Letter from Phil Kirk

Mourning the Loss of Two of Rowan's Finest
One stark example of growing older is that I find myself attending more visitations and memorial services each year. During recent months two close friends with major ties to NCCBI died — one suddenly at a relatively young age and another who lived a life of public service but whose health had steadily worsened during the past two years. Both were natives of Rowan County where I was born and raised.

The much beloved Jim Graham, who served as Commissioner of Agriculture for as long as most of us could remember, and Steve Johnson, who was the advertising salesperson for the Triad, Charlotte and western North Carolina for this magazine, both departed from this earth in November.

Commissioner Graham, whose late wife was a Kirk and my third cousin, was a loyal Democrat. In fact, he earned the title of “Mr. Democrat” and was proud to also be called a “yellow dog Democrat.” However, his unique sense of humor caused him to tell people we were first cousins when there was a Republican in the Governor’s Mansion, and he claimed only a distant relationship when a Democrat occupied that choice real estate in the state capital!

Jim Graham was a politician and proud of it. He never met a stranger, and he truly loved people. During the Holshouser administration, I went on several trips with him, especially to visit and learn at state fairs and national attractions. Even at Disneyworld, he introduced himself to “average” people visiting there because he said they all had friends and/or relatives in North Carolina who could vote for him in a future election.

He was in politics to help people and did not covet awards or higher office. NCCBI is proud that we presented him our Citation for Distinguished Public Service in 1977. He was also a dues paying member of NCCBI. Many of his friends tried many times without success to get him to run for governor. He was content to serve as agriculture’s chief promoter and guardian for more than 30 years, and he was very effective in that position.

Steve Johnson was a public servant in a different sense in Rowan County. He was serving as chairman of the Planning Board (one of the most difficult political assignments in a local community) and as a board member for the Rowan Partnership for Children (Smart Start) at his death, in addition to doing a superb job representing NCCBI and the North Carolina magazine. He introduced me as the speaker shortly before his death at a “Champion for Children” banquet in Rowan County — an idea that was his own.

Steve earned universal praise from his co-workers at NCCBI and from those to whom he sold ads for our magazine. His effective, low-key salesmanship earned him both sales and new friends. He was a key factor in annual double-digit ad sales increases during a recession.

Both Jim and Steve were family-oriented and very proud of their wives, children and grandchildren. They both made Rowan County honored to call them native sons.

During the past year, I was called upon to give four eulogies — for my mother-in-law, Pearl Simmons of Newport, who qualified as a saint on earth (oh how I miss her collard greens); my aunt, Sadie Husbands, who died after 10 years of Alzheimer’s (my sister, Pat Mitchell of Savannah, brother Ron of Cary, and I visited her in Florida every year even though we doubted she knew us); my 102-year-old uncle, Joe Freeman of Greensboro, whose wit and wisdom remained strong until his death; and friend Bruce Clark, who must have photographed me a thousand times when I was chairman of the State Board of Education.

And I would be remiss if I did not mention A.C. Allen of Raleigh, who died Thanksgiving week. We shared a couch together in the Seekers Class at Ridge Road Baptist Church. Once he inquired as to how I was doing, and I replied “pretty good.” He said with his normal wit, “You may be good, but you’re sure not pretty.”

These friends and relatives and others will be missed, but I am fortunate to have called each of them a friend. I’m sure you have similar stories to tell from the past year, and hope, like me, to have fewer during 2004.