TERRE HAUTE — Jerry Tennis walked through the West African heat to meet the headmaster of a primary school, where Jerry would soon teach English to fifth-graders in The Gambia as a Peace Corps volunteer.
When Jerry got to the school, the scene jarred him.
It had no doors or windows, just empty openings. The dirt floor was uneven and full of holes. The desktops were rough. The walls were bare.
The headmaster explained, “Jerry, we don’t have any doors to keep the animals out, and they dig the floor up in the night.”
Soon, Jerry organized a village effort to make doors and windows. That kept animals out, and allowed the floor to remain level. Eventually, the school expanded its library, thanks to scores of donated books that Jerry rounded up on a brief holiday trip back to his hometown of Terre Haute. With the interior shielded from the weather, they put maps on the walls.
“It just changed things completely,” Jerry recalled.
“I never saw a group of people so appreciative,” he added.
Such seemingly small successes left Jerry and his wife, Jean, pleased with their efforts, when their joint Peace Corps stint from 1990-92 ended. They undertook their 27-month commitment in The Gambia — an impoverished former British colony of 1.5 million people — with a realistic outlook, together.
“You do what you can get done, and you have to be satisfied by that,” said Jean, who taught Gambian nursing students.
Looking at Jean across the living room of their South Sixth Street home, Jerry added, “We didn’t expect to change the world going in. Some young kids did. But we had enough experience, we didn’t expect that.”
That’s because the Tennises joined the Peace Corps 17 years ago as retirees. Jerry, a former teacher and school principal, was 64 years old. At 62, Jean was a former nurse.
In a sense, they helped blaze a trail into the 21st century for the Peace Corps.
That volunteer organization began in 1961 through the inspiration of President Kennedy, who urged young Americans to serve in foreign countries and help promote better relations with the United States. Forty-six years later, the Peace Corps is looking for volunteers old enough to remember Kennedy and 1961.
Earlier this year, new Peace Corps director Ron Tschetter announced his plan to recruit retirees from the nation’s 77 million baby boomers. That massive demographic group of Americans born between 1946 and ’64 comprises 28 percent of the U.S. population. Right now, though, just 5 percent of the 7,749 active Peace Corps volunteers are older than 50.
Essentially, the corps hopes to see more people do what Jerry and Jean Tennis did more than a decade ago.
“They are definitely representative of the types of older volunteers that would be attracted to the Peace Corps, and that we would be looking for,” Christine Torres, public affairs specialist, said by telephone from the Peace Corps’ Chicago office.
The ranks of older volunteers is already growing. For decades, the number of 50-plus age Peace Corps workers hovered around 1 percent. Today, the average age of the volunteers is 27, but 382 are older than 50, and those seasoned workers are serving in 66 of the 73 host countries.
The sheer volume of baby boomers isn’t their only attraction.
“The older volunteers have an advantage in many ways, from their experiences and skills and knowledge,” Torres said.
“Oftentimes, they end up being mentors and giving advice to the younger volunteers,” she added, “because they have experienced challenges and realize they aren’t overcome overnight.”
Maturity an asset
The Tennises’ maturity came in handy many times in their 27-month African adventure.
Jerry calmly accepted greetings of “Hi, toubab,” from local folks, while some younger Peace Corps volunteers bristled at that label Gambians use for white people. Though they knew the importance of equality for women, the Tennises didn’t let The Gambia’s male-dominated society stymie their efforts to teach. And when a less-experienced teacher grew frustrated with a few Gambian pupils’ lack of interest and suggested those kids should be ousted from that class, Jerry voiced his disagreement in some “lively discussions.”
“I said, ‘Those are the ones you need to teach,’ ” Jerry recalled.
The community grew to trust Jerry so much that he became the first white man allowed to teach grade-schoolers first hand.
The African frontier tested the Tennises’ toughness, too. A rainstorm once sent a swarm of termites out of their earthen holes and into the Tennises’ house. Jean, who was reading by candlelight, dropped her book and ducked inside their bed, which was covered by nets to keep out lizards, while Jerry set off a bug bomb. On a visit to a nearby village, the Tennises found T-shirts poking fun at the prevalence of bugs, saying, “A million mosquitoes can’t be wrong.”
