Rash's Surname Index
Notes for John Lewis KIRK
J. Lewis Kirk, owner of Kirk Chevrolet for more than a half-century, died Saturday. He was 84 and lived in Rose Tree, Delaware County.
Kirk owned and operated the dealership in Newtown Square for 57 years before retiring in 1984. He was a 1925 graduate of West Chester High School and of Taylor Business College in Philadelphia.
In a 1987 interview with Inquirer reporter Marlene A. Prost, Kirk recalled that when he opened his dealership, the Newtown Square area "was mostly horses and carriages, and most people lived on farms. There were about 10 or 12 farmhouses."
His own ancestor, Scottish Quaker John Kirk, settled in Delaware County in 1684.
Kirk said in the interview that the first car he sold was a $495 Chevrolet Phaeton touring car to James McDowell, a blacksmith from Edgmont. Gasoline cost 15 cents a gallon.
He also said that he sometimes had to show people how to drive the car so they could leave the showroom with it.
"There weren't too many people driving cars in those days. In those days you didn't have to get a driver's license. I had a few who wrecked their cars before they got home."
In 1985, Kirk was honored by the Newtown Square Business and Professional Association for his 60 years of service to the community. He was the first president of the association. He also served on the first Zoning Hearing Board, which, Kirk later recalled, was hastily formed in the 1930s to keep a junkyard out of Newtown Square.
Kirk belonged to the local, state and national Auto Dealers Association and was a past president of the Aronimink Golf Club and the Newtown Square Rotary Club. He was a member of the Niblick Golf Club for Quaker men and also was a qualified instructor and conducted classes in resuscitation. Kirk was a birthright member of Willistown Friends Meeting.
Survivors include his wife of 61 years, the former Mary Worrell; a son, the Rev. Jack Kirk; a daughter, Jeanne Criddle; three grandchildren and one great- granddaughter.
Services will be held at 11 a.m. tomorrow at Willistown Friends Meeting, Goshen Road, Willistown. Burial will be in Willistown Friends Burial Ground.
Friends may call between 7 and 9 tonight at the Frank C. Videon Funeral Home, Sproul and Lawrence roads, Broomall.
Contributions may be made to the American Friends Service Committee, 1515 Cherry St., Philadelphia 19102.
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