Jack Kirk Remembrance

Drow Millar, who made such a beautiful DVD about Jack Kirk, just forwarded this wonderful recollection from someone who knew Kirk well. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

http://dipseademon.com/The_Dipsea_Demon/Home.html

My name is Karen Haley. My grandparents, Ernie & Edna Haley, owned the property that abutted Jack's in Mariposa.

We knew Jack well. As a child, I grew up spending every summer with Jack Kirk. He let me on his property -- not a luxury he afforded many people! He let me swim in his creek. He walked with me and talked with me. He taught about birds, trees, flowers and stars. He ate every Thanksgiving dinner with our family.

He was always running. He told me that he didn't run with his legs, but rather he ran with his arms. He was a huge part of my childhood. The people of Mariposa had some kind of beef with him -- I never knew the story and I never really cared, because he was such an important person in my life.

I used to take him to church with me when I was about 6 or 7 years old in the early 1960's. We were Seventh-day Adventists. He would hold my hand, look straight ahead, and not speak to anyone. But he loved going to church with me.

It was never difficult to find Jack -- I would walk down Ben Hur Road in Mariposa, stand on the bridge spanning the creek on his property, and yell, "Jack?!" He always emerged from the bushes.

Jack Kirk WAS my childhood. My life wouldn't have been the same without him. Now, as I Google his name, I see he was a famous racer. Well, I didn't know much about that as a child. All I knew was, he was a kind, strange man who taught me about nature. -- Karen Haley