Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-117
Madeline Kellner served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala from September 2016 to December 2018 in the healthy schools program. She joined the Peace Corps in her 60s after having served as a public agency executive director, city council member, and mayor. Kellner served alongside her husband, Clinton. Her 10-week in-country training combined 3 days a week of technical training at the Peace Corps office in Santa Lucia Milpas Altas with language and cultural training in the homes of the local host families. During training Kellner lived with a family in the Barrio La Cruz neighborhood in the town of Pastores. She talks about her work with the education and health departments as part of the Healthy Schools program to promote healthy behaviors and reduce malnutrition in the small town of Santa Catarina Ixtahuacan. She was the first Healthy Schools volunteer in the community and was assigned to a primary school. Kellner also discusses how the Peace Corps handled her temporary medical evacuation back to the U.S., and reflects on the different priorities that older volunteers have for their service. She encourages the Peace Corps to more actively recruit older candidates. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, June 22, 2019. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).