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National Peace Corps Association > News > Polyglot > Remembering Luis Goncalves
Remembering Luis Goncalves
By Sarah Kana on Monday, October 22nd, 2012
The late Luis Goncalves with his wife, two daughters and son.
Luis Goncalves was a native of Guinea Bissau, but a long time resident of Cape Verde where he had been living with his family since 2000. He passed away on Saturday, July 14, 2012 after a short battle with cancer.
Luis began his career with Peace Corps in 1992 stationed in Guinea-Bissau. He eventually served as a Roving Administrative Officer before landing in Cape Verde as Director of 
Management and Operations in 2000. Luis embodied the ideal persona of a Peace Corps employee by conscientiously serving the agency with great humility for over twenty two years. He was greatly respected by Volunteers, Africa Region and Headquarters staff.
Luis was also a loving husband and father to his wife Cira Maira Martins Silva and three children, Luci Maira Silva Goncalves (18), Esmara Eliane Silva Goncalves (15) and Luis Fernando Silva Goncalves (12). He spent his weekends traveling around the islands of Cape Verde to fish and play volleyball with his family. They will always remember him as a humble man with a huge heart.
From late December 2011 until the day Luis passed away, he took two trips to Brazil and one trip to Portugal in order to seek medical help. In all of these trips, Luis was accompanied by his wife to offer both physical and moral support to him as he battled his illness. None of his travel or medical expenses were covered by insurance and Luis had to pay for all of his travel expenses, lodging, medication, surgeries and doctor’s visits from his own funds.
Luis’s family is now left with the loss of their husband and father, as well as, the outstanding medical bills that were used for his treatment. In addition, his oldest daughter Luci just finished high school and was accepted into a University in Brazil. With her father’s passing, and outstanding medical bills, this may prove to be difficult.
In order to honor Luis’s memory as well as to help his struggling family, Peace Corps friends of Louis, set up a website where donation’s may be made. You can visit Luis’s website, here.
