About Bill Kobe
Having just arrived at the age of 65, I find myself in good health, good spirits, and possessing and practicing an attitude of gratitude for all the wonderful opportunities, experiences and people that have been a part of my life and continue to be so.
I am originally from the Iron Range of Minnesota, having attended high school in Gilbert, junior college in Virginia (VJC), and college at the University of Minnesota in Duluth (UMD). Before I graduated from UMD, I did an active tour of duty for three years in the United States Army from 1969-1972, working in the pathology labs of military hospitals and dispensary clinics. My military career allowed me to travel through the southern United States (Ft. Bragg, North Carolina; Ft. Sam Houston, Texas; Ft. Gordon, Georgia; 2nd General Hospital, Landstuhl, West Germany; and 539th Medical Dispensary, Zweibrucken, West Germany; and finally, Reserve duty at Ft. Snelling, Minnesota). It also allowed me to meet a wonderful lady in Germany whom I eventually married in New Orleans. After leaving the military I lived in Sarasota, Florida, for one year and worked at Robart's Funeral Home as an apprentice embalmer - a position related to my patholoby lab experience. I finished my bachelor of science degree and UMD and worked as a graphics designer for an architectural firm in Duluth for one year. With no teaching positions in visual arts, my wife, Barbara, and I moved to her home town of Davenport, Iowa. I substituted taught in the Davenport district and also worked at a wonderful garden center called Mr. HomeGrown. When a position operating the printing department opened up at Marycrest College in Davenport, I applied and was given the job. I designed and printed all college graphic material, a skill I had learned by taking an offset printing course in the Industrial Arts department at UMD. I also started a Master's program in special education. During my time at Marycrest and Mr. HomeGrown, I met a number of students attending Palmer College of Chiropractic (PCC). I was intrigued at the idea of alternative medical care and decided to enter PCC. While taking classes at PCC, I worked nights at UPS loading trucks. I also utilized the GI Bill to help with the costs of living and education. Upon graduation in June of 1980, Barbara and I moved back to Minnesota and I started a practice in downtown Minneapolis. During the next 25 years I worked as a Doctor of Chiropractic, and Barbara and I raised our two wonderful children, Jane and Kristopher. Sometime in the mid 1990's, I decided that I no longer wanted nor enjoyed my vocation and made a decision to return to teaching art, my unfulfilled passion in life. It was something that my mother instilled and nurtured in me and my father financed, to a point, and that I just could not let go of. Since making that decision, I have experienced the joy of teaching art to thousands of kids and adults (big kids with gray hair and wrinkles). Art has presented to them a means of self-explanation of the world they live in and perceive. It has enhanced their self esteem and given them a sense of self worth. Along with teaching, I am also an artist and my goal for the rest of my time on this earth is to enjoy it and make a living from it.
I am originally from the Iron Range of Minnesota, having attended high school in Gilbert, junior college in Virginia (VJC), and college at the University of Minnesota in Duluth (UMD). Before I graduated from UMD, I did an active tour of duty for three years in the United States Army from 1969-1972, working in the pathology labs of military hospitals and dispensary clinics. My military career allowed me to travel through the southern United States (Ft. Bragg, North Carolina; Ft. Sam Houston, Texas; Ft. Gordon, Georgia; 2nd General Hospital, Landstuhl, West Germany; and 539th Medical Dispensary, Zweibrucken, West Germany; and finally, Reserve duty at Ft. Snelling, Minnesota). It also allowed me to meet a wonderful lady in Germany whom I eventually married in New Orleans. After leaving the military I lived in Sarasota, Florida, for one year and worked at Robart's Funeral Home as an apprentice embalmer - a position related to my patholoby lab experience. I finished my bachelor of science degree and UMD and worked as a graphics designer for an architectural firm in Duluth for one year. With no teaching positions in visual arts, my wife, Barbara, and I moved to her home town of Davenport, Iowa. I substituted taught in the Davenport district and also worked at a wonderful garden center called Mr. HomeGrown. When a position operating the printing department opened up at Marycrest College in Davenport, I applied and was given the job. I designed and printed all college graphic material, a skill I had learned by taking an offset printing course in the Industrial Arts department at UMD. I also started a Master's program in special education. During my time at Marycrest and Mr. HomeGrown, I met a number of students attending Palmer College of Chiropractic (PCC). I was intrigued at the idea of alternative medical care and decided to enter PCC. While taking classes at PCC, I worked nights at UPS loading trucks. I also utilized the GI Bill to help with the costs of living and education. Upon graduation in June of 1980, Barbara and I moved back to Minnesota and I started a practice in downtown Minneapolis. During the next 25 years I worked as a Doctor of Chiropractic, and Barbara and I raised our two wonderful children, Jane and Kristopher. Sometime in the mid 1990's, I decided that I no longer wanted nor enjoyed my vocation and made a decision to return to teaching art, my unfulfilled passion in life. It was something that my mother instilled and nurtured in me and my father financed, to a point, and that I just could not let go of. Since making that decision, I have experienced the joy of teaching art to thousands of kids and adults (big kids with gray hair and wrinkles). Art has presented to them a means of self-explanation of the world they live in and perceive. It has enhanced their self esteem and given them a sense of self worth. Along with teaching, I am also an artist and my goal for the rest of my time on this earth is to enjoy it and make a living from it.
