Last month I told you that this column would feature people with a Montpelier connection who are now “far from home.” This month we travel all the way to Cameroon in Africa for our visit with Charmayne Cooley.
Charmayne is a 2002 graduate of Montpelier High School, and is the daughter of Larry and Christy Cooley of rural Montpelier. Her journey from Montpelier to Africa took her through Gambier, Ohio, where she graduated from Kenyon College with a degree in American Studies. She stayed in Gambier, working by day as a higher education administrator in the school’s admission office, and working nights as a certified paramedic and firefighter.
While that may sound like an interesting start to life for most people, Charmayne looked for something more.
“Despite loving my job and my friends, I still didn’t feel personally fulfilled,” she explained. “In an attempt to ‘force my own hand,’ I resigned during the summer of 2009. I knew that the future had something else in store for me, and I needed to explore what that was. At the age of 25, I felt at a crossroads in my life – too old to be young and too young to be old.”
A trip home to the family farm in Montpelier led her to a box which contained an old Peace Corps catalog she had picked up during her college years. Things moved rapidly from that point, and in the summer of 2010 she learned she had been assigned to be a community health educator in Cameroon for the next 27 months.
“My group of community health and agroforestry volunteers arrived in-country in September and began 11 weeks of training together while living with host families. Our training included French language immersion, technical classes, as well as general medical/safety lessons and discussions on the cultural context,” she noted. On December 1 she was officially sworn in as a Peace Corps volunteer in front of the country director and the U.S. Ambassador to Cameroon.
“Cameroon is an incredibly diverse place, often called ‘Africa in Miniature.’ For a country the size of California, the variety is immense,” Charmayne explained. “The geography ranges from Sahel desert to lush forest, religion is divided between Muslim and Christian, and each region boasts its own traditional custom, dances, and foods. I have been assigned to Bapa, a small village in the mountainous western region. This area is francophone (French speaking), but Cameroon has approximately 250 languages.”
In her duties as a community health educator, Charmayne works to sensitive people on major health issues like malaria, cholera, HIV/AIDS, mother/child health, and nutritional deficiencies.
Charmayne said her rural upbringing in Montpelier was a good preparation for this setting. For example, “As I’m sure most people can attest, news travels fast. We’re all familiar with the gossip wheel that exists in small-town America, and that principal is carried over here. In other words, if I buy six tomatoes at my weekly market, I am sure to be asked about it by some village mamas. Of course, there’s always the phenomena of casually observing the unexpected – like the random chicken that always manages to wander into my kitchen, wake me up at 4:00 a.m., or share a taxi ride with me!”
Charmayne said she appreciated being able to share her Peace Corps experience with the Leader readers because parts of the Peace Corps goal is not only helping people, but helping to promote a mutual better understanding between the peoples served and the American people.
While at Montpelier, Charmayne was very active in the band, choir, Locomotion, the musicals, student council, and many may remember her as the resident piano accompanist during her high school years. “I can’t say I do much with music these days, though I’ve always had a love of music – which has made me appreciate the stuff I hear in this country. In the span of one hour, you can go from hearing traditional call-and-response chanting, to Nigerian pop, to Celine Dion circa 1996. I even heard Christmas music blaring out of speakers in the regional capital last week!”
Charmayne appreciates hearing from friends and those from her hometown. Her e-mail address is ccooleypccam@gmail.com.
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David Belden was a longtime Montpelier educator and a former managing editor of The Leader Enterprise, now living near Nashville, Tennessee. He can be contacted at david.belden@comcast.net.
Monday, July 11, 2011
June 2011 - Featuring Amy Myers
It was three years ago that I wrote my final “Amid the Clutter” column for The Leader Enterprise. I reread that column this morning and discovered I had tossed around … and dismissed … the possibility of continuing to write a column from my new home in Nashville, Tennessee. I reasoned that The Leader is, and ought to be, a “hometown” newspaper. What I failed to realize is that just because you live far from home you are never too far from your hometown.
So here I sit at my computer in Nashville, writing a column for The Leader. After spending almost a quarter of a century writing for The Leader, it is almost like coming home.
Since Barb and I are living in the Nashville area, not far from our son Grant, let me start out by catching you up on our transition to the Music City.
True retirement didn’t stick. I taught for a year, and now I substitute teach and work part of the year as a professional test evaluator, grading essay exams for states across the country. Barb works part-time for the Nashville Visitors and Convention Bureau where she can talk to strangers to her heart’s content.
But Nashville is also an entertainment mecca and it is easy to be pulled in. Barb and I did not retire to Nashville to become “stars,” but, alas, if that is what you are destined to be, you may as well let your life shine!
Barb and I both sing in groups that regularly (well, once a year) sell out arenas all around the country. I never knew what a thrill it could be to sing in front of ten thousand screaming fans. Am I kidding? No way! We both sings in barbershop choruses that rank among the best in the world, and best in the world choruses draw some big crowds. Barb’s chorus released a new CD last week, and I was all over Nashville television in May with a close-up spot in a commercial for my chorus’s annual show at Vanderbilt University.
And I have a movie coming out next year! I am just an extra (as is Grant), but I AM in a movie. We already have invitations to the red carpet world premiere next spring.
Last week Barb and I were invited to a VIP reception where we mingled with the likes of Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman. Okay, Barb won those tickets, but we were VIPs for a day! We sing in church choir with a co-star of the movie “Country Strong” and one of Nashville’s top music video directors.
Last month Grant had a photo spread in “Nashville Lifestyles” magazine.
Yes, we found our retirement niche in Nashville.
But this column isn’t about me ... although I may throw in some tidbits now and then. “Far from Home” is hopefully going to be a monthly feature about folks who once called Montpelier home, but whose lives have taken them in another direction … far from home.
