KIRCHNER, Doris I.: 1924-1982

PONTE, TAYLOR, KIRCHNER, ROBBINS, WELLMAN, TURNER

Posted By: Volunteer: Sherri
Date: 10/14/2013 at 06:22:29

**Handwritten: 12-82
Rites set for Doris Kirchner

BIRMINGHAM-Services for Doris I. Kirchner, Birmingham, longtime teacher and educator, will be held Saturday at the Behner Funeral Home in Fairfield.

The services will be at 10 a.m. with the Rev. David Kennedy officiating. Burial will be in the Maple Hill Cemetery in Birmingham.

Mrs. Kirchner died at 2:10 a.m. Thursday at the Van Buren Memorial Hospital in Keosauqua. memorials have been estalisehd(err) to the Heart Fund or American Diabetes Association.

A graduate of the Farmington High School, Mrs. Kirchner earned her BS degree at Iowa Wesleyan College and her MA degree in Elementary Administration at the University of Iowa.

After teaching in rural school in Washington and Van Buren Counties, she taught in Birmingham and Keosauqua. She was later named elementary supervisor for all centers in the Van Buren Community School System, serving in that capacity for 12 years until her health forced her to retire in 1977.

In 1963 she became a charter member of the Alpha Sigma chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma International, a society for recognizing outstanding educators. She was influential in forming the Jefferson-Van Buren International Reading Association.

Doris I. Kirchner was born May 10, 1924, in Mount Hamill, the daughter of Edward L. and Mable Taylor Ponte. She was married to Kenneth Kirchner Dec. 19, 1943 in the Sharon Community. He survives.

In addition to her husband, Mrs. Kirchner is also survived by one son and one daughter: Edward Kirchner, Birmingham, and Phyllis Robbins, Casper, Wy.

Source: Van Buren Co. Genealogical Society Obituary Book C, Page 283, Keosauqua Public Library, Keosauqua, IA

Other survivors include six grandchildren and a sister, Ruth Wellman, West Point; and a brother, Jack E. Turner, U.S. Navy stationed on USS Kitty Hawk. She was preceded in death by her parents and a brother.