Georgia Lee (Rohrbach) Kohr 85, of Harrisburg, PA passed away March 19,2026 with her loving family by her side. Georgia was the loving widow of Detective Tom Kohr Sr. of the Harrisburg Police Department. They were married 46 years until the time of his death, March 05, 2003.

She was the daughter of the late George M Rohrbach and Betty J (Crone) Rohrbach. Georgia worked and retired from Muth and Mumma Dental Laboratory and Harris and O’Neal. She was a proud member and past president of the Fraternal Order of the Police Auxiliary. She was a member of The Pine Street Presbyterian Church Harrisburg.

Georgia is survived by her loving children, son Samuel (Tommy) Kohr Jr. and daughter Leeann Bomgardner both of Harrisburg. A granddaughter Kaylee Bomgardner of Harrisburg and grandson David Geesaman of Carlisle. She is also survived by 3 great grandchildren and son in- law David Geesaman also of Carlisle. A beloved sister Deb Boyer (Donnie) of Enola and brother Ronald A Rohrbach of Camp Hill. Several Loving nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her husband Tom Kohr Sr , a daughter Kim M Geesaman, five  sisters Sandra A. wife of the late Victor King, Cheryl K.  wife of the late Kenneth Deibler, Marsha L Rohrbach, Linda L. wife of the late William Still, Janis R.  wife of the late Ronald Donmoyer, and one bother Terry M. Rohrbach.

Georgia loved spending time with her family. Especially playing cards with her sisters. She never missed sending her famous birthday cards to friends and family. Everyone will truly 

miss her cards.

Memorial Services will be held Friday April 17,2026 at Richardson Funeral Home LLC 29 South Enola Drive, Enola Pa 17025. Visitation will be held from 11am till time of service at 12:00 pm. At the funeral home. Internment will be at Blue Ridge Memorial Garden Cemetery Harrisburg Pa following the service.

To send flowers
to the family or plant a tree
in memory of Georgia L. Kohr, please visit our floral store.

On a busy December afternoon, Adam Betuel was trying to calculate whether he had time to see about a bird. Sure, he had work and kids, and sure, he’d have to drive at least two hours from Atlanta to Augusta. But a Georgia birder group chat had just alerted him to something unusual: A groove-billed ani had been spotted in the eastern part of the state—far outside Central America, where it’s usually found. It was tempting to see a member of the cuckoo family in his own state, but Betuel decided not to make the drive.

It wouldn’t be the last time he would weigh daily responsibilities against the urge to chase a bird. The executive director of Birds Georgia, Betuel has more than 2,600 species on his “life list,” a birder term for the record of all the species one has observed over a lifetime.

The thrill of the treasure hunt is part of what draws people to Birds Georgia, which has 2,500 members and turns 100 years old this spring. Since its founding as the Atlanta Bird Club in 1926, its members have not only honed field skills and added new species to their life lists, but they’ve also advocated on behalf of bird conservation and educated the public about why birds matter.

Birds serve ecological purposes, such as pollination and seed dispersal, says Betuel, who is also a trained ornithologist and ecologist. And, he says, “they inspire us culturally, they’re beautiful, and they’re more or less ever present, so [birding] is a great way to engage with wildlife.”

Photograph by Ben
Rollins

To celebrate the group’s centennial, Birds Georgia will host several public events. Its Centennial Bird Fest, a monthlong series of field trips, educational seminars, and family activities, begins April 10. This year, the organization also plans to launch construction of the Georgia Birding Trail, a long-planned network of more than 400 birding sites statewide.

The group’s charter members would likely be proud to see how far their organization has come. Fourteen people attended the first Atlanta Bird Club meeting in March 1926, and according to historical records kept by Birds Georgia, they had lofty goals: They would collect data on bird behavior and migrations, improve the bird friendliness of public parks, prevent cruelty to birds, and support birdhouse-building projects for scouts and school groups.

One of the group’s first acts of advocacy was to protest a mass killing of purple martins that had been ordered by the city. Such activism continued through the club’s early decades, including pushes for stronger protections against the hunting of migratory birds. The group also helped establish the brown thrasher as Georgia’s state bird, proclaimed by Governor Eugene Talmadge in 1935.

Over the decades, the organization expanded its mission to protect not just birds, but also the wild habitats and ecosystems that help them thrive. The shift reflected the wider conservation movement that began to take shape in the 1960s, led by pioneering voices such as Rachel Carson and Paul Ehrlich. When research showed that species decline among birds was a consequence of human-driven habitat loss, Birds Georgia ramped up its public outreach and launched its enduring Wildlife Sanctuary Program to educate community members on making their properties bird-friendly. This program remains a core part of Birds Georgia’s mission today, along with the Master Birder Program, which certifies graduates as experts in bird identification. Another is Project Safe Flight, an effort to reduce window strikes, which are a leading cause of death for songbirds in urban areas. (Virtually all bird groups are struggling in the modern world due to human development and climate change.)

In 1968, the Atlanta Bird Club joined the National Audubon Society, becoming Atlanta Audubon. But in 2021, as part of a wider national reckoning on American racism, many birders—including some in the Georgia group—began calling for their chapters to disassociate from the Audubon name because John James Audubon was an enslaver and well-known promoter of white supremacy.

“We learned that there are fellow bird conservationists and prospective bird lovers who feel unwelcome when we use the Audubon name,” Marc Goncher, then the vice chair of the board for the Georgia chapter, said in a public statement. In 2023, after six months of research and deliberation, the board voted to rename the organization Birds Georgia.

Some birders criticized the national wave of name changes, but many longtime members supported the shift, including Mary Kimberly, who has been involved with the organization since the 1990s. “I think the whole name change has been very beneficial,” Kimberly says. “We see a lot more younger faces now at meetings and events and a lot more people of color.”

Photograph by Ben
Rollins

Not only is membership diversifying; it’s growing. Birds Georgia’s numbers peaked in the 1990s, with about 4,100 members, but then began to steadily decline. That changed during the Covid-19 pandemic, when lockdowns led to a surge of national interest in birding, spurring new avian enthusiasts to join their local associations.

One of Birds Georgia’s younger members is Olivia Jones, a middle-school language arts teacher in her 20s from Druid Hills. She became interested in birding in 2024 after watching a barred owl pair raise chicks in her yard.

“Then my barred owl family left, but there was so much more out there,” Jones says. “It was like I truly opened my eyes and had seen birds for the first time.”

Jones equipped her yard with a hybrid bird feeder–camera and a bluebird nesting box and downloaded bird-identification apps on her phone. She kept a spreadsheet of her observations and started a life list. Then she joined Birds Georgia, began going on bird-watching walks, and eventually even earned her Master Birder certification.

These programs and events have provided resources to enhance her naturalist skills, and they also offer an opportunity to learn from others and make friends. “It’s such a great way to meet people,” Jones says. “Generally, generations have different pastimes that they get involved with. But birding feels like the great equalizer . . . It is a great opportunity to remind you that your age is not the only age, and people have walked this path before you to share their insights.”

This article appears in our April 2026 issue.

Advertisement