Muleskinner

Issue date: 2/1/07 Section: Features

helping hand - Carol Mullins (middle) takes a seat with two Yeater residents, Jessica Manley (left) and Ester Wells (right).

Historian, den mother, custodian, paranormal researcher. These are some of the hats Carol Mullins wears in her role at Laura J. Yeater Hall, an all-women's dorm on the west side of campus that is home to about 70 female students.

Mullins is 5-foot-1-inch tall, slender, with short blond hair. While not an impressive sight in person, she holds court in the minds of Yeater residents.

Ashley Hopkins said of Ms. Carol, "Yeah, she works her butt off around here. She's always nice. She remembers your name and there are many girls in this building that she may only see four or five times a year. I always see her in the mornings vacuuming. She always puts candy out, which is nice. She takes care of everything around here."

Mullins not only keeps the dorm clean and safe for its residents; she is part of the fabric of the community at Yeater.
Take her role as historian, for example.

Hopkins says, "One day, she told us the history of the dorm and how it was neat to hear how they used to provide your bedding and towels and they would wash them for you and the clean ones would be outside your door. We also talked about how it would be nice if people would give back to the dorm if they live here for a little while."

Mullins says about the Hall, "Yeater was built in 1940 and Laura Yeater was the one that instigated building the dorm by raising the money and leaving a money account, so they could build the building. I think it was neat how Laura had a dreamed and it finally came true, probably 50 years after she dreamt about it and that she got to come here and see it come true." Yeater was 75-years-old when the building was dedicated in 1941.

"Some of the girls and I have compiled these books over the years," Mullins said. "They found the information at the archives and then me and another girl spent a weekend afternoon at the Daily Star Journal, where we got some clippings."
Mullins also seen as den mother.

"She is always the one to decorate the kitchen area and the front lobby," said Megan Thieman. "When I got my cap and gown both my parents where busy and no one else was around and I went to her and showed her and she gave me a huge hug and said 'Another chick flying from the nest.' She just has a way of making you feel good even for the smallest things," Thieman said.

Continued...

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