They also formed a bond and friendships with Gambians through their work. Locals loved Jean’s cooking, especially her pancakes, no-bake cookies and popcorn. They gave her a nickname “Anta,” which means lunch, while Jerry’s were “Old Dad” and “Solo,” meaning tiger. The students in his class were so relaxed that when one pupil’s pencil needed sharpening a classmate pulled a double-edged razor blade from his shirt pocket and threw it to him.
“You don’t do that in Vigo County,” Jerry said, chuckling.
When the town needed an outdoor stove, primary students from Jerry’s school helped build it. The boys gathered dirt from termite hills, while the girls picked up cow dung from the streets. With a little water, that mixture formed a clay-like compound perfect for a pit stove.
Hard times nothing new
Living through hard situations was nothing new to the Tennises. Jerry, 82, and Jean, 79, both grew up during the Great Depression. Before they married in June 1946, Jerry spent more than two years overseas in the Marine Corps.
“I’m sure it helped me, because I slept in fox holes and went to the bathroom outside,” he said.
Jerry’s Marine battalion was among the first occupation units at Nagasaki, Japan, after U.S. forces dropped an atomic bomb on that city. Nearly 80,000 residents of Nagasaki died instantly, but some survivors soon took their own lives in fear, jumping from cliffs into the bay.
“I imagine there were thousands of people floating on the bay, having committed suicide,” he said.
Once the war ended, Jerry came home, married Jean, and they raised a family of five children. When the two Indiana State University graduates ended their careers, the idea of joining the Peace Corps wasn’t planned at all. Another Terre Haute couple wanting to volunteer asked the Tennises to serve as a personal reference.
“We really hadn’t talked about it, like, ‘Jean, there’s not going to be running water,’ or ‘Jerry, the food’s not going to be very good,’ ” Jerry remembered, with a laugh.
Soon, though, they had something to offer people abroad, and they’re glad they volunteered — even though they were sixtysomethings at the time.
“I would think it would be a good experience for people retired, but young enough to volunteer,” Jean said.
The Tennises “met many wonderful people,” Jerry said, and felt they were good representatives of the United States — just as President Kennedy initially envisioned.
“I really think God put us in Gambia as an example,” Jerry said.
When their stint ended in 1992, their adopted Gambian community toasted them with a party, including gifts and a procession of 200 locals.
“We had a great experience. I wouldn’t change a thing,” Jerry said. “I wouldn’t go back again, because I’m too old. But I wouldn’t change a thing.”
Mark Bennett can be reached at mark.bennett@tribstar.com or (812) 231-4377.
Features
Related Photos
-
Jim Avelis
Discussion
Model volunteers: Peace Corps hopes others follow footsteps of Terre Haute couple
- Features
-
-
3 virtues 4-H has taught these youths
Perseverance, integrity, honesty, responsibility and service are the hallmarks of any successful business.
-
YOUR GREEN VALLEY: A Wood’s student’s quest to save thousands of turtles
If you don’t like something, sometimes it’s a matter of taking it into your own hands to change it. For Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College student, Amber Slaughterbeck, that mentality couldn’t be any more true.
-
TRIED 'N' TRUE: Fix this Oven Fried Chicken ahead of time
When my brother Gary’s wife got breast cancer, he needed something he could fix ahead of time to throw into the oven when it was time to fix supper after Kathy’s treatments.
-
Fit for a King: Couple opens Clayshire Castle as bed and breakfast in rural Bowling Green
There aren’t too many castles around the Wabash Valley, but now there is one worth checking out. Sit back and relax, and let me tell you the story of the Clayshire Castle and Lord Douglas and Lady Josephine. It’s a modern day fairy tale complete with, yes, a castle.
-
Steps to the River: Watermark Landing project brings artistic recognition to Valley’s most prominent waterway
Petra Nyendick recalls that when she moved to Terre Haute in 2005 in hopes of opening an art gallery, one of her initial surprises was usage of the Wabash River by people in the city was so light.
-
Bond of Brothers: Performance to reveal complex kinship between Dreiser and ‘My Brother Paul’
Two famed writers linger in Tedi Dreiser Godard’s family tree.
-
Longtime weatherman Jesse Walker relates well to people of Wabash Valley
While in middle and high school, Jesse Walker developed a strong interest in the weather. He thought about a career at the National Weather Service or at a storm prediction center, but the idea of becoming a television meteorologist never entered his mind.
