Community News
-
National Peace Corps Association > News > Community News > In Memoriam – August 2012
In Memoriam – August 2012
By Jonathan Pearson on Tuesday, September 4th, 2012
Health care and business were among the areas of interest of several members of the Peace Corps community who we lost in August.
From 1962 to 1964, Edward Cross of Charlotte, North Carolina (1921-2012) served under Sargent Shriver as the Medical Director in the early days of the Ethiopia program. Following his service to the Peace Corps, Dr. Cross went on to a distinguished career in public health, including his appointment in 1969 as the first African American to be promoted to Assistant Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service. His honors included the Distinguished Alumni Award of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and the Distinguished Service Award from the Howard University College of Medicine.
Similarly, Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Millard Penney of Fort Collins, Colorado (1925-2012) devoted 28 years of service to the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Millard was instrumental in improving the national health care delivery system by creating special projects in burn medicine and problem oriented medical records; while at the National Institute of Mental Health he helped create rehabilitation programs for national comprehensive community mental health centers. It was after this service that Millard and his wife Bernice joined the Peace Corps, serving as volunteers in the Solomon Islands. A commitment to service continued following Peace Corps, including volunteering with the National Park Service in the Florida Everglades for five winter seasons.
A passion for medicine and health care also marked the career path of Kenya RPCV Alvin Malkinson of Boulder, Colorado (1941-2012). After serving in Kenya with his wife, Lynn Reynolds, Al eventually joined the faculty of the University of Colorado School of Pharmacy. Al engaged in 38 years of lung cancer research, and was awarded the Shell prize for outstanding research and teaching in 2004.
Joe Kelly, also of Boulder, Colorado (1944-2012) was described as a “business doctor”, applying his Harvard MBA to work with struggling enterprises or chaotic start-up companies to bring order and sustainability to their operations. In 2002, Joe and his wife Betty joined the Peace Corps serving in the Ukraine. For Joe, the decision was inspired in part by his uncle, E. Lowell Kelly, a founding member of the Peace Corps.
Accounting was the vocation of Mary Wheat Hahn of Shalimar, Florida (1947-2012). After many years of working as a Certified Public Accountant in the Boston area, Mary applied her skills overseas in 1993 as a Small Business Peace Corps Volunteer in Hungary. This led to work as an international consultant. After moving to Florida, Mary continued to serve her community, as a Deacon and elder in the First Presbyterian Church in Fort Walton Beach, a Board member of the League of Women Voters and as a member of the American Institute of CPAs.
Follow this link for the National Peace Corps Association’s In Memoriam page.
