William Gooch Kirby (1918 - 1996)

Born 13 Apr 1918 in Douglas, Cochise County, Arizona, USA

Ancestors

Died 11 Dec 1996 at age 78 in Tullahoma, Coffee County, Tennessee, USA

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Biography

Obituary "Tullahoma News" (Tullahoma, TN): KIRBY, Wiiilam Gooch, of Tullahoma, died Wednesday, Dec. 11,1996, at his home following an extended illness. Born in Douglas, Ariz., he spent most of his youth in Bowling Green, Ky., and graduated from Western Kentucky University, where he majored in physics and mathematics and was a member of the varsity tennis team. While studying physics for graduate work at Vanderbilt University, he was asked to join the Manhattan Project and was assigned to Columbia University to do research and development on the atomic bomb. He continued this pioneering work at Los Alamos, N.M., and Oak Ridge. He was a physicist for NASA at Langley Field, va., and finished his career at AEDC. He was an avid tennis player, loving husband and father and will be missed by all. He was preceded in death by his parents, John Quincy Kirby Sr. and Loretto Gooch Kirby; one sister, Olivia Ranier, and one brother, John Quincy Kirby Jr. He is survived by his wife, Cora Womac Kirby, Tullahoma; two daughters, Teresa Kirby, Nashville, and Pegeen Thornton Jackson, 1M.J.; one son, Bill Kirby, Nashville; two grandchildren Michele and Christine, and two great-grandchildren, Michael and Joshua. Private graveside services will be held at Rose Lawn

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