PLP 09 Profile: Kelly Eplee

Name: Gordon Kelly Eplee
Age: 50
Born: Berea, Kentucky,   grew up in North Carolina, Charlotte and Marion.
Current Digs: I live in North Garden, Albemarle County and work in Charlottesville.
Occupation: Executive Director of Madison House, Student Volunteer Center for the University of Virginia
Favorite part about the job: Supporting and mentoring the next generation of community activists / volunteers.
Your first job ever? Bagging groceries and working in my dad’s lumber business.
Favorite book? Barbara Kingsolver, Prodigal Summer
Favorite movie? Forest Gump
Comfort food? Blackberry Cobbler, mashed potatoes, West African ground nut stew, Thai straight off the wok.
What's in your car CD player right now (or favorites on your iPod)? Nickel Creek,
Next journey? Guatemala with my wife and two teenage girls.
Favorite Virginia vacation spot? Eastern Shore, Assateague
First political memory? When Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, merged with the civil rights movement, and being bussed as a 10-year old in the Charlotte N.C. school system…. Immediate and overnight integration.
Whom do you admire and why? Jimmy Carter
Best advice you ever got? Those that push your personal buttons are the ones you need to listen to the most.
If you could have dinner with any one currently living, whom would it be and why?  Jimmy Carter.  Wisdom of a life well-lived, on a global level especially since being in office.
Describe a perfect day.  A good trail-run through the field and forest first thing.  Big breakfast with the family.  A dabble in my garden before watching my daughters play softball.  Building something out of rocks.  A good book, nice wine, and a great dinner with close friends.
One thing most people might be surprised to learn about you?  I speak three languages fluently and lived in an African mud-hut for two years.
Ambition, political or otherwise? Shape and strengthen community organizations that do the greatest good on a grass-roots level.