Karla Lynn (Bobby) Kespohl Geerlings
We ask people for their full name and let them decide how to define “full;” well, for me, I guess it depends on the day, the occasion, and the individuals included. I included the parenthetical Bobby because, although it began as a camp name, it followed me into college and beyond. Most of my personal circle of friends call me Bobby in private, unless they met me originally through work or church. My kids call me Mom.
I was born in Columbia, Missouri. I’ve lived in several other places, but my family always returned to Columbia, which is my dad’s hometown, as well. I attended 3 different elementary schools in Columbia ( and 3 in other cities/states) and Oakland Junior High, and graduated from David H. Hickman High School. I attended MU for 6 years, under 3 different declared majors (computer science, music education, therapeutic education for special populations) and have found most of the skills and knowledge I gained to be useful in my work life, my private life, or both—though I can’t say that the proper tuba embouchure (mouth position and pressure on the mouthpiece) is something I’ve been called on to use lately,
I began working at MU Libraries in 1982, my first year in college, as a student assistant at HSL (before the current library facility was built). I went on to work at VET and here at Ellis, ending my student tenure in the Serials Retrospective Conversion Project. In 1988 I began working full-time for MU Libraries, typing book cards on an IBM keypunch machine. I have worked variously in Serials Cataloging, Book Repair, Bindery, Preservation and now head the Serials & Authorities Unit in the Catalog Department.
I live with my adorable postman husband Mike, 17-year-old son Sean (“leave me alone!”), 16-year-old daughter Krissy (“You don’t understand …”), and our silver tabby Ellie (“Meee-out!”).
In my leisure time I work with the local Girl Scout organization, my church (Wilkes Blvd. United Methodist) where I direct the coir and head the education team, and am involved with the Camp Hickory Hill camper/staff alumni organization (remember the camp name?) I also love to play social games of all kinds—board games, card games, dice, trivia, whatever—and host a game night regularly for friends and friends-of-friends.
The coolest place I have ever been is the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, China. My husband, my mother and I travelled with a tour group to China in October of 2009 and we saw many, many wonderful things there and met some really great people. What makes the Temple of Heaven special is that there are dozens of steps going straight up the hill to the actual temple, and I was using a wheelchair because I was recovering from abdominal hernia surgery. The men in our tour group, determined that I should not be left out of the experience, placed my wheelchair in the car rails on the steps and hefted me all the way to the top!!! It was a very special experience for me.
In a movie of my life, which will, of course, be coming out any year now, I’d like to be portrayed by Kathy Bates.
