Charles Walter Kirby

Charles Walter Kirby, 80, of Greer, a retired pastor and prolific volunteer missionary, died March 21.

Kirby’s South Carolina pastorates included Ingleside Baptist Church, Landrum, Hillcrest Baptist Church, Elgin, Smith Grove Baptist Church, Easley, Westville Baptist Church, Greenville, and Kentland Park Baptist Church, Greenville. He also pastored Zion Hill Baptist Church in Weatherford, Tex.

His volunteer mission work was through the former Home Mission Board and his own organization, the Preaching Carpenters Mission Ministry. His last volunteer mission effort was in a supervisory and construction capacity for the building of the new dining hall at Marietta Baptist Camp.

Kirby received a diploma in theology from Southwestern Baptist Seminary. He was a member of Brushy Creek Baptist Church in Taylors.

A veteran of the U.S. Navy during World War II, he also served as a volunteer for the Greenville Veterans Administration Clinic.

Survivors include his wife of nearly 60 years, Jeanette Howell Kirby, four children, five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.