U.S. Senator Tina Smith Introduces Bipartisan Legislation to Honor Deceased Peace Corps Members

Sen. Smith's legislation is the result of a Minnesotan who was barred from engraving the Peace Corps symbol into the gravestone of her brother, a longtime Peace Corps member

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) introduced a bipartisan bill to allow the official Peace Corps seal, emblem and logo to be used on gravestones, plaques and death announcements for deceased Peace Corps volunteers, officers and staff. Sen. Smith's bill, the Memorializing Peace Corps Service Act, updates a current law that prohibits the use of the Peace Corps seal, emblem and logo on those commemorative items.

"Volunteering with the Peace Corps is dedicating your life to meaningful service in some of the most difficult corners of our world. It's an incredibly humbling and inspiring organization to be a part of, and volunteering in the Peace Corps should be honored after someone's passing," said Sen. Smith. "We need to change this outdated law so families, like Susan's, can rightfully honor their loved ones."

This bill is inspired by the work of Thomas (Tom) W. Stieve, who served in the 1980s as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kiribati (pictured below) and later a Peace Corps-sponsored United Nations volunteer in Vanuatu. During his four years of service, Tom worked on construction projects and built water holding tanks for places that didn't have clean drinking water.

Tom (pictured below in 2019) developed cancer and passed away in 2023 near his hometown in Michigan at the age of 69. After his passing, Tom's sister, Susan of St. Paul, MN, wanted to honor her brother's service by putting the Peace Corps seal on his gravestone. Susan reached out to the Peace Corps to get its blessing for the use of the emblem, but she was told it's against the law to use that imagery on gravestones or death announcements. Wanting to still honor her brother, Susan reached out to Sen. Smith asking to change the law.

"My brother Tom was diagnosed with incurable cancer in July of 2023. I spent the following months caring for him until he passed away on November 23, 2023. During our last months together, Tom often talked about his Peace Corps service, and we spent time looking at the photos he took in Kiribati and Vanuatu," said Susan. "Serving in the Peace Corps was the greatest honor of Tom's life. After he died, I wanted to recognize his service by having the Peace Corp logo inscribed on his gravestone. However, when I reached out to the Peace Corps to seek permission, I learned that memorializing Peace Corps service on a gravestone is prohibited under current law," Susan continued. "I am deeply grateful to Sen. Smith for introducing legislation that will enable me and other family members of Peace Corps volunteers to honor their legacies of service."

While Susan was forced to order a gravestone without any commemoration of her brother's Peace Corps service, she specifically left an open space on his gravestone and written instructions to engrave the Peace Corps logo with Tom's years of service on the marker, should the law ever change during or after her lifetime.

This bill is co-sponsored by Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) and endorsed by the National Peace Corps Association.

"The introduction of Sen. Smith's Memorializing Peace Corps Service Act is a welcome and timely initiative," said Carla Brown, President & CEO of the National Peace Corps Association, an alumni organization supporting Returned Peace Corps Volunteers. "The very first Volunteers served in 1961. Volunteers, like Tom Stieve, and the staff who supported them, served our country admirably and are an important part of the American story. We hope this legislation passes with the utmost expediency to give family members, like Susan, a way to honor that service and inspire others to take up the mantle. More than 250,000 Americans have volunteered with the agency during its 65-year history. We look forward to honoring them."

Photographs of Tom for media use and full text of the bill can be found here.

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