Beverly Jane Kirkland

Beverly Jane Kirkland, 89, passed away on Friday, January 5, 2024.

Bev was born in Norwich, CT, on August 9, 1934, to the late Dennis and Ethel Byron Gray. She was also preceded in death by her older sister, Sarah B. Searcy. Her family moved to Vermont during World War II, and Bev finished her primary schooling in Northfield, VT. She then moved to California and graduated from The College of Marin, Kentfield, CA, in 1954. She worked in the Personnel Dept. of the Bank of America in San Francisco. She met Frank in college and after dating four months, when he entered the U.S. Army, they eloped to Reno, NV, in 1954. They have lived in California, Texas, New Jersey, and North Carolina.

Bev worked many years as a secretary and realtor. She had been retired since 1996, but kept busy with her many volunteer jobs. Throughout the years, those included: serving on the Altar Society, the Respect for Life Committee, as an Adorer, and on the Catholic Daughters of the Americas, Court 412, through the Basilica of St. Lawrence; serving on the Voluntary Services Committee and in the Prosthetics Department at the Charles George VA Medical Center; serving as a library volunteer through ABCCM’s jail ministry for the Buncombe Co. Detention Center; as a volunteer for the Buncombe Co. Republican Party; in the Ruth Davidson Chapter, Daughter of the American Revolution; in the Philip Ludwell Chapter, Colonial Dames of the Seventeenth Century; in the North Carolina Chapter, Sons & Daughters of the Pilgrims; and in the North Chapter, Daughters of Founders & Patriots.

In addition to her husband Frank, Bev is survived by their children, Frank S. Kirkland, Jr., and Kelly Denise Kirkland Smale, five grandchildren, and numerous great-grandchildren.

A Memorial Mass will be celebrated at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, January 17, 2024, at the Basilica of St. Lawrence. Inurnment will immediately follow at Green Hills Cemetery.

Memorials may be made to the Basilica of St. Lawrence Restoration Fund, 97 Haywood St., Asheville, NC 28801.

Groce Funeral Home on Patton Ave. is assisting the family.