[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 5 (Monday, January 31, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S161-S162]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO WINI YUNKER

 Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I rise today to pay tribute to 
a fine Kentuckian, Wini Yunker, as she prepares to serve the Peace 
Corps in the Ukraine.
  Choosing to serve in the Peace Corps is an admirable decision for 
anyone to make but, especially for Ms. Yunker, who is making this 
decision later in life. At a time in her life when most people are 
beginning to think of retirement and slowing the pace of their lives, 
Ms. Yunker is instead boldly venturing out on a new journey. She is 
reaching high for a new goal that will not only make a lasting impact 
on her own life, but also on the lives of those she leaves the country 
to help.
  Ms. Yunker enters the Peace Corps with the benefit of a lifetime of 
learning and preparation, making her an ideal candidate for service. 
She completed the necessary academic requirements by earning a college 
degree, and further earned a master's degree from the Patterson School 
of Diplomacy and International Commerce at the University of Kentucky.
  The Peace Corps was created in 1961, by President John F. Kennedy, 
and is an international service organization dedicated to helping 
developing countries. My wife, Elaine L. Chao, headed the Peace Corps 
from 1991 to 1992, and it was under her tenure that service programs in 
the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union, including 
Ukraine, began. We take great personal pleasure that Ms. Yunker, a 
fellow Kentuckian, will be working in a service program Elaine helped 
create. Elaine's leadership of the Peace Corps made us both acutely 
aware of the kind of committed, hands-on approach to service that 
participation in the Corps entails. We applaud you, Ms. Yunker, for 
accepting the challenges the Peace Corps will surely present you over 
the next two years. The commitment you have made is admirable and your 
passion to serve others is an example to us all.
  Congratulations, Ms. Yunker, on your acceptance into the Peace Corps, 
and thank you for your enthusiastic willingness to serve. On behalf of 
myself, my wife, and my colleagues in the United States Senate, I wish 
you the all the best.
  Madam President, I ask that a Louisville Courier-Journal article from 
January 18, 2000, be printed in the Record.
  The article follows:

          [From the Louisville Courier-Journal, Jan. 18, 2000]

              Woman Rejected in '61 Gets Into Peace Corps

                           (By Chris Poynter)

       Nicholasville, KY.--Thirty-nine years ago, the Peace Corps 
     told Wini Yunker no.
       She didn't have enough education, the Peace Corps said.
       But it has now learned that you don't tell Wini Yunker no.
       She graduated from college at age 58. She learned to ski a 
     year later.
       At 60, she earned a master's degree from the Patterson 
     School of Diplomacy and International Commerce at the 
     University of Kentucky.
       Now, at 65, she's set to leave her home in Nicholasville to 
     finally join the Peace Corps.
       At the end of the month, she'll join 30 other Peace Corps 
     volunteers who are teaching Ukrainians how to run a business 
     in a free-market democracy, rather than under communism; the 
     country was a republic of the former Soviet Union until 1991.
       Yunker, born and raised in Nicholasville, just south of 
     Lexington, said she's joining the Peace Corps because she 
     wants a challenge, enjoys teaching and will feel good about 
     helping a country become more democratic.
       ``I'm ready for a new phase in my life,'' she said.
       The response is typical Yunker, who zigs when others zag. 
     She's never been one to sit around and wait for life to come 
     to her.
       Some of her relatives think she's insane for leaving the 
     comfort of her home and family to spend two years in an 
     emerging democracy, where the winters are brutally cold.

[[Page S162]]

