Peace Corps volunteer and W&M grad mourned

Family mourns death of W&M grad in Benin

Family members of a Peace Corps worker from suburban Atlanta who was found dead in the west African nation of Benin said she lived to help people and was optimistic, but not naive.

A memorial service is planned for Saturday in Georgia for Catherine "Kate" Puzey, a 24-year-old graduate of the College of William and Mary who was found dead March 12 outside her home in Badjoude. Authorities suspect she was killed.

She had been teaching since July 2007 in the village, about six hours from Cotonou.

"She loved life and she loved people," Miss Puzey's mother, Lois, said in a telephone interview. "She was able to just reach out and touch each person in an individual way."

William and Mary spokesman Brian Whitson released a statement Wednesday saying: "We are deeply saddened to hear this tragic news. Kate Puzey was one of us -- a member of the William and Mary family who after graduation decided she wanted to help others, to make a difference in this world, so she volunteered with the Peace Corps and taught English to a small village in rural Africa. She was by all accounts a remarkable person and will be greatly missed by all who knew her."

Miss Puzey was born in Germany, where her parents were U.S. Department of Defense teachers. When she was 7, the family moved to Okinawa, where she graduated at the top of her high school class.

She majored in sociology and minored in management at William and Mary, and she spent a year studying in France during college. She graduated in 2006. While a student, Miss Puzey served on the board of the Project Phoenix, a nonprofit organization that builds partnerships between Virginia higher education and some of the state's most distressed communities.

Drew Stelljes, director of W&M's Office of Student Volunteer Services, remembered her yesterday as "a dedicated volunteer, a wonderful mentor to children, a top-notch scholar, but most importantly she was a very caring person. Kate had an infectious smile, a mature manner and a deep sense of life purpose and calling."

Lois and Harry Puzey said they taught Miss Puzey and her brother, David, a 28-year-old graduate student, to be "world citizens," instilling in them a love of travel and a desire to make the world a better place.

"When people were defenseless or an underdog, she would stand up for them," Lois Puzey said of her daughter.

The Puzeys said authorities have two suspects but haven't told them many details about the investigation. They said they don't believe her death was random.

Neither the State Department nor the Peace Corps has commented on the cause of death.

The Puzeys last saw their daughter when she came home in June for her mother's 60th birthday. Her mother then went back with her to Africa for a few weeks. They last spoke to her March 8, when she called them, as she did every Sunday, from a spot on her porch, the only place her cell phone worked.

Emilie Jacobs-Finnegan, 31, spent her November birthday in Benin visiting her cousin. Jacobs-Finnegan said she was struck by how truly integrated her cousin was -- Puzey's best friend in Benin was a local midwife and she ate her meals with villagers instead of isolating herself at home.

Miss Puzey would have finished her stint in the Peace Corps this summer and then planned a trip around Africa with some Peace Corps friends. Her parents said she planned to go to graduate school upon returning to the U.S. and was interested in working for a nonprofit organization.

A memorial service is scheduled for noon Saturday in Alpharetta, Ga., at The Sanctuary at Birmingham United Methodist Church.

Times-Dispatch Deputy News Editor Tina Eshleman and The Associated Press contributed to this report.