Philip C. Kirby

Philip C. Kirby, 77, Founder of Talbot Mentors, lnc., and a, community leader since moving to Easton from West Virginia in 1982, died at Easton Hospital July 21 following a long illness. Kirby grow up in Mullens, a small village in the southern West Virginia coal fields, and played trumpet in the high school band and at Greenbrier Military School before transferring to the Univesity of Alabama for his sophomore year. He joined the Army Air Corps during World War Il and trained as a gunner on the B-24, B-17 and B-29 bombers, but did not see combat. After the war, he was an accountant in the Budget Office of the State of West Virginia and attended evening classes at Morris Harvey College where he earned a degree in Business Administration in 1949. He married Evelyn Ferrel of Charlestown, WV in 1949 and soon after became a life insurance agent for Massachusetts Mutual. In 1953, they moved to Wheeling, West Virginia where they resided until building a home in Easton 18 years ago. An active member of St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in Easton, community service was Mr. Kirby’s life-long endeavor. In West Virginia he served as chairman of a bank, a hospital, a YMCA, and other community service agencies as well as on corporate boards. He was for many years, and until his death, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Wheeling Jesuit University where a new dormitory was dedicated to him and his wife earlier this year. He was also a board member of the West Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges and Universities, an honorary board member of Wheeling Hospital and a co-founder and board member of Habitat for Humanity of Talbot County and the founder and president of Talbot Mentors, Inc. Mr. Kirby received many awards and honors for his community service, as well as his professional achievements. He was a 26-year member of the Insurance Industries Million-Dollar Roundtable, and in 1982 qualified for the Top Of The Table which represents the top one percent of life insurance agents in the world. Survivors include, in addition to his wife in Easton, one brother, Robert Wingfield Kirby of Mullen, West Virginia, two sisters, Mary Helen Kirby of Bluefield, Virginia, and Ruth Kirby Shomo of Dover, Delaware; four nephews, two nieces, eight grand-nephews, and six grand-nieces. Funeral services will be held at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in Easton on Tuesday, july 25, 2000 at 11:00 AM. Burial will be at Sherwood Cemetery in Salem, Virgina on Wednesday, July 26, 2000 at 2:00 PM. Memorial contributions may be made to the Talbot Mentors, Inc., 28380 St. Michaels Road, Easton, MD 21601.

Philip C. Kirby

July 21, 2000