08/07/2026
🏆Today, in honor of August being Make A Will month, we are delighted to recognize Patricia Ann Heinzerling for her generous decision to include the Museum of the Peace Corps Experience in her will. 💙
Patricia served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Côte d’Ivoire in the early 1970s. Among her most treasured memories are the relationships she formed and the many ways Ivorian families welcomed Volunteers into their lives, sharing meals, music, dancing, laughter, celebrations, and traditions.
Those experiences changed Patricia’s understanding of the world and inspired a lifetime of service. Professionally, she built a career in leadership and organizational development, designing and delivering training programs, coaching leaders, and helping teams strengthen collaboration, navigate conflict, and value diversity. Patricia also continued living the Peace Corps’ Third Goal by helping refugees from Cambodia, Bosnia, Nigeria, Myanmar, and other countries settle in Atlanta. She taught English, shared her Peace Corps experiences, and served as a corporate representative to the Georgia Council on Refugee Resettlement.
Patricia describes her planned gift as a way to thank the Peace Corps for a life-changing experience and support the Museum’s work preserving the stories of Volunteers, host communities, and their shared impact.
“I hope people will appreciate that the small role each Peace Corps Volunteer played made a memorable impact on the people they lived, worked, danced, sang, and ate with—and that those people had a powerful impact on each Volunteer’s life.”
Thank you, Patricia, for helping us preserve these deeply human stories and inspire future generations to choose service. Learn more about the Museum and planned giving at https://museumofthepeacecorpsexperience.org/.