-
CULINARY COURSES: Clabber Girl Classroom Kitchen provides variety of cooking courses for the Valley
There are a few taste-bud-tantalizing-perks for having America’s leading baking powder producer in your backyard. For nearly 120 years, Clabber Girl has been a staple in Terre Haute. In 1899, Hulman and Company began offering up what was to become one of the oldest brands in the country, Clabber baking powder. In 1923, the company changed the baking powder brand name to Clabber Girl.
-
RIVER OF SOUND: Composer sees symphony bring his musical imagination to life
David Watkins smiled as he stood on the Tilson Auditorium stage. The audience stood, too, applauding.
Two of his compositions had just been performed by the Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra. Neither piece — “A Wabash Portrait” and “River Fanfare” — had been played publicly in decades. -
The Beauties of Spring: Stunning array of wildflowers bloom each spring in Collett Park
Groundskeepers put off the first mowing of Collett Park each spring.
Admirers of the place, Terre Haute’s oldest park, like it that way.
A stunning array of wildflowers covers the 21-acre lawn for a few short weeks. Those plants, known as “spring beauties,” emerge in March, bloom in April and go dormant by May, when the brilliant waves of white and pink flowers disappear. -
Day spent with daughter inspires Valley man to write children’s book for her
It started with a warm sunny blackberry picking outing, a bee buzzing, a little bird nest with eggs in it and a little girl begging her daddy for a night-time story. And from those ingredients the children’s book, “The Bee in the Blackberry Bush” came to fruition.
-
From kilts to haggis, Wabash Valley Scottish Society marks a decade of preserving heritage
As soon as Richard Cooper breaks into his Scottish accent, a smile automatically follows.
It happened last week as he recited a work of legendary Scotland poet Robert Burns. -
Witness to history: April movie chronicles Jackie Robinson’s trials as be breaks Major League Baseball’s color barrier — something Vigo County native Harry Taylor witnessed first hand
The upcoming movie “42” aims to show America what Jackie Robinson endured.
Harry Taylor witnessed it firsthand.
Robinson wore jersey No. 42 for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Taylor wore 41. Both were 28-year-old rookies, considerably older than most. Taylor got delayed by military service in World War II. Professional baseball’s unwritten but ironclad code of racial discrimination had kept Robinson and other African-Americans out of the majors since the 1880s. -
Sisterly Habits: Fillenwarth sisters are linked together in more than one sense
The Fillenwarth sisters are sisters in more than one sense of the word.
Both were born two of the eight children of city cop Henry and his wife Catherine Fillenwarth. Both grew up among a large and giving Catholic extended family in inner-city Indianapolis in the 1940s. -
Geocaching Indiana: Clay County man develops idea to use geo-art to create outline of state in caches
Indiana, long-known as the Crossroads of America, has for years been a destination for people coming from around the world to witness such activities as the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race, Indianapolis Colts football games and Indiana University Hoosiers basketball games.
Since October 2012, Indiana’s attractions have come to include the surprising geo-art creation of a group of Wabash Valley geocachers — people who use Global Positioning Systems and similar location-sensitive devices to find hidden objects for fun. -
Voice of a Storyteller: Chance meeting of Twain, Paris youngster inspired narrative voice of Huck Finn
The block offers no hints of its place in American literary history.
Customers dodge raindrops, walking in and out of an auto parts store. -
Pearls of the Wabash: Efforts to reintroduce mussels
Broken bricks, shattered large clay tiles and thin strips of lumber nailed into a crimped piece of sheet metal, sit piled down a county road in Hillsdale.
-
Natural Habitat: Meet 17-year-old Ben Cvengros, who has a knack for capturing wildlife — in particular, birds — on his camera
I would like to introduce you to a 17-year-old Parke County teenager who has an incredible level of patience. Ben Cvengros was 12 years old when he found his passion for photography.
-
WORD PLAY: Scrabble Club broadens Greene County youngsters’ vocabularies and experiences in a fun way
Drew Helton nodded his head like a wise college professor dispensing scholarly advice.
-
Doing a lot with a little: Family’s resourcefulness leads it to reuse vegetable oil as fuel
Up a winding driveway, tucked off a main road in Clay County, sits an average-looking house in a hardwood forest. The homeowners, Chris and Lori Hart, are two resourceful people.
-
Crossroads Rep opens with ‘You Can’t Take It With You’
The 2013 summer season for Crossroads Repertory Theatre at Indiana State University bears the theme, Three Laughs and A Scream. It opens June 21 with a comedy that has remained popular since it was first staged in 1936: “You Can’t Take It With You.”
