Working for Peace with the UN

Millbrook Rotarian Jim Lubin and his wife Diane visit RadioRotary to tell how they came to be Peacekeepers for the United Nations and involved in two of the more significant conflicts at the end of the 20th Century. Jim Lubin grew up in England during World War II and as a boy observed the American Air Force heading for the D-Day invasion of Europe. As a young man be made a career of proofreading, which eventually led to his being an editor at the United Nations, where he met and married Diane. Jim thought he could do more for world peace by volunteering to lead missions that the UN conducts to help maintain peace during conflicts. When he went to oversee elections in the new nation of Namibia in southwest Africa, Diane joined him on the mission—the first husband and wife team of UN Peacekeepers. With a successful mission to Namibia behind them, the pair volunteered to help resolve the conflicts between the new nations that used to be part of Yugoslavia, but this active war was between ethnic groups who were out to kill each other and who were not going to stop just because the UN was there. Having survived the war in Croatia, Jim and Diane retired to the United States. Diane was from Oneonta, NY, and had frequently driven the Taconic to New York City, so when the Lubins looked for a retirement home, exiting the Taconic at Millbrook became the key.

Learn More

Peacekeeping by the United Nations: https://peacekeeping.un.org/en

War and Election in Namibia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_Border_War

War in Former Yugoslavia: https://www.britannica.com/event/Bosnian-War

Millbrook Rotary Club: https://www.MillbrookRotary.org