Jamon "Coach" Kirby

Memorial services for Jamon “Coach” Kirby, 90, of Tyler will be held on Saturday, August 20, 2022, at 11:00 a.m. at West Erwin Church of Christ with Bill Allen and Larry Fuller officiating. Visitation will follow the service, and a private family graveside at Cathedral in the Pines Cemetery will be held under the direction of Stewart Family Funeral Home. Mr. Kirby passed away Friday, August 12, 2022, in Tyler. He was born May 17, 1932, in Raiford, Oklahoma to Walter Kirby and Ethel Dover Kirby. He cherished his childhood in Oklahoma, spending many happy times with his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. His family later moved to Gladewater, Texas, where he graduated from Union Grove High School in 1950 and then received his machinist certification from Kilgore College. He was drafted into the Army during the Korean War and was stationed with an anti-aircraft unit in California. When he returned to Texas, he ran into a beautiful girl he had known at church named Clayre Gray. He asked her out and she said yes. They married at that same church in 1956. She remained the love of his life from that day forward, and to honor that love, he never once removed his wedding ring. He obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education from Stephen F. Austin State University, and became an elementary school PE coach and bus driver in Tyler. He truly loved teaching and spent most of his career at Andy Woods Elementary School. In 1981, he joined the physical education faculty at Tyler Junior College. His door was always open to any student who needed help or a kind word. After he retired in 1996, he delighted in encountering his former students and counted himself fortunate to have been their teacher. In addition to teaching, he loved traveling, spending time at his vacation home in Oklahoma and being a wonderful granddad to his only grandson. He was also devoted to his church, serving as a deacon, an elder, a teacher and a volunteer for singles and youth activities. He was a charismatic, big-hearted Christian man with a warm smile and wonderful sense of humor, and he will be deeply missed. He was preceded in death by his precious wife, his parents, his sister and brother-in-law, Jewell Dean and Bill Rumsey, and their sons, Paul Rumsey and Rocky Rumsey. Left to cherish his memory is his loving family including his daughter and son-in-law Suzanne and Stan Perkins; beloved grandson, Grant Perkins; nieces Anita Ashworth, Diane Parker, Debbie Graham and Karla Miller and husband Ralph; and nephews, Clyde Hampton, Larry Fuller and wife Nancy, Roddy Fuller and wife Nancy, and Robert Rumsey and wife Sherry. The family would like to thank the staff at Prestige Estates and the nursing staff of Paloma Hospice for their kind, attentive care during the past year.

Jamon "Coach" Kirby

May 17, 1932 - August 12, 2022