Dates

• Existence: 1929 - 2004

Biography

Mary Lou Kirk was born in 1929 in Atlantic, Iowa, to Hale and Romaine Kirk. In high school, Kirk was a member of the Glad Girls of Grove 4-H chapter in Grove Township. She graduated from Atlantic High School in 1946, and subsequently attended Simpson College in Indianoloa, Iowa. From 1950 to 1960, she taught English and speech in Mapleton and Denison, Iowa. She later received an MA in English and Library Science at the State University of Iowa, now the University of Iowa. In 1960, Kirk moved to West Des Moines, where she was the media specialist at Valley High School and the chair of the media department. While employed by the West Des Moines Public Schools, Kirk helped to organize Valley High's first chapter of the National Honor Society. She retired from teaching in 1989.

Kirk was a member of the West Des Moines Methodist Church and served on several church committees. She was a member of Delta Kappa Gamma, Delta Kappa Gamma Women Educators, and a member of PEO. Kirk was a charter member of the Alpha Delta Chapter in northwest Iowa; in 1997, she received the Outstanding Achievement Award for the state of Iowa.

Mary Lou Kirk died in 2004.

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