The elder Karl, who passed away 18 years ago, made a career in construction. He transformed a Great
Kills shack into a beautiful home where his family still lives.
It wasn't easy, his son said, and involved the removal of a gigantic boulder, pieces of which now serve
as a protective wall around the home.
After his son's accident, Hans Karl set to work making the home wheelchair accessible, constructing
external ramps and a 30-foot mechanical lift to help his son move from floor to floor in the house.
The lift proved so problematic, though, that the elder Karl, who also hand-carved the sculptures seen
today in the St. Clare's Cardinal Cooke Center, eventually built an indoor elevator instead.
That resolve rubbed off on the younger Karl.
"I always went to regular school," said John Karl, who works as a geology tutor at the College of
Staten Island. "And with the chair, I would always do 'wheelies' as a kid, but my mom never told me
to stop. They wanted me to be independent, and if I fell out of the chair, I'd just get back up and in."
The younger Karl eventually scored a job on Wall Street and moved to Manhattan, staying there for
seven years and playing Frisbee in the park during his down time.
But when his father was diagnosed with cancer, it was time to come home.
During the latter years of her husband's life, Mrs. Karl instituted a macrobiotic diet in the house; a
teeming garden in the back yard made this easier.
"We eat fully organic meals," said the younger Karl. "That means no pesticides, no chemicals and no
processed foods."
He began tending daily to the crops, going so far as to breed insect-eating guppies for small ponds
around the fields and hundreds of worms in a specially-constructed compost shed to help with soil
regeneration.
With the combination of a green thumb and some TLC, the garden has grown and grown.
Today, the Karl back yard is loaded with everything from grape vines that stretch for yards and yards
to fruit trees.
"I have a really great life," said the younger Karl. "I have a great family. I've had a great girlfriend,
[Anna Traland], for the last nine years. I've got great friends. And I've got a great home. What more
can you ask for?"
Jamie Lee is a reporter for the Staten Island Advance. He covers the West and South Shores and may
be reached at jamielee@siadvance.com.
Page 47 of 179
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