John H. Kirk

A builder and business owner for 24 years, John H. Kirk, 58, Moyie Springs, died Dec. 25 at Kootenai Medical Center of complications from heart surgery. Friends may call and pay last respects from noon until 6:00 p.m. Thursday, January 3 at the Bonners Ferry Funeral Home. Funeral services, officiated by Ben Dinsmore, will be held Friday, January 4 at 11:00 a.m. at the First Baptist Church followed by Internment at Grandview Cemetery. Born Feb. 12, 1949, in Rockland, Maine, he was the oldest son of Richard and Frances Kirk. As a youth he loved baseball and pool. He was a Boy Scout in Troop 216 and an altar boy at the St. Bernard’s Parish. Like many youth, he worked during the summer raking blueberries, and when he was older, as a busboy at the Rockland Hotel. He graduated from Rockland District High School in 1967. He served three years in the U.S. Marine Corp. as an M.P., including a tour in Vietnam from 1968-69. In 1971, he married Jane Oldroyd. They had one daughter, Johnna. Jane died in 1975. During this tragedy, he accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior. John remarried thereafter to Bernadette Dinsmore. Together they raised five additional children, sons Joshua and Josiah, and daughters Jessica, Jennifer, and Jocelyn. John worked at the Dragon Products Cement Plant in Thomaston, Maine until 1982. While living in Thomaston, he built his first home, an A-Frame, which would be the beginning of his construction career. Moving to Moyie Springs, Idaho in 1983, he ran his own business specializing in residential construction. He built and worked on numerous homes throughout northern Idaho and Washington. He was noted as being a hard and industrious worker who was gifted in the construction arts of plumbing, electrical and carpentry. He was handy with a backhoe and enjoyed running any kind of machinery, especially his tractor. John was a simply spoken man not given to a lot of fancy words, but he loved the Lord and shared that love with anyone who would listen. He was an avid motorcyclist and loved road tripping on his Harley Davidson. He also enjoyed boating on Lake Pend Oreille. He loved his family and will be greatly missed by them and his friends. John and his wife, Bernie, were married 32 years at the time of his death. Survivors include his wife; sons Joshua Kirk stationed in Afghanistan and Josiah Kirk of Bonners Ferry; daughters Johnna Sohner, of Boca Rotan, Florida, Jessica Tingley of New Port News, Va., Jennifer Kirk and Jocelyn Kirk of Bonners Ferry; younger sister Peggy Rogers and his mother Frances Drinkwater of Rockport, Maine; six grandchildren, Mark Tingley, Janey, Ben and John Sohner, Jimmy Solt, and Kensington Kirk.