Most of you reading this didn't know Kirk. So I thought I would share some memories. Kirk was born August 9, 1985 the year I graduated from High School. That made it easy to remember both his age and how long I had been out of school. I returned home alot during college and always saw my nephews and niece. Kirk was a wonderful baby and a delightful toddler. We just knew he was saving up for later. For some reason we started calling him Kirkie Rabbit. It stuck even though I remember his mother telling us not to call him that because if Derek (age 18 months) started calling him that it would never go away. In the end it was his mother that couldn't help but call him Kirkie Robert Rabbit. I remember him watching Cinderella and when the mice and birds sew up the dress and sing that song he would run and dance and giggle.
It was pretty clear from early on Kirk was going to be the cowboy. Derek (his brother) never did like the boots, hats and such. I have a picture of Derek and Kirk on horses when they were young, Derek is slouching, Kirk sitting up as tall as he possibly can. They also constantly played basketball together. They had a goal set up in the barn. Any spare time they had was spend playing one on one. They both turned out to be excellent ball players.
Kirk was 11 when I had Dylan, they (Derek, Kirk and Ashlee) couldn't wait to see him. I spent about a month with my parents after he was born and the kids would have held him the whole time had I let them. Derek and Kirk even changed his diaper once, Grandma's couch was never the same after the Desitin and powder. Kirk was the same way with Tyler when he was a baby. He just had to be holding him.
Kirk was a senior in High School when Terry went to Iraq and the kids and I went back to NM to stay with my parents. Kirk had had a rough year his junior year and I think having the kids around perked him up. Tyler was going to preschool at the same school as Kirk and often if I couldn't take him, we would load him up with Kirk. I think Tyler formed a very special bond with him that year . Kirk was probably the first man to hold Jason. Every time he came to visit he had to hold the baby. I think that is one reason Jason did so well when we finally got back to Germany and he was so comfortable around Terry. When Kirk went to Church he would always sit with the kids and I. And he wouldn't leave them alone. Always bugging them. Finally an older lady that sat behind us told his mom, quit letting Kirk sit with them, all he does is pester them. Dylan reminded me on the plane ride home how Kirk would call him Dilman. "How ya doing Dilman" and then poke him in the chest or tackle him.
I was able to see Kirk play football, wow, how did he learn to move like that? I was also able to see him play basketball. He played sports like he lived life always going 90 miles an hour, there was no stopping him on the field or on the court once he made up his mind he was going somewhere.
The last time I saw him was in November when we made the trip to NM after finding out we were moving to NY. He had several things going on, but came to see us one night while we were there. He had brought his new puppy (Gus) and another puppy from the litter. He was the same old Kirk, playing with the kids and hanging with Uncle Terry.

Kirk had a magnetic personality, you couldn't help but smile at him even though he was a man of few words. There was just something about him. At the Funeral the Priest talked about how a 22 year old could fill a Church with people he impacted in some way. He doubted that even his funeral would fill a Church. A long time family friend commented at the graveside services that he had never seen that many people gathered before. The first night at my parents house I woke up and couldn't sleep. I prayed that night for Kirk to watch over my kids and keep them safe. What I didn't know was that the first night after my brother and sister-in-law got the news that they also had talked about it and felt that God needed Kirk to watch over all the children.

Kirk made some bad choices in life, the biggest was not wearing a seat belt the night of the accident. Most likely it would have saved his life and spared us this incredible sadness.