One of those people is former Montpelierite Amy Dohm Myers. Amy graduated from Montpelier in 1990, grew up attending First United Methodist Church, and was Miss Montpelier 1990.
She also lives just down the road from Barb and me in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee.
Amy grew up taking advantage of all the good things small town life has to offer. Athletically, she was always a cheerleader. Musically, she played flute in the band, sang in the chorus and Locomotion, and appeared in the high school musicals (“Music Man,” “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,” and “The Sound of Music”).
Amy said that all of those high school activities, and the good education she got at MHS, prepared her for her transition of college. “I went to Ball State, and suddenly I was all alone. None of my high school friends were there. But doing all of those things in high school gave me a lot of confidence, and it really helped when I got to college.” She graduated with a degree in deaf education … with honors … and has since earned her master’s degree at Grand Canyon University.
Married to her husband Tim, Amy started her career as a special education teacher in Indiana. (In the interview she graciously said my wife Barb, who spent her career teaching special education at MHS, was someone who inspired her to enter the field).
Three children later (Mariah, Jacob, and Addison) and with the upwardly mobile career of her husband, Amy taught in several school districts in Indiana, from small towns (which she says she loved the best) to a school right outside of Chicago.
And last fall the family ended up in Tennessee. “I love the Nashville area. The weather is great, and the people are so friendly. We have found we really enjoy and take advantage of all the readily available activities.”
And like everyone down here, she has met and has seen the “regular side” of some celebrities, including American Idol singer Bo Bice and members of the Oak Ridge Boys.
Now at home in Tennessee, Amy is again teaching special education at the high school where Mariah and Jacob attend, and she is hoping to attend Middle Tennessee State University to pursue an education specialist degree.
“I don’t get back to Montpelier very often,” she explained, “but my mom still lives in Bryan, so I do make it back to Williams County from time to time.”
And while she says her family loves it here in Tennessee, she does indeed sometime feel far from home. “I still miss that slow moving and relaxed life.”
So here I sit at my computer in Nashville, writing a column for The Leader. After spending almost a quarter of a century writing for The Leader, it is almost like coming home.
Since Barb and I are living in the Nashville area, not far from our son Grant, let me start out by catching you up on our transition to the Music City.
True retirement didn’t stick. I taught for a year, and now I substitute teach and work part of the year as a professional test evaluator, grading essay exams for states across the country. Barb works part-time for the Nashville Visitors and Convention Bureau where she can talk to strangers to her heart’s content.
But Nashville is also an entertainment mecca and it is easy to be pulled in. Barb and I did not retire to Nashville to become “stars,” but, alas, if that is what you are destined to be, you may as well let your life shine!
Barb and I both sing in groups that regularly (well, once a year) sell out arenas all around the country. I never knew what a thrill it could be to sing in front of ten thousand screaming fans. Am I kidding? No way! We both sings in barbershop choruses that rank among the best in the world, and best in the world choruses draw some big crowds. Barb’s chorus released a new CD last week, and I was all over Nashville television in May with a close-up spot in a commercial for my chorus’s annual show at Vanderbilt University.
And I have a movie coming out next year! I am just an extra (as is Grant), but I AM in a movie. We already have invitations to the red carpet world premiere next spring.
Last week Barb and I were invited to a VIP reception where we mingled with the likes of Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman. Okay, Barb won those tickets, but we were VIPs for a day! We sing in church choir with a co-star of the movie “Country Strong” and one of Nashville’s top music video directors.
Last month Grant had a photo spread in “Nashville Lifestyles” magazine.
Yes, we found our retirement niche in Nashville.
But this column isn’t about me ... although I may throw in some tidbits now and then. “Far from Home” is hopefully going to be a monthly feature about folks who once called Montpelier home, but whose lives have taken them in another direction … far from home.
One of those people is former Montpelierite Amy Dohm Myers. Amy graduated from Montpelier in 1990, grew up attending First United Methodist Church, and was Miss Montpelier 1990.
She also lives just down the road from Barb and me in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee.
Amy grew up taking advantage of all the good things small town life has to offer. Athletically, she was always a cheerleader. Musically, she played flute in the band, sang in the chorus and Locomotion, and appeared in the high school musicals (“Music Man,” “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,” and “The Sound of Music”).
Amy said that all of those high school activities, and the good education she got at MHS, prepared her for her transition of college. “I went to Ball State, and suddenly I was all alone. None of my high school friends were there. But doing all of those things in high school gave me a lot of confidence, and it really helped when I got to college.” She graduated with a degree in deaf education … with honors … and has since earned her master’s degree at Grand Canyon University.
Married to her husband Tim, Amy started her career as a special education teacher in Indiana. (In the interview she graciously said my wife Barb, who spent her career teaching special education at MHS, was someone who inspired her to enter the field).
Three children later (Mariah, Jacob, and Addison) and with the upwardly mobile career of her husband, Amy taught in several school districts in Indiana, from small towns (which she says she loved the best) to a school right outside of Chicago.
And last fall the family ended up in Tennessee. “I love the Nashville area. The weather is great, and the people are so friendly. We have found we really enjoy and take advantage of all the readily available activities.”
And like everyone down here, she has met and has seen the “regular side” of some celebrities, including American Idol singer Bo Bice and members of the Oak Ridge Boys.
Now at home in Tennessee, Amy is again teaching special education at the high school where Mariah and Jacob attend, and she is hoping to attend Middle Tennessee State University to pursue an education specialist degree.
“I don’t get back to Montpelier very often,” she explained, “but my mom still lives in Bryan, so I do make it back to Williams County from time to time.”
And while she says her family loves it here in Tennessee, she does indeed sometime feel far from home. “I still miss that slow moving and relaxed life.”
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