Meeting the People in Your Neighborhood: Karl and Mary Lou Martz
By Barb Roy
Capital Times Staff Writer
Karl and Mary Lou Martz
share many things: a home,
their kids, and the same work
place at Penn State Capital
College, in different offices just
down the hall from one another.
That they are loyal Lions
fans makes this a natural place
for them to be together.
Karl came to work at Penn
State first, in 1988. He knew
and worked with the person
who held the job at Penn State
prior to him through his former
job as Director of Career
Services with Central Penn
Business School. He took over
when that person retired.
Mary Lou was home with
their two children, Jennifer and
Matthew, but worked part-time
as an RN in geriatrics. In the
late 1980 s, she was instrumen
tal in getting a maternity fitness
program, Mother Well, started
for Penn State’s Pinnacle
Women’s Resource Center.
Karl graduated from Texas
Lutheran with a degree in polit
ical science and psychology
while Mary Lou got her RN
from York Hospital School of
Nursing and then a BSN from
Messiah.
He received an MS degree in
Training and Development
from Penn State in the Spring
of 1993, ending the same
semester that Mary Lou was just
beginning the quest for her MS.
“There are no excuses not to
go on when you’re working in
an educational environment,”
Karl said.
In his job with career ser
vices in the Student Assistance
Office, Karl offers services in
career counseling, advising and
job placement assistance and
offers interview and resume
advice.
He plays a key role in the
Internship Fairs. “While we
don’t get involved in the actual
internship process, we can
make referrals and help with
connections in obtaining an
internship,” Karl said.
Meanwhile, Mary Lou dis
penses medical advice, coun
seling or treatment in the
Student Health Services Office.
They are both from the
Harrisburg area; Mary Lou
attended Bishop McDevitt High
School while Karl went to John
Harris High School.
Married for 23 years, they
met when Mary Lou’s brother
was playing football with Karl
after school one day. Mary Lou
says her sister spotted Karl
first, and that she was only
interested in watching the
game.
“I was not paying any atten
tion to Karl,” Mary Lou said,
“but it was me and not my sis
ter who received a call from
“Karl can be outspoken
sometimes , and he is a joker.
One time he introduced me
at a new student orientation
as his older sister!”
- Mary Lou Martz
him asking me out.”
Perhaps it was her interest in
football that impressed Karl—
their first date was to a Big 33
Pennsylvania-Ohio football
game. They carried on a long
distance romance while at col
lege over the next five years.
“My father’s rule before we
could marry was that we had to
be finished with school and
both have a job,” says
Mary Lou. “Luckily we both got
jobs right away when we grad
uated.”
Both Karl and Mary Lou’s
faces become familiar to stu
dents and staffers because of
their various activities through
out campus, but not many peo
ple connect them together.
“Karl has his job and I’m
doing mine... so someone might
get to know one of us and then
they’ll get to know the other
separately,” says Mary Lou.
“Students often react with
surprise to see pictures of each
other on our desks.”
It is a cliche that married
couples shouldn’t work in the
same place, but Karl and
Mary Lou love it.
“We commute together and it
gives us a chance to talk. We go
on coffee breaks and to lunch
and attend the same staff meet
ings,” Mary Lou said.
“Karl can be outspoken
sometimes, and he is a joker.
One time he introduced me at a
new student orientation as his
older sister.”
It is this outgoing quality
that he brings to his hobby as a
magician. “I’ve always been
fascinated with magic,” Karl
said.
“When I was working at the
Central Penn Business School,
I helped organize a benefit, and
invited a talented friend who
was a mime and he also per
formed magic tricks. My friend
was in movies and worked on
the set of Chaplin, helping to
teach Chaplin routines to the
One day his friend brought
Karl to a store that sold props
for magicians. Karl bought
some things, learned from his
friend and took off from there.
Starting out with kids’ birthday
parties, Karl went on to per
form magic shows for various
business conventions.
He has also performed in the
Gallery Lounge, and for the
annual Penn State Harrisburg
Fall Arts and Crafts Festival.
One of Karl’s greatest fans is
his daughter. When his daugh
ter Jennifer was four, she called
Mary Lou into her bedroom one
day.
“Look, mommy,” she said, “I
can do a magic trick like
Daddy,” as she poured real milk
into a hat while standing on the
bed. This messy audition
earned her a place as Daddy’s
assistant for years.
Outside of school, Karl loves
to be active. He teaches kayak
ing and is the President of the
Canoe Club. He is a member of
the Harrisburg Bicycle Club,
has coached youth baseball,
basketball, and soccer. He also
plays racquetball and runs sev
eral miles everyday to keep in
shape.
He ran in the Harrisburg
Marathon on Nov. 7 as part of a
relay team with his son
Matthew, Frank DeVanzo of
Police Services, and Jack
Cavanaugh of Penn State’s
Housing and Food Services.
They finished in the top quarter.
Mary Lou is also very active
and loves the fact that she
works on a ten-month contract,
allowing her to be outdoors in
the summer, playing tennis,
gardening, and joining her son
for in-line skating. No matter
what time of year, she walks
two miles every day.
Karl said she is a great cook.
“I love when she brings baked
goods for everyone to the
Canoe Club meetings.”
Although she loves to bake,
nutrition was her thesis for her
master’s degree, and she lives
what she preaches. She is an
avid advocate for healthy eat
ing, saying that it is a joke
amongst those who know her to
say, “Quick, eat this before
Mary Lou comes,” if there are
any goodies around.
A major highlight for their
family was to attend the 1996
Olympics in Atlanta. The
expenses were paid by Penn
State. Karl recruited 400 stu
dents from Penn State (150
were from PSH) to work as
security.
Karl and Mary Lou served as
house parents and Mary Lou
also did drug testing. “It was
thrilling to be involved with the
Olympics. Both of our kids
worked too.”
The biggest thrill for Karl
involved the torch. “I got up at
5 a.m. to watch it arrive,, but
there was so much revelry in
the streets that the runners, a
bunch of young Belgiums,
could not get through,” he
remembered. “I started to talk
with them while they were just
standing there. The street was
blocked and I asked them [the
Belgians] if I could hold it for a
minute, and then I actually got
to hold the torch.”
The biggest challenge came
during the bombing that
occurred during the Olympics.
“It was hard to get a head count
of everyone we were responsi
ble for because in the evening,
a lot of the students went down
town because there was a lot of
fun things to do,” Karl said.
“We weren’t sure who was
where and we had to go through
the rooms over and over again
until we could account for
everyone.”
While no one from Penn
State was injured by the bomb
ing, several students packed up
to leave the next morning.
Mary Lou and their kids decided
to stick it out with Dad.
Sticking with it together is
their lifestyle. Karl jokingly
said, “If Mary Lou and I com
bine our years here as students
and employees of Penn State,
we need to retire.”
For all of their activity and
love of this school, retirement
doesn’t look likely for a long
time to come.
Mary Lou and Karl Martz
Photo by Barb Roy