The Peru Gazette

By John T. Ryan

Peru – When the Peru High School Class of 1962 celebrated its 55th Class Reunion in October 2017 it was easy to determine the classmate who had traveled the longest distance. Coriolano Brito accompanied by his wife Merilda traveled approximately 5,000 miles from Brazil. Coriolano, or “Cory” as he was known to his classmates, was a foreign exchange student at Peru High School during the 1961-62 school year. Peru Community Church Pastor Rev. Melvin McGaughey, his wife Grace and their children were his host family.

Cory’s classmate Mary Downs Nisoff said, “We really enjoyed Cory’s presence in Peru. He was very friendly, very smart and very well-liked.” The Peru Gazette communicated with Cory Brito via email at his home in Volta Redonda, Brazil. As you read his responses to our questions you’ll sense his love for our little town, his classmates and the United States. He has led a very interesting, successful life that was influenced by one year in the small town of Peru, NY.

1. What are your best memories about your time in Peru, NY?
So many good memories! If I were a writer or had been one, I’d write / would have written a book about the wonderful experience of having lived in Peru and how much of an influence it was/has been for the rest of my life. The town itself, being so much smaller than the city where I was actually born in (São Paulo) or the one I was living then (Juiz de Fora), was so very quaint and cozy and enchanting, especially in the winter time when I got acquainted to snow for the first time. The fact that everyone could leave home for church without needing to lock the door; no walls or fences around the house and you could leave your bike and other things outdoors was all new to me and still very different from what I was used to. To make a long story short or to summarize a book, I became an English teacher, today in my own English language school and have been talking about it all my life. There are over 150 students in my school and two of my children are also teachers besides five others including an American who is married to a Brazilian. I’m somewhat retired these days and will only teach to cover for teachers who can’t make to class for any reason.

2.  How many reunions have you attended and why do you come? 
I only attended the last two. I had unfortunately lost touch with everyone until one day, about 5 years ago, I typed my “brother’s” name, Stanley McGaughey, in Facebook, got in touch with him who told me about the 50th reunion. Incidentally, my wife and I visited Peru many years ago when we were on our way to Canada. If I had known Mary Nisoff’s address for example we would have dropped by then. Anyway, I was very emotional driving and showing my wife around remembering all the wonderful memories I had of that little town. I was so excited (actually had tears in my eyes) that I almost had an accident and barely missed running into another car while driving. (I have never had any accidents driving in much bigger cities like São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, NYC, Orlando, Miami, etc, where traffic is quite challenging, not to mention chaotic in some.) By the way, I learned how to drive in Peru when I took drivers’ ed at PCS.

3. What did you do when you returned to Brazil? i.e. college, career, family, etc.?
How can I summarize the 55 years of my life since I left Peru when I was only 18 years old? Well, right after I arrived back in Brazil, I was invited to teach English at the same school where I had learned it; after a semester moved to São Paulo, where I was born, to work and live independently / on my own. After a year there I was offered a job to work at the New York World’s Fair in 1964 as a receptionist for the Johnson’s Wax Co pavilion while living in Greenwich Village – I was 20 then; upon returning to Brazil again I entered the Federal University of Juiz de Fora where I graduated in 1969 with a degree in Law. I got married while I was still in the 4th of 5 years of school when I was 24 and after graduation and two years later we moved to Volta Redonda I started my own language school. I worked alone for more than 10 years and was extremely busy then which was good because we were able to buy our home where we still live today. Marilda and I have 3 children (46, 44, 43) and 3 grandchildren (19, 13, 1 1/2) and we’ll be celebrating our 50th anniversary next year.

4. What did you think of Brazil hosting the Olympics?
It was a good thing for the city of Rio de Janeiro because of the renovation it went  through, but it was too expensive for the country as a whole. We know today about all the corruption it involved for “winning“ the venue and preparing it for the games. Like most people in the world and in Brazil for that matter, we preferred to enjoy watching the competitions in the comfort of our own homes where we were able to “move” from one arena to another without any difficulty.

5. What was the most memorable part of this year’ reunion? Were you disappointed by the turnout?
Everything was memorable. It wouldn’t be fair to judge anyone who didn’t show up. I realize how difficult and expensive it must be for some of our friends to travel, sometimes from very distant places like Florida or Texas, in order to attend this event. I feel I’m among the lucky ones to have been able to make it especially because of the mobility, in my age, I still enjoy.

6. Do you keep in frequent contact with any of your Peru classmates?
Yes, I do nowadays, since the 50th reunion, thanks to the leadership of Gerry Shadrick who organizes everything and keeps us updated about everything that goes on with our classmates.

7. Did you take time to visit any other people or locations in the U.S.?
We didn’t have much time to visit anyone this time, but after the reunion we visited Boston during 3 days. It was the first time for my wife and mine after more than 50 years. Our flights were to and from JFK so we also spent 3 days in NYC which we get to visit from time to time.

8. What is your favorite part of the U.S.?
We, as well as many Brazilians, love Florida because it is a shorter flight away from us and where we’ve been able to take our children (when they were kids) to the different attractions they have there. But in different years we’ve enjoyed visiting several places besides New York such as Texas (Dallas, Austin, San Antonio), Louisiana (New Orleans), Nevada (Las Vegas), California (Berkeley, San Francisco), Washington  (when I was the Rotary GSE program coordinator of our District then) and Washington DC.

9.  Did you keep in contact with the McGaughey family?
Yes, since 2012 when I found Stanley on Facebook. Now we mostly keep in touch through Instagram and / or Facebook including Janet James (currently Calvary United Methodist Church senior pastor in Latham, NY) who was Janet McGaughey when she was only 6 and I, 17-18, was an exchange student living with her family. Grace and Rev. Melvin McGaughey, the pastor of Peru Community Church then, are both deceased.

Front Row L-R: Rich Shea, Michelle Gibbs Shea, Roxy Davis, Jim Aloi, Evelyn Marcotte Pelkey, Sandy Garrow Banker

Back Row L-R: Cory Brito, Merilda Brito, Mary Downs Nisoff, Gary Alpert, Seralory Alpert, Nancy Moomey Fisher, Janet Brand Cooper Wetherly, Bruce Cohen, Gerry Keenan Shadrick, Ronald Banker, Rachael McKnight, Ted McKnight

Friday attendees not in photo: Jim and Ellen Duprey and Sharon Clark Paneccasco