Between Two Homelands: Growing Up in Korea,
Returning as Peace Corps Volunteers
Webinar - June 29, 2026 5 pm ET
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Of the nearly 2000 individuals who served with the Peace Corps in South Korea, there were a handful who were unique-they had lived in Korea as children of missionary families. Unlike the typical volunteer who had to look up exactly where Korea was when they got their invitation letter, these recruits knew Korea intimately-they spoke the language and were familiar with the food and the brutal winters. But was it the same as going home?
This session features three RPCVs who grew up in Korea and returned to serve. What was behind that decision to return to Korea as a volunteer? How was the Korea they knew as children different from what they experienced as a PCV? Were there unique challenges they faced given their childhood experiences in Korea?
The speakers are Donald Clark, Donna Sidwell DeGracia, and Brent Burkholder. They will share their experiences and challenges navigating the Korea they knew from their childhood and the one they experienced as a volunteer.
If you are unable to join us in person, we will post the video on our website within a week or two after the event.
Photos - from Susan Hanley Collection. To learn more about Susan, click here.
Speaker Bios –
Brent Burkholder, MD
Brent’s parents served as Methodist missionaries to Korea from 1936 to 1976. After living in Japan as an infant during the Korean War, he moved to Seoul with them in 1954. Aside from a one-year furlough, he lived there continuously until graduating from Seoul Foreign School in 1969.
After obtaining a BA and a MA in Health Policy, Brent returned to Korea in the Peace Corps from 1979-81 as part of K48. He served as a TB worker in a rural public health center in Kangwon-do. Motivated by this experience, after completing his Peace Corps service, Brent attended medical school at the University of North Carolina in 1984.
Upon completing a residency in family practice, he joined the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC). For the next 35 years he worked at the CDC and the World Health Organization as a medical epidemiologist focusing primarily on global immunization. During his career, Brent lived in India for six years and Thailand for two years in addition to short term assignments in over 25 other countries, including both North Korea and the Republic of Korea. Brent continues to visit ROK every couple of years.
Donald Clark, PhD
Donald Clark grew up in Seoul in the 1950s as the son and grandson of Presbyterian missionaries. Like Donna and Brent, he attended Seoul Foreign School (SFS) and spent summers at the missionary resort at Taechon Beach. It was a privileged upbringing in a country wrecked by war and poverty. Don’s life was shaped at SFS by teachers who challenged his generation of American students to take an interest in Korean culture and contemporary history which included two revolutions in 1960 and 1961.
After college, Don and his wife Linda joined a Peace Corps/Korea public health group (K-6) assigned to the countryside in South Ch’ungch’ong Province. There followed a priceless grassroots education in Korean village life, which for Don, when added to his earlier childhood experience, laid a solid foundation for a career in academic Korean studies.
Don earned his Ph.D. at Harvard and taught History for 38 years in San Antonio at Trinity University, where he founded programs in International and East Asian Studies. He and his family returned to Korea numerous times for teaching and research during those years, adding a fourth generation of Clarks to the story. His best book is Living Dangerously in Korea: The Western Experience, 1900-1950 (Eastbridge, 2003).
Donna Sidwell DeGracia, MPAS-PA
Donna Sidwell DeGracia first arrived in Korea at the age of four. The year was 1955. Her parents served as Methodist missionaries there until 1967. Most of that time, the family lived outside a village near the city of Cheonan. The children were home schooled until they were old enough to attend boarding school in Seoul.
Donna returned to Korea as a Peace Corps Volunteer after graduating college in 1972 and served first as a university English instructor for one year (K-26) before switching to health care (K-31) and working primarily in maternal and child health until 1975.
Upon returning to the United States, she entered the physician assistant (PA) program at Bowman Gray School of Medicine associated with Wake Forest University. She worked as a primary care PA and eventually as PA faculty until semi-retiring. She continues as adjunct/emeritus faculty at St. Catherine University and as an educational consultant.
Her experience in Korea greatly influenced her career and her writing. Her first book explored the acculturation of Korea missionaries and their children. She has a Korea based historical novel scheduled for release in early 2027.
This session features three RPCVs who grew up in Korea and returned to serve. What was behind that decision to return to Korea as a volunteer? How was the Korea they knew as children different from what they experienced as a PCV? Were there unique challenges they faced given their childhood experiences in Korea?
The speakers are Donald Clark, Donna Sidwell DeGracia, and Brent Burkholder. They will share their experiences and challenges navigating the Korea they knew from their childhood and the one they experienced as a volunteer.
If you are unable to join us in person, we will post the video on our website within a week or two after the event.
Photos - from Susan Hanley Collection. To learn more about Susan, click here.
Speaker Bios –
Brent Burkholder, MD
Brent’s parents served as Methodist missionaries to Korea from 1936 to 1976. After living in Japan as an infant during the Korean War, he moved to Seoul with them in 1954. Aside from a one-year furlough, he lived there continuously until graduating from Seoul Foreign School in 1969.
After obtaining a BA and a MA in Health Policy, Brent returned to Korea in the Peace Corps from 1979-81 as part of K48. He served as a TB worker in a rural public health center in Kangwon-do. Motivated by this experience, after completing his Peace Corps service, Brent attended medical school at the University of North Carolina in 1984.
Upon completing a residency in family practice, he joined the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC). For the next 35 years he worked at the CDC and the World Health Organization as a medical epidemiologist focusing primarily on global immunization. During his career, Brent lived in India for six years and Thailand for two years in addition to short term assignments in over 25 other countries, including both North Korea and the Republic of Korea. Brent continues to visit ROK every couple of years.
Donald Clark, PhD
Donald Clark grew up in Seoul in the 1950s as the son and grandson of Presbyterian missionaries. Like Donna and Brent, he attended Seoul Foreign School (SFS) and spent summers at the missionary resort at Taechon Beach. It was a privileged upbringing in a country wrecked by war and poverty. Don’s life was shaped at SFS by teachers who challenged his generation of American students to take an interest in Korean culture and contemporary history which included two revolutions in 1960 and 1961.
After college, Don and his wife Linda joined a Peace Corps/Korea public health group (K-6) assigned to the countryside in South Ch’ungch’ong Province. There followed a priceless grassroots education in Korean village life, which for Don, when added to his earlier childhood experience, laid a solid foundation for a career in academic Korean studies.
Don earned his Ph.D. at Harvard and taught History for 38 years in San Antonio at Trinity University, where he founded programs in International and East Asian Studies. He and his family returned to Korea numerous times for teaching and research during those years, adding a fourth generation of Clarks to the story. His best book is Living Dangerously in Korea: The Western Experience, 1900-1950 (Eastbridge, 2003).
Donna Sidwell DeGracia, MPAS-PA
Donna Sidwell DeGracia first arrived in Korea at the age of four. The year was 1955. Her parents served as Methodist missionaries there until 1967. Most of that time, the family lived outside a village near the city of Cheonan. The children were home schooled until they were old enough to attend boarding school in Seoul.
Donna returned to Korea as a Peace Corps Volunteer after graduating college in 1972 and served first as a university English instructor for one year (K-26) before switching to health care (K-31) and working primarily in maternal and child health until 1975.
Upon returning to the United States, she entered the physician assistant (PA) program at Bowman Gray School of Medicine associated with Wake Forest University. She worked as a primary care PA and eventually as PA faculty until semi-retiring. She continues as adjunct/emeritus faculty at St. Catherine University and as an educational consultant.
Her experience in Korea greatly influenced her career and her writing. Her first book explored the acculturation of Korea missionaries and their children. She has a Korea based historical novel scheduled for release in early 2027.
