Sandra Giusti was one of Thai 27's cross cultural trainers.
Originally she was was a volunteer with Thailand 18 (1967-69)
It was a TEFL group and they also trained in Pepeekeo. She completed
her Peace Corps tour in April, and joined us in Peepekeo as a
cross cultural trainer.
Her brother, George, ran across photos of her on our website
and wrote this account of her after she left Pepeekeo:
"I was in Vietnam in 68-69, while Sandi was in Thailand.
I took my R&R in Bangkok, to try and hook up with her, but
at that time she had won some kind of trip around the orient,
or something like that , so we didn't meet.
After she came back to the states, (you'll have to excuse
my loss of memory as to the exact order of things) she came back
to Ohio for a while, went to Italy with my mother, then moved
to Manhattan Beach for a while. While in Manhattan Beach, she
taught problem kids who were rich (that’s why they had problems)
Then she went back up to San Francisco. I helped her move. She
had a Volkswagen and we packed it full of stuff. I had my foot
to the floor the whole way, and after we got to San Francisco
she had to have her engine repaired.
She had a boy friend in San Francisco. He is a city official
now. His name is Tony Hall. He worked for the city back then,
and he also sang in Nightclubs. Sandi got various jobs in the
teaching field. She taught kids who were poor with problems-mainly
Hispanics.
I lived in San Francisco at the time, as did my sister Francesca,
and my brother Paul who was attending USF.
We all lived on Masonic, off of Haight St. Sandi rented a place
in Pacific Heights.
I left for Europe with my girlfriend for 2 months. She encouraged
me quite a bit.
I came back and was staying with some friends in Boston when
I got a call that Sandi had been killed by a hit skip driver in
San Francisco (June 13, 1971). She was going to see her boyfriend
sing at some night club, and when she got out of the car, a drunk
sideswiped her car. She was right across the street from a hospital,
but the guy never stopped, and left her just lying there.
She had many friends in the San Francisco police force, and
the city government. They had an APB for the guy's car, and found
him a few days later.
I know that her experiences in the Peace Corps had a very
strong effect on her. She had only happy memories.
She had lots of photos, and tapes of Thailand. And many
slides, also. But there are not many pictures of her.
About a year or so after her death, someone called for her.
He was Thai, but was here in the States. He didn't know that she
had died, and when I told him, he became real upset, and angry.
He kept telling me that l was lying.
I think that is how we all felt.
I was just out to her grave last week. She's buried here in Ohio."
George Giusti
