John Harrell Kirtley

screenplays of American life, an architect and

veteran of two branches of the US military, died

on April 18 in Austin, Texas. He was 81.

John was born March 15, 1934 in Oklahoma City.

He grew up in post-depression Oklahoma near

Enid. John’s father, Edwin, had just completed his

time in the Civil Conservation Corps, and soon

after was commissioned in the US Army. With

that, John transitioned from working the family

farm near Perry, Oklahoma to becoming a welltraveled

military dependent.

With the outbreak of World War II, John and his brothers Kendall and Steve were

at home with Mom, Edna Mae. As a teenager, John was thrust into an adult role

of being a Man of the House with Dad away at war. Dad was gone for four and-ahalf

years in the Pacific Theatre.

John enlisted in the Navy during the Korean War, at which time he was a

weatherman aboard a destroyer escort in the North Atlantic, and later stationed

at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. John returned home after his tour in the Navy and

completed his college education.

Kirtley did summer stock at the Straight Wharf Theatre on Nantucket Island,

Massachusetts, and had roles in five plays. Later in Washington and New

Mexico, John was active in Community Theatre.

In the early 1960s, John was commissioned as an officer in the Army, and

stationed in Verona Italy in the Intelligence Corps at Caserma Passalacqua. John

finished his service in the Army honorably as a captain.

Kirtley unselfishly cared for his ailing parents at home in their last years.

Over the years, John took up writing and completed a two-act play, and a

screenplay.

John Harral Kirtley Obituary

John is preceded in death by his parents Edwin and Edna Mae Kirtley, and

survived by three brothers, Kendall, Steve and Paul.

John Kirtley will always be remembered for his generosity, his kind and

magnanimous acts toward others, his many stories that brought laughter and his

love of family.