“Maverick” is the first word that comes to mind. “One of a kind,” John D. Kirk (Johnnie), was my father from age 3. John was essentially raised by his oldest brother, Lacey Kirk. John’s mother died when he was age 9 and his father abandoned him at age 12. No wonder he made the commitment to help raise 10 children which included the children that came with his first wife who died after 19 years of marriage and my mother, who came with two little girls. They were married 25 years and had 2 more children before he died. John put himself through school delivering the Kansas City Star and the Omaha Bee News; he went on from being a U.S. Postal worker and a Marine to become the founder of what became a local empire of A. A. Auto Parts Stores and an automotive parts warehouse in Tillicum, WA. He was a devotee of horse racing, a member of the Tacoma Elks Lodge, Teamsters Local 461, and a 30 year member of the Tacoma Athletic Commission. He was born on July 4th. He loved the outdoors, was a boy scout leader and took us on many backpacking trips into the Olympic National Forest. John hated litter and fire bugs and was a promoter of natural conservation—also, racial unity. He loved “all the people” and was very generous sponsoring numerous athletic teams and events. His business provided jobs to a lot of students working their way through college. We always went to the Puyallup fair, had many summer picnics, memorable family outings and good times together. I will always miss him.