Bob Kirlin
What he can do, he will do.
~story and photo by Chrissy Alspaugh
B
ob Kirlin’s resume is riddled with titles including CEO, president, chairman, and broker. But don’t be fooled—his heart always has been on stage. That’s great news for Brown County Playhouse, one of the many organizations to which Kirlin devotes his time and talent. He is the chairman of the playhouse board of directors, which assumed operational duties of the theater in February, when Executive Director Suzannah Zody became ill. Kirlin, also associate broker at Carpenter Realtors, said it’s been “a pleasure” to work more intimately with the playhouse this spring. “I might be weird,” he said, chuckling, “but I absolutely love this place.” His affection for the stage was sparked by tap-dance lessons at age 7. Kirlin laughed at the memory of tap-dancing while simultaneously playing drums at the Indiana State Fair when he
16 Our Brown County • May/June 2019
was 15. “My mom said, ‘Bobby, whatever happens, you just keep smiling and showing your dimples.’ Well, the set-screw on my drum stand came loose, but I just kept on smiling and dancing as it slid all the way down to the floor.” The self-proclaimed “farm boy” from Milton, Indiana took careful note of how hard his parents worked, how involved they were in their community, and how adamant they were about leaving the world a better place than they found it. “That’s probably why in my life, if God puts it there in front of me, I’ll jump in and work on it,” Kirlin said. Thirty days after graduating from Franklin College with a degree in physical education, he was drafted into the Army. A typewriter error resulted in Kirlin working as a physical therapist for a year and a half in San Antonio, Texas, treating burn patients from the Vietnam War. That mix-up likely prevented him from being deployed; “It probably saved my life,” he said. Kirlin spent 32 years in the men’s apparel industry, with his home in Cincinnati and office in New York City. He said those years of nonstop travel were difficult. However, he loved that that part of his life also included frequent Broadway theater shows.
