Calvin Buller excels in his talents
Staff writer
Multi-talented Calvin Buller excels in singing as well as painting of houses and buildings.
Calvin was born in Goessel in 1943 and raised in Lehigh. He graduated from Lehigh High School in 1961.
He graduated from Tabor College in 1965 with a bachelor of music education degree.
For two years, Calvin taught choral music and band for grades one through 12 at Lucas. He later taught junior high and high school choral music and band at Bushton for two years.
In 1969, he attended Wichita State University to work on a master's in music education.
From 1970-71, he took a year off from pursuing his master's degree and taught junior and senior high school choral music and band at Cunningham.
In 1971, he accepted a teaching job as the junior and senior high school at Atwood.
"Choral music is really my first love," Calvin said.
During his time at Atwood, from 1971 to 1976, he met Pauline Schmidt.
The two were married on Aug. 10, 1975, at Tabor Mennonite Church.
The couple moved back to the Goessel area, where Calvin worked at Bethesda Home as a nurse's aide.
In 1977, he accepted a position teaching band and choral music at Wabaunsee High School in Alma.
In the fall of 1979, they moved to Freeman, S.D., where Calvin taught for five years at Freeman Junior College and Freeman Academy.
In 1984, he quit teaching for a two-year period and worked at a greenhouse in South Dakota and did intermittent work.
The family moved to Hillsboro in 1986. That's when Calvin started his painting business.
"My dad and grandfather had painted, and I knew there was a customer base already here," Calvin said.
Calvin said most of his work is word-of-mouth, and work has been full time up until now.
In the early 1990s, Calvin went to Bogata, Columbia, on a two-week mission trip to help renovate buildings there. The trip was sponsored by Trinity Mennonite Church and the Commission on Overseas Mission of the General conference Mennonite.
He has been a member of Trinity Mennonite Church since 1986 and has served as a Sunday school teacher and choir and song leader.
He was a member of the Lions Club in the cities he taught throughout the years.
Calvin has served as music director of the Cottonwood Chorale for 11 years. He has also served as the Kansas Men's Chorus area conductor.
He and his wife Pauline have participated in the Wichita Symphony Chorus for 10 years. He sings bass, and she sings soprano. Calvin has been to Europe four times as part of a singing group and as a tourist.
He and his wife have two children. Carmen Buller of Wichita teaches business at Wichita Heights High School, and Patrick Buller lives in Phoenix, Ariz., and is a staff member for the computer system in the Scottsdale School System.
Calvin's hobbies include reading and, of course, singing. He was actively involved with recreation league fast pitch softball in the late 1960s and early 70s.
"Hillsboro had some good teams back then," Calvin said.
One of Calvin's greatest joys has been being involved in activities to serve and bring quality of life to others.
"With the training in music that I had — I could help out in that way," he said. "And also letting people see the finer points of music so they can appreciate and understand what the composer has built into the music."
