Gary Swain

Founder of Friends of Kalamazoo Historic Cemeteries, Gary Swain retired as a Senior

Vice President of Marketing and Sales for Webster Industries, a Boston based plastics

manufacturer. His business career spanned forty years in consumer products marketing and sales management for both Mobil Corporation and Georgia Pacific Corporation.

Since retiring in 2010, he has been active serving on the boards of the WMU Foundation, director and chairman the statue committee of the Kalamazoo Abraham Lincoln Institute and as past commander of the Department of Michigan, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War. He is a frequent lecturer on the Civil War, genealogy and cemetery preservation. Gary also devotes countless hours as a volunteer leader with the scouts, veteran organizations and historical and preservation groups.

Marge Kars

Marge Kars was manager of the health sciences library and HealthAnswers at Bronson Methodist Hospital until her retirement in 2011.  As a literacy volunteer she directed the Late  Show, a community reading program at the Kalamazoo County Juvenile Home and facilitated a book discussion group with the young people in detention in the facility. She helped establish the Ready to Read program, Kalamazoo Public Library's emergent literacy program. Marge served on the board of the Kalamazoo Abraham Lincoln Project. Marge is a member of the Ladies' Library Association in Kalamazoo and served as president of the group in 2016-2018.

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Karen Braddy Lambert

Karen worked as an executive for the world’s largest wholesale auto auction company, a division of Cox Enterprises, the largest privately held company in the state of Georgia with over $42 billion in annual revenues. As General Manager of Specialty she concepted, developed and launched a business creating one of the only wholesale remarketing channels available to non-car dealers. Her Specialty division remarketed Boats, RVs, Motorcycles, Powersports, Heavy Truck & Equipment & Highline vehicles and is the industry standard today. In addition, she launched Mobile Auction sales, bringing the auction to the product. She has over 30 years experience launching new businesses and is on the board of the Lucinda Hinsdale Stone Chapter NSDAR, the board of directors for the Michigan Mayflower Society and is a member of 8 other genealogical societies including the Jamestowne Society. She is an avid motorcyclist and enjoys hiking and traveling as well as supporting important historic organizations. As a marketing and brand executive, Karen lends these talents to us.

Sharon Carlson

Sharon brings over 30 years of experience working with historical collections held by non-profits, historical societies, and libraries. She is a certified archivist (C.A.) and holds advanced degrees in library science and history.  As the head of Western Michigan University’s Archives and Regional History Collections from 1995 to 2020, she was also involved in planning the Zhang Legacy Collections Center at Western Michigan University and oversaw a move of a 30,000 cubic foot collection.  She has worked with numerous historical societies and organizations in Michigan to develop procedures for working with historical resources and taught archival administration at the college level and basic archival methods to historical societies and individuals.

Sharon is Executive Director of the Ladies' Library Association and has been an active member since 2016. She is a regular guest speaker at multiple lineage based societies in the southwest Michigan area. Sharon is a lifelong historian and is a research director for Friends of Kalamazoo Historic Cemeteries.

Mike Culp

Mike Culp earned his BS from Western Michigan University where he lettered on the Bronco soccer team.  He spent much of his career as an educator, teaching in the Portage School system and at the Montessori School of Kalamazoo.  He retired from Kalamazoo Valley Community College where he taught Civil War History for twenty years.  Mike spent many years as a Civil War reenactor and appeared as an extra in the movies Gettysburg and Glory. After retirement Mike served as Commander of the General Benjamin Pritchard Camp 20, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War and was executive director of the Thirteenth Michigan Memorial Association.

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Robert Hencken

Bob has always been involved in service to the community.  He is a member of the Kalamazoo Sunrise Rotary Club and is also very active in veterans’ activities.  A long-time member of the Kalamazoo Detachment of the Marine Corps League, he has served as its commandant and for many years has been the Judge Advocate of the Marine Corps League Department of Michigan.  For the last several years he has been a principal organizer of the Kalamazoo County Veterans Day Program and he was the chairman and organizer of the Kalamazoo County Memorial Day Parade in 2004 and 2005.   He is also a member of the VFW Red Arrow Post #1527 and the Military Order of the Purple Heart.

Bob’s past community service includes eight years on the Board of Directors of Planned Parenthood of Kalamazoo (including a term as President), a member of the County Committee of the Kalamazoo County Democratic Party, and other activities. When not working, Bob likes to travel and is particularly interested in American history.  He is a member of the Kalamazoo Civil War Roundtable which he served as treasurer for many years.  

Kelly O'Leary

Kelly retired from teaching Composition and French for 24 years at Kalamazoo Valley Community College where she served as founder and co-president of the adjunct union.  A book and library lover, Kelly started a Friends group at her local library and served as president for a number of years. She is currently a director on the board of the Friends of Michigan Libraries and helps maintain their Facebook page. She is a volunteer on the Events Committee of Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Western Michigan University and is the playwright for OLLI’s Senior Readers Theater. In her spare time, Kelly enjoys genealogy, gardening, and art classes at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts.

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Pamela Barrios Meyer

Pamela’s interest in all things historical began at an early age.  As a child, she remembers her fascination with Egyptian mummies and the burial practices of the Incas and the Moche culture specifically, probably due to her Peruvian heritage.  One of her favorite pastimes growing up was to walk through cemeteries carefully noting the family tombs, dates of birth and death and the condition of the tombstones or monuments.  It seemed sad to her to see the disrepair and neglect of some of the graves. She became more interested in the restoration and repair of gravestones when she located the gravesites of her great-grandparents noting the condition that they were in.  It felt important to her to honor these people who were her ancestors and to keep the history of their lives and communities alive. 

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Pamela has a bachelor’s degree in history and political science from Western Michigan University.  She is currently a member of the Historical Society of Michigan, the Ladies Library Association, the Kalamazoo Nature Center and the Pierce Cedar Creek Institute. 

Sandy George

A graduate of the University of Michigan, with a B.A. and a MBA, Sandy is a student of history and has toured numerous battlefields and historical sites with her family.  The family also enjoys visiting important cemeteries.

Sandy is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and a long - time member and past officer of the Kalamazoo Civil War Roundtable.  She also participates in the Prayer Shawl Ministry of St. Catherine of Siena.  In addition, Sandy enjoys calling weekly “Quarter Bingo” for the residents of Story Point Senior Living Community.  Finally, as a member of the Log Cabin Quilt Guild she delights in many forms of crafting including counted cross-stitch, quilting and knitting.