Lane Ellis '70
Where and when: Ghana, 1970-72
Service: Taught physics and mathematics

BY SYLVIA CORNELIUSSEN

A love for travel was one of the many reasons Lane Ellis '70 signed on for Peace Corps service. It's a love he developed in college that still s ticks with him today.

"I had little experience with other places and people," Ellis says. "I was a hick for sure, but by the time I graduated, I had traveled all over Canada and the American North and Midwest."
Even so, when he arrived in Ghana, Ellis admits feeling homesick at first. "But that quickly went away," he says, "and towards the end my dreams had Ghanaian settings."

Teaching physics and mathematics was a perfect fit for this self-described "science geek" who is now a senior scientist with the American space program. But while trying to keep himself entertained without electricity in Ghana, Ellis says he learned to read in a very true sense.

"During those two years, I learned to appreciate reading," he explains. "It did take the full two years, and I reached that appreciation kicking and screaming, but I am a different person than I would have been because of it."

Among Ellis' many favorite Peace Corps memories, one in particular sticks out. The school where he was teaching had in its library a single set of encyclopedias -- an ancientWorld Book set with one volume missing.

"The set was the only source of information the kids had about other things and places, and I felt bad for them," Ellis recalls. So he wrote to that encyclopedia company to ask if they had a back copy of the missing volume he could purchase. Two months later, a truck delivered a brand new set of World Book International Edition free of charge. Inspired by the surprise delivery and the village's excitement, Ellis wrote to Compton's Encyclopedia.

"Sure enough, a new set of Compton's eventually showed up as well," says Ellis. "I do believe that had I stayed in that village a couple of extra years, they would have had a library anyone would be proud of."

Ellis' Peace Corps service actually increased his "already healthy interest in traveling." He and his wife have taken their children to several Third World countries, where, he says, "We don't rough it, but we don't stay in high-dollar hotels either. We always eat local, however much whining I hear."