Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
The Jefferson County Historical Association (JCHA) last week was the recipient of significant donation from one of its former members -- the late William K. Kirkpatrick, who passed away earlier in the year at age 79.
On Wednesday afternoon, Dec. 12, Troy Avera, representing the Kirkpatrick estate, presented an $80,000 check to the JCHA, with another $20,000 check supposed to follow.
On hand to accept the money at the organization's historic Wirick-Simmons home on North Jefferson Street were three of its officials: Beulah Bird, president; Claudette McRae, treasurer; and Jack Carswell, executive director.
“Kirkpatrick was active in the JCHA and was its president at the time of his death,” Carswell said. “He was largely responsible for a renaissance in the organization.”
Born in Orlando and raised in St. Cloud, FL, Kirkpatrick was related to the Boyd and Finlayson families through his mother. His father, meanwhile, founded the Citizens Bank of St. Cloud, which SunTrust Bank later acquired.
An only child, lifetime bachelor and world traveler, Kirkpatrick studied landscape architecture at Florida Southern College and did an internship in hospitality management at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York, before returning to St. Cloud-Kissimmee to manage motels and build houses.
His real passion, however, is said to have been the buying and restoring old houses, of which he restored 13 in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina.
“After each restoration, he would live in the home for a short while, tastefully landscaping it and decorating it with fine antiques and art,” Hines Boyd wrote of his cousin in the obituary. “His last two restoration projects were in Monticello, after being enticed to move here in 2007 by his cousins.”
Carswell, meanwhile, tells the story of how Kirkpatrick, whom he describes as “an old Hollywood type” who “surrounded himself with tasteful objects,” once “chartered a jet and flew around the world collecting pieces from far and wide.”
The JCHA did not indicate how it would use the donation, but no doubt it will go toward its mission, which it defines as dedication to the preservation and practical use of the county's historical treasures.
For more information about the JCHA, call Bird at (850) 997-2465.