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Submitted: 10/2/23 • Approved: 10/6/23 • Last Updated: 10/9/23 • R449164-G0-S3
April 17, 1953 - May 22, 2021
In the afternoon of May 22, 2021, Donald Lee Kirk of Diana, TX lost his fight and slipped away from this dark valley into the radiant light of God’s presence, no longer bound by the ravages of illness or the machines and hoses and tubes that had imprisoned him. God, in His mercy, put an end to his suffering and called him home.
Don entered this world on April 17, 1953. He was born to Delores Bowdlear Kirk and James Edward Kirk of Cushing, Oklahoma. He graduated from Cushing High School in 1971.
Don was employed at Kerr-McGee Nuclear Facility in Crescent, Oklahoma, until October of 1975 when he was transferred to Dubach, LA. He lived in Ruston, Louisiana and visited and soon joined Emmanuel Baptist Church where he met his future wife, Julie Herren. Don and Julie were married at Emmanuel on June 26, 1976. In May of 1978, their daughter, Emily Kathryn, made their family complete.
In June of 1994, Don’s job as a gas plant operator took the family to Texas, first to Palestine, Texas and later to Longview, Texas and finally to Diana, Texas. Don worked faithfully and conscientiously during long, stressful hours of shift work to provide for his family until his retirement in 2015.
In 2014, Don and Julie traveled with Emily and their son-in-law Jason to China to bring home their newly adopted granddaughter, Ella Noel Bien. In 2016, grandson Garrison, also adopted from China, arrived. To Ella and Garrison, Don was “Grampaw” and they loved him dearly as he loved them.
Don had a beautiful tenor voice and during his high school years sang with the select group called the “Choraliers”, and later during his time at East Central State College in Ada, Oklahoma, was a member of the select ensemble called the “Oklahomans”.
In recent years, Don had taken an interest in wood-turning and enjoyed creating and building. During the last 4 years of his life, Don was a member of New Hope Baptist Church in Ore City, Texas, where he and Julie sang duets from time to time.
Don was a patient, steadfast and loving husband, daddy, and grampaw. He is and will continue to be sorely missed.
Don is survived by his wife Julie of not quite 45 years; his daughter Emily and son-in-law Jason Bien of Tyler, Texas; his grandchildren Ella and Garrison Bien also of Tyler, Texas, his brother Larry Kirk and sister-in-law Yvette of Warner, Oklahoma; his nieces Clarisha, Jennifer, Lorie, Jayden, Jordan, Jaymie, Harley, and Aniyah; his brother-in-law Allen Herren, Jr. of Dubach, Louisiana.
Funeral services will be held at Fellowship Baptist Church of Dubach, Louisiana, on Wednesday, May 26, 2021 at 3:00 P.M. with visitation also at the church during the hours of 1:00-3:00 P.M. Interment will follow in the Fellowship Cemetery.
The pallbearers will be Larry Kirk, Darrell Kirk, Allen Herren, Jr., David Fowler, Loyd Colvin, and Clyde Colvin Green, Jr.,
Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.kilpatrickfuneralhomes.com.
Contributed on 10/2/23 by debbraszymanski
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Record #: 449164