       Her brother-in-law tried to discourage her, sending her 
     this rhyme: ``If you have any sense in your brain, you will 
     stay away from the Ukraine.''
       Yunker is one of a number of senior citizens who are 
     joining the Peace Corps, which since its inception in 1961 
     has been populated mainly by freshly minted college 
     graduates. The volunteers dedicate two years of their lives 
     to working in developing countries.
       When the Peace Corps was created by President John F. 
     Kennedy, few members were senior citizens. This year, 7 
     percent--476--of the volunteers are over 50. Brendan Daly, a 
     spokesman for the agency, said that figure has hovered 
     between 6 percent and 8 percent in the 1990s, in part because 
     seniors are more active and more educated than ever and are 
     looking for something unusual to do.
       In some respects, senior volunteers are better prepared 
     than younger people. They have a wealth of life experiences 
     to share and are enthusiastic about becoming part of a new 
     culture, Daly said.
       ``They may not be the youngest in years, but they are the 
     youngest in heart,'' he said.
       Yunker definitely fits that description. Three years ago, 
     she and her only child, 22-year-old Joe, rappelled off the 
     scenic cliffs of Red River Gorge in Eastern Kentucky.
       A colleague at work nicknamed her ``Flash'' because she's 
     always darting around the factory at Sargent & Greenleaf in 
     Nicholasville, which makes high-security locks for banks, 
     vaults and safes.
       Yunker will officially retire on Friday, after nearly 17 
     years with the company. But last Friday, the 160 employees 
     came together to honor Yunker, a silver-haired woman who 
     always wears a cheerful smile and is known for her long, 
     dangling earrings.
       Yunker is the administrative assistant to company President 
     Jerry Morgan. Morgan told the employees Yunker will be 
     missed. And he noted the she had raised her son in a single-
     parent home but still found time to earn two degrees, 
     volunteer for the United Way and teach in a literacy program, 
     Operation Read.
       He presented her with a gold watch before she took the 
     microphone. She cried at times as she read from a prepared 
     speech, and some co-workers dabbed tears from their eyes.
       Yunker preached about the importance of education and 
     encouraged the company's employees to take advantage of its 
     program that pays for college tuition if they maintain a B 
     average.
       That's how Yunker earned her marketing degree from Spalding 
     University. Every third weekend for four years, she would 
     drive about 70 miles to downtown Louisville, where she stayed 
     in a dormitory and studied as part of Spalding's weekend 
     program.
       The entire Sargent & Greenleaf factory helped her earn her 
     degree, she said. Workers in the manufacturing, sales and 
     engineering departments aided her with homework, and Patsy 
     Gray, the woman who hired her, proofread and edited her term 
     papers and essays.
       While she was a student at Spalding, Yunker remembered that 
     day in 1961 when she was living in Washington and went to 
     Peace Corps headquarters to inquire about joining. The Peace 
     Corps was the idea of President Kennedy who, while 
     campaigning in October 1960, proposed an international 
     volunteer organization. Since then, more than 155,000 
     Americans, including 1,079 Kentuckians, have traveled across 
     the globe, helping people in villages, towns, and cities with 
     education, health, transportation, business and other needs.
       Yunker remembers being disappointed when she was turned 
     away in 1961 because she didn't have a college degree. So, 
     after graduating from Spalding, she called to see if the 
     Peace Corps still existed. When she learned it did, she began 
     planning to join in seven years, when she would retire and 
     her son would be old enough to live alone. A Peace Corps 
     official suggested she earn a master's degree in the 
     meantime. She did.
       In 1998, she applied to the Peace Corps and had her 
     employers and others write letters of recommendation. Last 
     October, she learned that she had been accepted, but with 
     some conditions.
       For health reasons, she had to have three of her teeth, 
     which had been capped, either replaced or removed. She chose 
     removal to save money. She also had to have a bunion removed 
     from one foot.
       About the same time, Yunker decided to stop coloring her 
     gray hair black. ``I just decided I can't continue to be that 
     vain if I'm going to be in a foreign country,'' she said.
       On Jan. 31, she'll fly to Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, and 
     take a bus to Cherkassy, a city of about 300,000 where she'll 
     live with a family for four months while studying the 
     language and culture eight hours a day. Then, she'll go to a 
     university--she doesn't know which one or where--to teach 
     business.
       Her biggest concern is learning the language. She's not 
     worried about the teaching. For six years, she had 
     volunteered for Operation Read, and she recently taught 
     English to a Korean immigrant who lives in Nicholasville.
       ``When we started in June, she couldn't speak English at 
     all. And of course, I don't speak Korean,'' Yunker said. 
     ``And now, we can talk about even personal things and have 
     conversations on the phone.''
       Velma J. Miller is among Yunker's co-workers concerned 
     about her living in Ukraine.
       Miller said Yunker, a longtime friend, is the kind of 
     person who brought fresh flowers, food and cards when Miller 
     was undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer in 1998.
       When Miller learned that Yunker had to have three teeth 
     removed, she pulled her aside in the restroom and asked, 
     ``Wini, do you reckon that God's trying to tell you not to 
     go?''
       Yunker said her only worry is her five siblings, all of 
     whom are older. She made each promise not to get sick while 
     she was away.
       Likewise, Yunker's son is worried, but also excited for his 
     mother. Joe Yunker, an emergency medical technician in 
     Jessamine County, said he knows that being a Peace Corps 
     volunteer is one of his mother's life dreams. He's heard 
     about it since he was 11.
       ``My mom can do anything,'' he said.

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