KINDA COOL to connect (online through her daughter) with the Peace Corps volunteer who taught at Juan Morente Sr. Memorial Pilot School in Pinamalayan, Oriental Mindoro in the 60's when I was a second and third grader. Mary Koeman Olthoff, a Dutch Calvinist from western Michigan, was a beloved figure during her two-year stay in our town as a volunteer, for which she was named an Outstanding Young Woman of America for 1969. I remember her as the teacher who tackled apprehensive parents and took her class to Paraiso Beach after school to teach us how to swim. Mary, who I imagine is in her eighties today, was gracious to share old pictures with alumni of JMSMPS celebrating a grand homecoming. Grateful to Mary, and for the things that few of us remember.
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