Giving in Harmony

Long-time music professor and handbell director, Herb Geisler, 和妻子Kiulan (Kiu)在过去的三十多年里一直是康科迪亚社区不可或缺的一部分, 1988年，年轻的赫伯来到西部加入音乐学院. Kiu, a native of Hong Kong, enrolled at the university the following year, and the pair discovered one another, 他们于1994年结婚，并在博彩平台网址大全校园担任教职员工(赫伯)和图书馆工作人员(乔)多年，直到最近退休.

Now, 盖斯勒夫妇把康考迪亚作为他们生前信托的一部分，以此来纪念这个让他们走到一起的机构.

赫伯说:“看到这所大学的蓬勃发展，我真的很兴奋。. “他们所做的事情和他们所建立的文化感令人惊叹. 我走在校园里，很高兴看到学生们真正投入到他们正在做的事情中.”

While serving as a teacher in Hong Kong in the 1980s, 乔是在参加朋友的婚礼时得知基督学院的. 虽然不打算永久移居美国, she did hope to spend time studying overseas.

“我认为基督学院(现在的康考迪亚大学欧文分校)非常适合我，”她说. “我想提高我的英语水平，成为一个更有效的老师.”

她的目标是在获得行为科学学士学位后回到香港继续教书, but instead love struck. 乔还记得第一次见到赫伯的情景，以及他是如何开始用广东话和她说话的, her native language.

她说:“这对我来说意义重大，因为我刚来的时候还没见过亚洲人的脸。. “突然之间，我没想到这个人会用广东话和我说话. Certain moments in life you remember forever. That was one of those moments.”

Herb — born and raised in Manhattan, the Bronx, 和皇后区的路德教会教师，他们通过康考迪亚芝加哥来到尔湾, his undergraduate alma mater, and Michigan, where he taught at Concordia Ann Arbor. 他还花了四年时间在香港九龙地区教授宗教, music, 和英语，这是康考迪亚路德中学学士学位实习的一部分. 就在那时，他自学了广东话，这在他遇到乔时派上了用场. But the two may never have crossed paths, 因为加州不在赫伯的职业目的地名单上. “I had no interest in California at all,” he says. “I was a New Yorker.”

But, 收到他在安娜堡的教务长发来的CCI职位公告，以回应欧文基督学院的职位公告, 盖斯勒参加了面试，并发现自己与当时的校长雷·哈尔姆通了电话，哈尔姆收到了成为音乐系教授的邀请.

他回忆道:“我当时很震惊，因为我根本没打算认真对待面试过程. “I thought, if it’s the Lord’s will, he’ll have me go there.”

因此，盖斯勒搬到了西部，开始教书，并承担了另一项重要的任务，这是他在密歇根期间所具备的能力:创建一个教师教育项目. Within four years, with Geisler in a key role, 康考迪亚大学新开设的音乐专业成为其教师教育计划的重要组成部分.

Around that same time, in 1994, Herb and Kiu were married.

“I’m a very planned person,” says Kiu. 我知道我什么时候想做什么，我的计划是回香港教书. But the Lord had a different plan.”

赫伯继续指挥康科迪亚教堂唱诗班和手铃小组，并教授音乐课程, in addition to building the music education program.

“I enjoyed everything I did,” he says. With handbells specifically, “We had fantastic experiences traveling and performing, 在我任职期间，我们的员工从18人增加到60人.”

这种增长促使学校聘请了音乐教授南希·杰瑟普(Nancy Jessup)来帮助处理工作量. When Herb retired in 2017, 他的最后一个项目是在美国手铃音乐家全国研讨会上指挥音乐会手铃. 他在康考迪亚留下了一笔遗产，那就是建立了一个完善的音乐项目，培养了许多有天赋的学生音乐家和作曲家，比如亚历克斯·盖伯特和克里斯蒂安·盖伯特.

1999年，Kiu在尔湾联合学区以各种身份工作了10年，包括图书馆媒体教师，并在康考迪亚获得了加州教师资格证书. She joined Concordia’s library staff in 2007, retiring in 2019 as the library office manager, handling the library’s budget and acquisitions. She earned her MBA in 2016 for personal growth.

“这是一次非常有趣和有价值的经历，”她谈到在教室里的经历. “I received a very good education from Concordia. I had really good professors. I feel they really cared, and they were strong academically.” 

Upon retiring, 这对夫妇想建立一个信托，以便有一天上帝给他们的资源可以支持对他们重要的事工和机构.

“Being a teacher myself, supporting education is always part of the priority, besides the church,” says Kiu. “I feel extremely blessed by what God has given us. We want to be good stewards.”

Herb says that while neither one came from material wealth, 他们都是勤勉的资源管理者——敬虔的管理总是包括给予.

“I took it for granted that that’s part of what we do,” says Herb, 说到他父母在他成长过程中慷慨大方的榜样.

他们花了几年时间寻找一位理解他们目标的房地产律师, 盖斯勒夫妇找到了一个非常有帮助的合作伙伴，康考迪亚公司的乔纳森·霍华德，他与财政计划部(FPM)合作，建立了盖斯勒夫妇的生前信托. 该大学与FPM的新合作伙伴关系使遗产规划过程比以往任何时候都更简单，更容易, says FPM employee Liz Pimentel ’10.

“FPM was very helpful,” says Herb. “If we had questions, we could talk to somebody about them. Jonathan is a very gifted person for this kind of task. He walks through it very tenderly and lovingly. 他也是博彩平台网址大全的毕业生，所以这也在他心里.”

Kiu calls the process “very organized and easy to do.盖斯勒夫妇很高兴向博彩平台网址大全捐款，因为这所大学“正在蓬勃发展，很多好事正在发生。,” Herb says.

有了他们的帮助，康科迪亚才有了今天，他们的支持将帮助康科迪亚继续走向未来.