John trained in Clearfield, Utah as part of Group 18 which included a concentration of architects, engineers and city planners. He was assigned as a construction advisor to the Khorasan Engineering Office in Mashad along with architect Roger Cavanna. As construction advisor, John was primarily responsible for surveying and drafting and assisting Roger and the other architects and engineers in the office. The office was responsible for overseeing all development projects within Khorasan province which encompassed 43 towns and villages located in northwest Iran. He served in Mashad from 1967 to 1971.
Fueled by Iran’s oil revenues, all the communities in the province received money to propose local projects. They were required to utilize the Khorasan Office for design assistance, so the office was very busy. John spent his first year surveying various villages and creating base maps showing buildings, streets, parks, utilities, and other existing conditions. The base maps served as a starting point for the design activities and building projects that would follow.
In 1968, a massive earthquake hit Khorasan Province killing 12,000 residents and devastating many of the small villages in the southern part of the province. An estimated one half of the deaths came from the village of Khahk. The entire Khorasan Engineering Office was dispatched to Khahk to analyze the damage and create a reconstruction plan for the village. It was an exhausting but exhilarating effort.
In 1969 and 1970, other volunteers transferred to Mashad: Tom Huf, James Durfy and George Armstrong. All three were assigned to the Khorasan Engineering Office and shared our house on the kuche behind the Cinema Diamond. Tom and Jim were also architects from Group 18. George was an urban planning volunteer who arrived with a later group. Tom and Roger were designing a new dental school for Mashad and John helped them with drafting assistance and model making. John provided similar assistance to Jim most notably with his design of a mosque. John and George collaborated on the preliminary design and new urban layout of a couple of villages north of Mashad. The experience peaked John’s interest in the city planning field.
After Peace Corps service, John landed a job with a fledging Planning Department in the City of Troy, NY based on a tip from his roommate Roger Cavanna who attended school at R.P.I in Troy. John served 20 years in the department, the last six years as the Commissioner of Planning & Development. Following City service, John started and operated two successful planning consultant businesses assisting diverse communities throughout New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut for twenty years. Currently retired, John serves as a board member of PCIA and an architectural not-for-profit based in Troy N.Y. As PCIA, he has put his skills to work designing outreach brochures and assisting Joan Gaughan in producing the newsletter, KhabarNarneh.
Marie Mitchell along with her husband Charlie, originally from western Kansas, were sent to Mahallat, in the central part of Iran after language training in Borujerd. Mahallat is about 30 kilometers northeast of Khomein. They taught English to first year Rahnamai students. After they earned Masters from the School for International Training in Brattleboro, Vermont, they returned to Iran and taught English for the Army-Air Corps in Esfahan. In 1978, the revolution and the death of their son forced them to leave. They taught at Wichita State before moving to Tempe, Arizona. Marie taught English as a Second Language at ASU from 1980 to 2013 except for 4 years in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. ASU sent her to Kosova in 2002 and Baghdad, Iraq in 2010 for English teaching/training. Now they spend time volunteering at the Musical Instrument Museum, riding motor scooters, and travelling the world.
