Growing Up Columbia: Mary Martha Riviere’s Unique Perspective From her position at the front desk, library circulation coordinator Mary Martha Kline Riviere is often the first library employee students interact with, and these days, alumni and students still depend on her to help them over the internet or phone.
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er endless knowledge of the library collections and processes, combined with her deft ability to make library visitors feel like they have found exactly what they are looking for, has made Mary Martha part of the “Columbia Story.” But there is more to that story! For Mary Martha, Columbia truly is a family affair. Not only is she the daughter of President C. Benton Kline (yes, of the C. Benton Kline Archives and Special Collections), her husband Kenneth is the son of a former Dean, and her daughter in-law, Alison, is an employee with the Center for Lifelong Learning. Mary Martha works in the John Bulow Campbell Library as a circulation coordinator. Recently, Mary Martha was awarded the Betsy Burgess Staff Award. This award was established “for one who has demonstrated faithfulness, dedicated service, and Christian
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character upholding the seminary’s purpose and mission.” When did you and your family live in the Presidents’ House? Our family (my parents, my brother John and myself) moved into the President's house in 1971 when my father was named president of Columbia. We were already living in faculty housing (what is now the Moore-Keish's house) as my dad had come to the seminary in 1969 as Dean of Faculty and Professor of Theology. I was entering 11th grade when we moved into 320 Inman, and my brother was at UGA. We lived there until the summer of 1975. Has the campus physically changed much, and what are the major changes? Oh, certainly! There was no Harrington Center, no NRH and what is now the BLC was the Simons-Law dorm. I'm not sure about apartments in the village, but there have probably been some changes there as well. And of course, the library was just the original building from the 1950s.
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