ST. PAUL, Minn. — There were four generations of Gordon Kirks at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in St. Paul on Sunday morning.
The eldest Gordon Kirk celebrated his 100th birthday last week, and his grandson, great-grandson and great-great-grandson joined about two dozen parishioners in the church’s basement after the 10 a.m. service to mark their namesake’s milestone.
“I guess I’m just one of the lucky ones,” Kirk said of his longevity. “I’ve been blessed. I mean, I’m the first Kirk to ever reach 100 years old. Dad died at 99, mother died at 94.”
St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz both issued proclamations last week recognizing the World War II veteran’s service to his city and state.
Kirk has spent much of his long life helping others. Holy Trinity parishioner Paula Mitchell described Kirk as a pillar of the community.
“We could always depend on him,” she said Sunday. “At 100 years old, he’s still trying to be of assistance to others. … He’s just always been so giving.”
A longtime resident of St. Paul’s Rondo neighborhood, Kirk’s sharp memory is also a repository of local history.
“He’s still able to talk and tell stories,” Mitchell said. “If you don’t have that, how do you have a culture you can call on, that you can believe in?”
Kirk was born in Helena, Mont., on March 23, 1923. His father’s career with the Northern Pacific Railway moved the family west to Seattle just as he was starting grade school. When Kirk was 10 years old, they finally settled in St. Paul in the depths of the Great Depression.
Kirk enlisted in the U.S. Army shortly after graduating from Marshall High School in 1942. Sent to Texas for basic training, he first encountered the open racism of the segregated south when he and his fellow Black recruits were boarding a train in Kansas City.
“The conductor comes up and says, ‘You boys will have to ride in the Jim Crow car,’ ” he recalled. “I’d heard about Jim Crow cars, but I’d never seen one. I hadn’t ever been called ‘boy.’ ”
Kirk hoped to join the paratroopers after basic training, but Black soldiers were still prohibited from doing so. He was instead assigned to a trucking company under Gen. George Patton.
Landing at Omaha Beach six days after D-Day, Kirk served in Europe for the rest of the war. During the Battle of the Bulge, his company was tasked with delivering troops to the front lines near Bastogne in the dead of winter, enduring frostbite and regular bombing by German planes.
After leaving the Army, Kirk spent a decade working as a streetcar driver for Twin City Rapid Transit, before embarking on a 30-year career as a skycap with Braniff and then Northwest airlines.
“That was a choice job,” he said of the skycaps.
In addition to discounted airfare, it afforded Kirk — a longtime Vikings season ticket-holder — opportunities to rub elbows with frequent flyers like Bud Grant and Ahmad Rashad, both of whom he counted as friends.
Kirk always found time to help those in need. In the mid-1960s, he and his wife Gwen, who died in 2005, co-founded an organization that donated playground equipment to St. Paul parks.
After retiring from Northwest Airlines in the 1990s, he went to work part-time for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, helping his fellow veterans navigate the VA healthcare system.
A longtime VFW member, he also became the first Black commander of the organization’s Minnesota chapter in 1995.
Throughout the years, Kirk has always made time for Holy Trinity, serving as an usher for decades. His fellow parishioners are quick to point out his giving spirit.
He has long been a mentor to younger members of the congregation, and the Kirks occasionally took at-risk youths into their home, helping them turn their lives around without judgement.
Holy Trinity parishioner George Thompson credited Kirk’s longevity for his ability to see past people’s faults.
“I think it enabled him to be very generous as a person and willing to give people the benefit of the doubt,” Thompson said. “He always gave people the benefit of the doubt.”
