March 5, 2026 by Linden Ponds
While Duane and Sue Wilke moved to Linden Ponds, an Erickson Senior Living community in Hingham, Mass., to be closer to family, it ended up being the perfect place to expand their social circle in retirement.
As former Peace Corps volunteers, they wanted to connect with neighbors who share their curiosity about life in other parts of the world. So, not long after settling in, Duane pinned a note to the community’s bulletin board, asking if anyone else had served in the Peace Corps.
The response surprised them. Eleven residents replied, representing service all around the world. Together, they formed a group of returned Peace Corps volunteers (RPCVs) that now meets every other month for dinner and conversation.
“We gather as friends with a common background,” Sue explains. “We reminisce but also reflect on current situations around the world. It was a profound experience that affected us throughout our lives and has had an impact on our children and grandchildren.”
A calling fulfilled
Duane and Sue joined the Peace Corps in 1971–ten years after it was founded by President John F. Kennedy. In fact, Duane had dreamed of joining. “Ever since eighth-grade Boy Scouts, when a former volunteer talked to his troop,” says Sue.
“Our country asked for our service, and we thought, ‘We could do that,'” adds Duane, noting that they were special education teachers in Chicago, Ill., at the time.
The couple requested placement in Asia, and they were assigned to South Korea. “We would coteach with Korean instructors in middle schools,” Sue says.
They trained in Brattleboro, Vt., where their mornings focused on intensive language study and afternoons on cross-cultural preparation.
Arriving 18 years after the devastation of the Korean War, they encountered a nation rebuilding itself through education. “The classroom experience was very different than in the U.S.,” Duane recalls. “The students all stood and addressed us. If you saw a child and their family on the street, the whole family would bow. They honored education.”
The couple’s initial two-year commitment stretched into three years when they stayed to help train new volunteers. “Our experience really helped ‘shrink’ the world for us,” says Sue. “It put us in touch with the common humanity we all share.”
A legacy that endures
Years later, the couple returned to Korea with other former volunteers when the government invited them back to celebrate the nation’s growth. They learned about the many changes in the country from the ministers of education and health.
Former volunteers trade memories and updates like these–from the many countries where they once lived and worked–at the Linden Ponds Peace Corps dinners.
Past assignments include the Ivory Coast, Philippines, South Korea, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Togo, and the Marshall Islands in fields such as education, health care, forestry, and community development.
“We enjoy getting to know each other and learning more about the cultures we each experienced,” says Duane.
Conversations often touch on how global service has changed as well. “Today, volunteers are encouraged to arrive with a cell phone and a SIM card,” says Sue. “In our time, correspondence was done on a thin blue aerogram letter that took weeks to reach our families.”
Guiding a new generation
The group recently welcomed a special guest at their table: Leonard Field, Linden Ponds’ accounting office coordinator, who is preparing for his own Peace Corps assignment in Nepal.
“I’ve been interested in joining the Peace Corps for some time, especially as it was formed by President Kennedy,” says Field. “Growing up in Massachusetts, President Kennedy was always a role model for me. His inaugural address has always inspired me: ‘Ask not what your country can do for you–ask what you can do for your country.'”
When Duane learned of Field’s plans, he quickly extended an invitation for dinner.
“Everyone was generous with their time and excited to share their own experiences,” says Field. “Each story contained some advice and showed how much more interconnected the world has become since the Peace Corps’ early years.”
The residents’ insights offer a unique perspective on the opportunities awaiting Field, who will be teaching English.
“The onboarding process has been made easier by the residents and staff who have been so supportive during this whole process,” he says. “They have my everlasting gratitude.”
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