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Peace Corps Morocco 1969, 1970 and 1971 50th Anniversary reunion
September 17-18, 2021
Hyatt Place Washington DC/US Capitol
33 New York Avenue NE, Washington, D.C., 20002-3325 United States
+1 202 289 5599
Monica and I returned to Minnesota, and I obtained a M.S. in Forest Hydrology from the University of Minnesota. After graduation, I accepted a job with the U.S. Forest Service in Mountain View, Wyoming. Over the next the forty years, we moved around the West as I worked on the Boise National Forest in Idaho, the Intermountain Regional Office in Ogden, Utah, and the Washington Office and Rocky Mountain Research Station in Fort Collins, Colorado. Monica worked as a social worker and eventually returned to school to obtain a degree as a Registered Nurse. She especially enjoyed working adolescent psychiatric units, serving both the mental and physical needs of her patients.
Along the way we had three wonderful children: Lena, Eric, and Patrick. They are all married, each of them has two children (that's six grandkids) and live in Colorado. Life was pretty good until Monica passed away unexpectedly in 2004 from primary pulmonary hypertension, a rare lung-blood disease of unknown origin. We were ten days short of being married 34 years at the time.
In my last Forest Service assignment, I was a Program Manager of the Stream Systems Technology Center, a watershed technology development unit of the Washington Office. I've been fortunate to always have a job that I truly enjoyed, to work with people that shared my values and beliefs, and had the opportunity to see many National Forests in the United States. During the latter part of my career, I worked with scientists and lawyers to obtain federal instream flows to protect rivers and streams for future generations. In the fall of 2010, I had a unexpected heart attack followed by quadruple bypass surgery. A year later in 2011, I retired from the Forest Service after 40 years of federal service.
In 2012 I married Edie Swiger. We are both retired and living happily married in Fort Collins. The last 10 years we have been able to travel a fair amount with annual trips to Europe. I was also able to take Edie to Morocco in 2012 for the 50th Peace Corps Anniversary celebration and have her experience Morocco.
Last September, I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a blood and bone marrow cancer, and had a stem cell transplant six months later. I am recovering well and considered to be in remission. Edie and I play golf together and hope to be able to travel again once the pandemic ends. I'm not longer able to play tennis but still get out occasionally to hunt ducks and pheasants and I'm still active with Ducks Unlimited. I was hoping to be at the reunion, but due to my immunocompromised condition and Covid, I've been advised not to travel and to avoid crowds for at least a year. Best wishes to all of you at the reunion. A few pictures for the curious.
John Potyondy Sept. 13, 2021
John & Monica John & Edie
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