Kirtley - James Marion
Source: Kirtley's Biography, obituary, personal knowledge
Dr. James Marion Kirtley was the kind of man all Americans should admire. His father, William R, was also a doctor and his uncle, L.W. was as well. His son Sam joined the ranks and was our family doctor for several years before moving out of state. Still enjoy seeing Sam & his beautiful wife, Becky on Facebook; but his father, I miss dearly. We had the love of history in common and enjoyed picking each others brains for local lore.
Dr. K. was a home-grown Crawfordsville boy, (born July 23, 1910) attending the First Christian Church for many years where he served in several capacities. Having graduated from Crawfordsville HS, he went on to our local male college, Wabash where he graduated with honors in 1932. He was a member of Kappa Sigs, then went on to graduate from the IU School of Medicine.
His internship was in obsetrics and he delivered many local younguns. Back home again to C'ville, he practiced until the smell of war. Serving in the US Army he landed on Utah Beach in Normandy, France on D-Day June 6, 1944. Dr. Kirtley had big reasons to brag (medical combat badge; bronze star; presidential citation and more) but he was so down to earth, never meeting a stranger and never forgetting a patient. After the war, he served as a medical reservist and commanded the 337th General Hospital at Ft Ben Harrison.
Many more awards, including three Sagamore of the Wabash ones from three different governors, an honorary Doctorate of Laws from Wabash; 1987 Tony Hulman Health Achievement award, and the Citizen of the Year award in 1992, along with so many others, all well deserved.
A Mason, Scottish Rite, Kiwanis, local, state and national Medical Associations member, along with involvement in the VFW, American Legion and f many other organizations. His wife, Leolia Black preceded him in death by six years. They had three very talented sons, David; Sam and Raymond, and five grandchildren. Marion Kirtley remarried Jayne Burks.
His accomplishments are multi-fold and he was working on a very large project at his death, replacing the beautiful clock tower on the courthouse. The money obtained from the sales of his autobiography went directly in to that fund as did any memorial contributions. He passed away over 16 years ago (as of the writing 1-4-2017) on the 29th day of August 2000, and the clock tower is still not replaced but great strides have been made (thanks to Sandy Wheeler Lofland Brown and others) it will perhaps sit again shining up at Dr. K. - love ya' bud - kbz