An Interview with Audio-Reader Volunteer
Beverley Wilson
By Dr. Kim Morrow, Listener and Advisory Board Member
Retiring K.U. business Professor Maurice Joy needed a big favor—and he knew just who to ask. For several years, Professor Joy had been reading The Christian Science Monitor for Audio-Reader. Now he was relocating for the winter, and while he looked forward to the warm weather down South, he wanted to find the right and perfect person to continue the special volunteer activity that had come to mean so much to him. He found that special someone in Beverley Wilson. We’re so glad he did! Twenty-eight years later, mornings will find Beverley in one of Audio-Reader’s studios, reading not only the Christian-Science monitor, but a host of other nonfiction books as well.
A native of Wilmington, Delaware and a math major at Cornell University, Bev met the love of her life during graduate studies at the University of Illinois/Urbana. George and Bev Wilson married before leaving Illinois. They moved to Tucson, where her son Stephen was born. Bev taught managerial accounting at Arizona State, before relocating to Lawrence, where George accepted a full-time job as a professor of chemistry at KU. One year later, in 1987, Bev began teaching accounting courses at KU.
The opportunity to volunteer for Audio-Reader is perfectly aligned with Beverly’s profound love for reading. That affinity began in 1950, when Mrs. Barnhardt, Bev’s fifth grade teacher, asked each member of her class to ask their parents to subscribe to the Christian-Science Monitor. She has been reading that publication ever since. But Bev was not always drawn to reading. One day, Mrs. Barnhardt pulled fifth-grade Beverley aside and said, “You are very good at math and science. I’m going to remove you from one of those subjects that you know so well, so that you can have time to develop a love for reading.” Mrs. Barnhardt introduced Bev first to A Tale of Two Cities, then to Pride and Prejudice, and finally, to the “Orange Books”. These were biographies specifically designed to appeal to children. Thus began her interest in nonfiction. “I want to read about my world and about people I can relate to.”
During her time at Audio-Reader, Beverley has read a variety of interesting literature. She has recorded over 100 books. Her favorite book to date: “Braiding Sweet Grass. By Robin Wall Kimmerer. If I were stranded on a desert island and could only have one book, that would be it.” One of her most memorable assignments was reading The Week Magazine. Bev remembers, “When I was visiting my Dad in Florida, my dad said it was his favorite magazine. I began reading it as well, and I loved it.” She asked Audio-Reader’s volunteer coordinator if she could read portions of The Week on-air. Her broadcast now airs on Saturday mornings.
Bev also enjoys compiling an hour-long program for Audio-Reader called Business and the Economy, during which she reads articles from The Economist. Bev said, “I required all of my students at KU. to subscribe to The Wall Street Journal, because I believed so strongly in its content.” Beverley wanted to give her students something they could carry with them into their future. “I wanted my students to read stories that were life-changing.” I asked them to save these stories about people who changed lives in a notebook. As their lives progressed, I wanted them to get out their notebooks, to read those stories, and to ask themselves, ‘Is it time for me to do something life-changing like the people did in these stories’?”
Bev calls Audio-Reader her “happy place”. She read briefly for Telephone Reader, but missed the live interaction in the studio. Her favorite Audio-Reader memory is reading with her Breakfast Table Times partner, Kris Shields. They have been reading live for about 25 years, with a break during the pandemic.
Naturally, Bev’s favorite hobby has to do with reading. . .reading—and food! Bev has collected over 400 cookbooks, and she has cooked out of every one of them. Her favorites are the Junior League cookbooks. Bev and her husband also enjoy music and theatre, and are season ticket holders of the Kansas City Symphony. “But by far, my favorite activity is reading for Audio-Reader,” Bev explains. “Audio-Reader is my little home away from home.”
