Sarah Stroud Kirk

Mrs. Sarah Elizabeth Stroud Kirk, 92, widow of James Raymond Kirk, died Friday, January 2, 2009 at her residence on Third Avenue. Funeral services were conducted at 3:30 P.M. Saturday at Oakes & Nichols Funeral Home with Rev. Gary Wedgewood officiating. Burial was in Polk Memorial Gardens. Memorials may be made to Riverside United Methodist Church Building Fund, P. O. Box 392, Columbia, TN 38402. Notes of sympathy may be sent to the family at www.oakesandnichols.com. A native of Lincoln County, she was the daughter of the late James Albert and Mary Ola Thompson Stroud. At age one, she moved with her family to Decatur, Alabama and was a graduate of Decatur Riverside High School. On October 11, 1940 she married James Raymond Kirk who preceded her in death on December 2, 1980. She worked as secretary at Southern Airways during World War II, while her husband was serving with the U. S. Navy Seabees in the South Pacific. She was employed twenty-one years as bookkeeper at L. E. Kirk & Son Construction Company in Columbia. She was a member of Riverside United Methodist Church, where she served in the Chancel Choir for a number of years. She was a member of the Fellowship Sunday School Class and the Tuesday Circle. She was a member of Maury Regional Hospital Auxiliary. Survivors include one son and daughter-in-law, Larry Stroud Kirk and Shirley Collier Kirk of Franklin; two grandsons, Adam Lawrence (Dabney Clarke) Kirk of Murfreesboro; Matthew Collier Kirk of Columbia; three great grandchildren, Samuel James Kirk of Murfreesboro; Jazmine Joy Kirk and Alex Collier Kirk, both of Columbia; one sister-in-law, Joan Kirk Brown (Gene) Aydelotte of Columbia; one brother-in-law, Burton Whiteside of Columbia; and several nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by an infant son, Donald Ray Kirk; one sister, Mary Stroud Hollomon; and three brothers, James Harris Stroud, Gene Thompson Stroud, and Paul L. Stroud. Active pallbearers will be Adam Kirk, Matthew Kirk, Billy Salrin, Mike Whiteside, Pete Brown, David Stroud, Jerrold Landers, Percy Lee Landers, and Clint Moore. Honorary pallbearers will be members of the Riverside United Methodist Fellowship Class and the Tuesday Circle. The family wishes to express a special thanks to her dedicated caregivers, Corene Cravens, Irma Rippy, and Sue Hawkins.