-
‘Pirates’ to invade Terre Haute Children’s Museum on Saturday
The Terre Haute Community Band will perform “A Pirate Adventure: The Treasure of Music!” at 2 p.m. on Saturday at Terre Haute Children’s Museum.
-
Learn about ‘The Wabash in Legend and Lore’ at Symphony fundraiser
Hear Vigo County historian Mike McCormick speak on “The Wabash in Legend and Lore” during the Terre Haute Symphony League’s fundraiser at noon Wednesday in the Country Club of Terre Haute. Reservations are due Friday.
-
GRAPE SENSE: Some think Chardonnay is next big thing in northwest wine
Does the wine world need another great Chardonnay region? California has the great big buttery, woodsy Chards while Chablis brings the mineral and acid. There is virtually every style in between from regions across the globe.
-
TRIED ’N’ TRUE: A Bar-B-Que recipe from my brother, Mark
My brother Mark lives in California. He does a lot of cooking. Both of my brothers are great cooks. (I’m the oldest of all my siblings.) Mark gave me the Bar-B-Que recipe.
-
Concert to honor Indiana composers, arrangers
The Terre Haute Community Band kicks off its summer season with Indiana’s official state song, “On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away,” written by Terre Haute’s own Paul Dresser.
-
Water show kicks off Vigo library program
The Vigo County Public Library will stage its kickoff event for the summer reading program “Dig into Reading” with a water show from 3 to 4 p.m. on Monday on Walnut Street in downtown Terre Haute.
-
BRUCE’S HISTORY LESSONS: This week in 1944: D-Day and the Airborne assault on Normandy
This week (June 5) in 1944, with the D-Day invasion of the Nazi-occupied Normandy coast set to begin, the man in charge of that invasion, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, paid a special visit to members of the U.S. 82nd and the 101st Airborne.
-
All Valley artists encouraged to submit art at Vigo County Fair
Artists from throughout the Wabash Valley are encouraged to submit works to the 84th Vigo County Fair, which will take place July 7-15 at the Wabash Valley Fairgrounds.
-
YOUR GREEN VALLEY: Recycling initiative in full swing at Vigo County Public Library
The Vigo County Public Library has recycled the weight of two compact cars (7,000 pounds) since April, this after an employees’ initiative to recycle library-wide.
- More Features Headlines
-
Tiger on Sergio: 'It's Time to Move On'
RAW: NSA Director Says 50 Plots Foiled
Hoffa Mystery Still Fascinates After 4 Decades
Ex-NFL Star Chad Johnson Out of Jail
Rain Damages Brazil Soccer Stadium
Raw: NASCAR Driver Jason Leffler Dies in Wreck
Raw: Huge Fire Near Yosemite National Park
3 Charged in Ohio With Enslaving Mom, Daughter
Raw: Marines Land Osprey on Japanese Ship
Falling Cable Hurts 10 NASCAR Fans
Raw: 1 Dead in Shooting at Mo. Apartment Complex
Raw: Volcano Erupts Near Mexico City
Pa. Girl Who Took on Donor Rules Gets Lungs
NYC 911 Call Lasts for 8 Hours
Raw: Obama Arrives in Berlin
Robot Action Connected to Human Thought
Obama Seeks G-8 Support on Syria
Prosecutors Push for Smartphone "Kill Switch"
Obama: NSA Secret Data Gathering 'Transparent'
Google Launches Internet-beaming Balloons
Spurs' Popovich has no problem with Spurs' intensity
Inside Kim Kardashian's Premature Labor
Three Charged for Enslaving Mother and Daughter
Paige Butcher Scorches on Hawaii Beach
Video: worst way to load cargo onto a plane
Never-before-seen footage of '08 Times Square bomber
WATCH IT: Lil Wayne tramples American flag
Mariah Carey Looks Beautiful in a Tiny Cut-Out Swimsuit
Out of Control Boat Throws Passengers Overboard
See Lindsay Lohan in Rehab
Sofia Vergara Posts Perky Backside Pic in Thong
Gaga Ditches Her Crazy Couture
Caught on Tape: Teacher Accused of Beating Autistic Child
"Stay Classy" Campaign Aims to Curb Binge Drinking
Sesame Street Tackling Tough Topic Parents in Jail
Miss Utah Fumbles Interview Question
Deranged man claims Newark-bound flight was poisoned
