Howard L. Kirby passed away this past winter after over 60 years of service to his community at church, in aviation with the Civil Air Patrol, Boy Scouts and as a veteran of WWI. He served his country in the U. S. Army in the European, African, and Middle Eastern Theatres of Operation. Howard was active in the Lincoln Park United Methodist Church as Sunday School superintendent, Trustee and Head Usher. In the Civil Air Patrol, Howard was an accomplished Search and Rescue Pilot flying numerous sorties in the CAPs version of the L-19, Bird Dog.

Howard’s technical skills were shown by his two glider designs for operating from the many area lakes in East Tennessee. Howard’s long interests in aviation and water sports were brought together in the middle 1960s. But as his obituary reads “It is very difficult to write in a few words the love, friendship, integrity, and values Howard L. Kirby possessed.”