Shareholder Spotlight: Kathryn Mason & Jimmy Karlan

Meet Shareholders Kathryn Mason and Jimmy Karlan

Member since:  The 80s!

Reasons for Joining: “Why would we not?! It’s community supporting community.”

Favorite Department: In general: Fruits & Veggies. In specific: the fresh salmon (especially Arctic char) in seafood.

Kathryn Mason and her husband Jimmy Karlan have been shareholders practically from the beginning – going back more than three decades and three Co-op locations! They’ve built their family and their careers here in the area, investing a great deal in our community along the way. Kathryn is a child and family psychotherapist specializing in healing from trauma, a recipient of the Susan B. Anthony award for her work on child sexual abuse and domestic violence prevention. In practice for 30-plus years locally, she shifted gears about a decade ago to focus her energies full-time on serving the students and staff at the Oak Grove School as their Counselor. “It’s a remarkable school with a rich environment, filled with great people.” Jimmy spent 25 years as a professor, bringing his innovative, hands-on approach to learning to the Masters and PhD in Environmental Studies program at Antioch University just across the border in New Hampshire. With a gift for creative curriculum design, Jimmy has also developed several programs in environmental sustainability and sciences for both children and adults, the most recent a collaboration with Elephant Care International, (ElephantMedicine.info) teaching veterinarians in Asia methods of tending to the health and wellbeing of pachyderms(!). In light of Kathryn and Jimmy’s concern for the environment and their community, it’s no surprise that their two sons have grown up to share these values: Isaac works in Cambridge, MA as Director of Operations for a real estate tech company and Galen has recently launched GreenChoice (currently available at the Co-op), a system of QR code grocery shelf tags that inform consumers about the nutritional, processing, environmental, and food safety of products. So grateful to have folks like these as neighbors and members of our Co-op community!