ABBOT – Ervin L. Kirk, 79, died unexpectedly Jan. 20, 2009, at his winter home in Brooksville, Fla. He was born March 28, 1929, on the family farm on Moosehorn Road, Monson, son of Harry J. and Mary (Dicker) Kirk. After the death of his mother during childbirth, he was raised by Charles and Bessie Mabel Bennett. During this time, he developed a close relationship with Ray and Leah (Bennett) Ames. He attended Abbot and Guilford schools. Marrying Patricia (Schultz), Ervin began work and parenting at the very young age of 16, and handled it well for all of his life. As a young man, he worked at a variety of jobs, including woods work and garage work, wherever jobs were available. As he got older he worked at Hardwood Products Co., Guilford, and at Guilford Woolen Mill. For a time he and his wife even worked for a private estate in Connecticut. Later in life, he worked for Seven Islands Land Management Co., retiring as a forestry technician. After the death of his first wife, Patricia, and his subsequent retirement from Seven Islands, he remarried and moved to the Rockland area, where he worked as the parts manager for Sheppard’s Auto Dealership. In 1988, when he and his wife, Celia, both retired, they bought a home in Brooksville, Fla., where they spent their winters. He was a member of Mount Kineo Masonic Lodge No. 109 AF & AM, Guilford, for 45 years. He was blessed with the love and companionship of two special wives, Patricia (Schultz) Kirk who predeceased him in 1982, and Celia (Dennison) Kirk, who survives him. In addition to his wife, Celia, he is survived by two loving children, Bonnie Goggin and her husband, John, of Guilford, and Ervin R. “Butch” Kirk and his wife, Michele, of Abbot; five grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren, Shelley and James Lobdell and their children, Brady and Jenna, all of Hampden, Jason and Danielle Goggin and their children, Matthew and Caroline, all of Guilford, Robin Kirk and her fiance, Teruo Tacihatchi of Quincy, Mass., Tanya and Walter “Butch” Goodwin and their children, Samantha and Molly, all of Millis, Mass., and Nicole and Ryan Mahan and their children, Isaac, Elias and Maya, all of Fryeburg; a stepson, Colin Dennison and his son, Clayton, of Rockland; a brother, Harland Kirk and his wife, Patricia, of Edmonds, Wash.; also special nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by brothers and sisters, Raymond, Philip and Donald Potter, Ernestine Smiley, Zelda Richards, Urban Kirk, Mae Race and Inga Knaide. Memorial services will be held in Florida. Graveside Masonic services will be held in the spring at Abbot Village Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his memory to Mount Kineo Masonic Lodge Scholarship Fund, P.O. Box 555, Guilford, ME 04443. Local arrangements by Crosby & Neal, Guilford. For an online guest register, go to www.CrosbyNeal.com.
ERVIN L. KIRK
