Retirement in Ecuador
Diocesan Press Service. December 8, 1966 [49-5]
Retirement has meant a dream come true - or almost - for Mary Elizabeth Rogers, now working as a very voluntary volunteer in Guayaquil, Ecuador.
Mrs. Rogers studied Spanish in high school and wanted to become a foreign correspondent. Now, some 40 years later, she is convinced that her present situation is close enough to her original ambition to consider her dream come true.
Mrs. Rogers was unable to pursue her journalism career due to the Depression, and instead married and worked for the Rock Island Office. She has travelled every chance she's had, though, and often included Ecuador. When she retired, she decided to use a small inheritance for a good trip, and went by leisurely stages through Ecuador and Colombia, getting in touch with the Episcopal Church along the way and offering to do secretarial work.
On her return from this trip she became very persistent with efforts begun in 1962 to find a place, preferably in Ecuador, where she could work for the Episcopal Church.
These efforts were successful and she arrived in Guayaquil in April, 1966 to work for the three Episcopal congregations there. Despite the reams of paper work, Mrs. Rogers has had time for several short trips, including one to obtain a residence visa, and she insists she feels younger.