Many of you have written stories about your interaction with Karl that touched my heart, and I would like to thank you for sharing your stories with me. They have meant a lot. You have also expressed an interest in knowing more about the man who touched your lives. I can only begin to touch on the special person Karl was. I have lived with Karl for 18 years, and everyday was full. I have tried to put a little down on paper, so you might know him better.
Karl grew up in San Francisco during the heyday of the 60’s and 70’s. He was engaged in the culture of the times, and spent time at Haight and Asbury, and listening to free concerts in Golden Gate Park, the likes of which included the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane. He did poorly in High School so was transferred to an alternative High School, where he found true interest in learning. The framework of the alternative High School gave Karl the foundation for the way he would study the rest of his life. He was an avid reader, and had vast knowledge of the history of the US, especially the western US, and a good grounding in economics and the way it influenced politics. Karl loved math, and went to college to pursue math and physics. He received his masters from Berkeley, but then abandoned his Ph.D. to pursue rock climbing. He was a physics and geology professor for a while, before he pursued remodeling real estate.
Karl was passionate about anything he pursued. I met him when he was an avid rock climber and still teaching physics and geology (at a different college than I attended). He established traditional climbing routes that pushed the limits of the time. We traveled the country in his pick-up, camping in spectacular places, and climbing their heights. He was gentle and supportive. We were inseparable from the time we met, but what captured my heart was the way he stopped to help a woman stranded with her broken down car in the middle of winter. He stopped and I watched as he helped her get her car going again. From that moment on I was hooked. He was a man of many talents, and those came with humility.
Karl could speak Russian, Spanish, and German, and of course English. The German and Spanish were self-taught. Karl learned to speak Spanish when we were remodeling apartments for a living. He would work right alongside the laborers, and some became good friends, bringing him back special tequila after they had visited home in Mexico. Karl could fix anything, and had excellent taste in remodeling. Even if he wanted to hire someone else to do the job, they would look at him and say..”oh, you can do this”. So he got stuck doing whatever it was, and doing an excellent job too.
Karl would take up legal issues for the environment for our community when developers wanted to pave over the creek by our house. He would go to the law library and study. Again teach himself the law he needed to know to fight the unbeatable developers. He was voted into the community council as a write-in candidate…. I never knew that to happen before. We also beat the developers and the creek still runs free and is a home to diverse wildlife.
Karl was an avid shooter, and would make his own ammunition, carefully calibrating the grains so that he was an expert marksman at the range. He also loved jiu-jitsu, fencing, running, mountain biking, and hiking, and of course, weight lifting, a staple throughout his life. Karl was man enough to stop and look at the flowers, know them by name, go bird watching, and always keep the bird feeders by our house full. We did it all together. Spending our working, recreational, and sleeping hours together. I just didn’t help much with the bird feeders. Now I keep them full in his honor, and our bird sits with me in his stead as I write this on the computer.
I knew Karl when he first started studying physiology on his own on our big table in a basement apartment, and saw him eventually blossom into a medical expert. There were many times when either a friend or I had a problem the doctors couldn’t figure out, and Karl would research the issue and find a solution. His readers knew this side of him well. He would often stay up late at night either writing, or answering emails. Karl was actually somewhat antisocial, wanting only to spend time with me, but on the Internet he found a community he could relate to, and made friends. Karl sincerely cared about the people with whom he communicated on the net. It was his community. I believe it gave him a sense of self worth, as he did not have a regular job that gave him recognition or seniority. Writing was something completely his own, and it satisfied him on a deep level. It satisfied his need to give. I am grateful he was truly appreciated.
Karl was the antithesis of a consumer. He rarely wore new clothes. Even when I would venture to buy them, they would have to “season” a while before Karl would want to wear them. Shopping was a burden to be endured only when absolutely necessary. He usually made due with the Christmas gifts of socks, underwear, the occasional shirt, pant, or jacket, to get by the years. Karl also hated to go out to dinner. We always cooked together at home and it seemed like a little celebration every night. Karl always looked forward to dinner at home, together. He was 5’10” and rarely broke the 200lbs mark on the scale. He had virtually no body fat, and could do dragonflies, and do the abwheel from standing to all the way flat and back to standing again. Kids liked Karl, and he would let them sit on his back while he did pushups.
Although we like children, Karl and I do not have children. This was our choice, as we wanted to spend all our time together pursuing the sports and life we loved. Neither did we want to contribute to overpopulation and consumerism. Now I am so glad for this decision, as I am grateful for every minute we spent together, and all the time we did not have to share with others. I may be lonely and in pain, but I was rarely and uniquely loved. Many people never have such a love.
Karl’s life was a candle burning at both ends. He pursued everything he undertook with a passion bordering on obsession. I am glad he had the freedom to pursue his passions, and live life the way he wanted to live his life.
