steve Wells, Wayne Guise, Herbert “Chip” Salmon, John Durand, Bob Zimmerman, Ann Irving (nee Ann Wilson), Charles Terry, Alexandra York (nee Barbara Simpson), Bill Pearre, Phil Ginsburg, Ruth Kesselring Royal, Fred Knoth, Tom Wilson, Bethel Oestman, Dana Rogers.

Philippines Group III Volunteers began their service 47 years ago in 1961, the first year of Kennedy’s administration before the Peace Corps Act had been passed.  They worked as co-teachers in TESL and science education in elementary schools in the region of the Philippines known as the Eastern Visayas.

Group III members were trained at Peace Corps Outward Bound Training Camp in Arecibo, Puerto Rico; Penn State University; and the University of the Philippines in Quezon City, Philippines.

At their Ann Arbor in reunion in June they shared stories, slides and memories of their Peace Corps assignments, recalled personalities of group members and special friends who have since passed away, and listened to experiences of a recently returned PCV from the Ann Arbor area assigned to the Philippines.

The group conducted their first reunion in Santa Cruz, CA in 2002 commemorating 40 years since serving as Volunteers in the Philippine islands of Leyte and Samar.