George V. Kirkwood, Jr. |
| Posted 2016-01-21 by Sharla |
| The Daily Courier, Prescott, Arizona, Wednesday, March 26, 2003 George V. Kirkwood passed away the morning of Saturday, March 22, 2003. He ended life peacefully at 9:15 a.m., in the home he shared with his wife, Marian, in Humboldt. Services will be held at Helper Funeral Home, 143 West Arnold Street, Camp Verde, on Friday, March 28, at 10 a.m. A gathering of friends and family at Verde Livestock Yard will follow the service. George was born at Burbank Good Samaritan Hospital, Los Angeles, Calif., on April 13, 1919. His father was George V. Kirkwood Sr. and his mother was Maude Hartley, both deceased. His sister, Ann Kirkwood, resides in Tucson. George’s father sold Lilac Ranch in California and moved the family to Prescott when George was six years old. Throughout George’s life he always loved Prescott as his hometown, so much he claimed it as his place of birth. He established quite a reputation in his young years and maintained it all his life. He attended most of his public school education in Prescott. He then attended Joe Cockey and Southern Arizona Boys School in his later elementary and high school years. Despite the fact that he missed Prescott and his hometown friends, he excelled in school, at sports, and was captain of the polo team. His time spent with horses and outdoors led to being a cowboy and the direction his life would go. Later he attended two years of college studying to be a veterinarian. The outdoors called him away and he began working as a cowboy. He worked at various ranches on many different round-ups. Two ranches he worked at for the longest amount of time were Boquillas and the ORO. Sometime in Prescott, he met Lorraine Shields, who would be his first wife. He helped out part=time at Shields’ S Ranch, getting to know his future wife and in-laws. Some years of being acowboy went bay an on Feb.1, 1945, he married Lorraine. George’s ambition and need for greater wages led to he and his wife moving to Phoenix. He went to work at Tovreas Feed Yard and the Cornlius Livestock Autions. After some time at the job he was asked to pick up and deliver cattle, which was his firs truck driving experience. In a short time, he owned his first gas rig truck. This was the beginning of his self-employed career. His first company was name Kirkwood Trucking, which he operated out of their home on 11th Street and Monroe in Phoenix. After some success and hard times, he also worked for the largest three livestock transportation companies in Phoenix. The first was Hopper, as a driver; the second was Calhoun Brothers, as a driver and third was Swift Transport, as a driver and then dispatcher. Upon George’s needing a leave of absence, his employer, Swift sent him to Camp Verde to irrigate pastures and care take a small ranch. This was the event that brought George to the Verde Valley to live in about 1948 or 49. Personalities attributing, his surviving cattle truck made it to Camp Verde before his wife did. A year later, they established a residence at Mary Russell house and Dairy on Salt Mine Road. George found plenty of work and bought another cattle truck, renaming his operation Verde Livestock Transportation in 1951. By 1956, he had another truck and in Sept. 1957, George and Lorraine had a son they named Van. During this time of his life, he was a member of the Camp Verde Cavalry, riding horse back in parades and horse drill tam exhibitions with the Camp Verde Saddle Bags. He at many times donated his labor and cattle truck to hauling the horses for these organizations of close friends and families. Also for a short period, he was on the Camp Verde Volunteer Fire Dept. George’s first wife and mother of his son became ill and passed away in Nov. 1971. Soon he attempted a second marriage but had to return to a bachelor life with his son. Three years after his son completed high school, George began training the next generation cattle hauler. In 1979, George met Marian Jensen Yount, who would be his third wife and the “Love of his Life”. They married in 1980 and lived in Marian’s house in Humboldt for the remainder of George’s years. George owned and managed Verde Livestock Trans. for 53 years and was in livestock transportation for 55 years. Working was his daily bread and Marian was his happiness. George is survived by his widow, Marian; sister, Ann Kirkwood; son, Van; granddaughter, Brittany, and grandson, Reid. George will be greatly missed by his family and friends. The absence of his personality will definitely leave a void. See Also: Find A Grave |
Note: These obituaries are transcribed as published and are submitted by volunteers who have no connection to the families. They do not write the obituaries and have no further information other than what is posted within the obituaries. We do not do personal research. For this you would have to find a volunteer who does this or hire a professional researcher.
Questions About This Project?