Dennis Kirby
Dennis grew up with the Cincinnati Franciscans in Benson,
Illinois. After two years at Eastern Illinois University, he entered St. Francis
Seminary as a lay student in 1958. The next year, Dennis and his classmates
opened the lay student program at Duns Scotus College. He graduated from Duns
Scotus in 1964 and attended St. Leonard’s until 1967.
After returning to Illinois, he worked in the Corporate Human Resources Department at the State Farm Insurance Companies. The seminary training in philosophy, English, and logic played an extremely important role in his getting hired and subsequent work at State Farm. He retired after 32 years in 1999.
Dennis met Wilburta in 1968 at State Farm and they were married in 1970. They have three children: Kristina, Nathan, and Brian all in Bloomington, Illinois.
In 1988, Dennis, George Ski, and several other classmates from the 1958 class held a reunion. That experience inspired the beginnings of the Franciscan Alumni Association. Dennis and George arranged the first FAA annual chapter that year at St. Francis Seminary. And the rest is history.
Contact Dennis at 34 Kleggstone Circle, Bloomington, Illinois, 309-661-0256, or at kirbyd@verizon.net.