Elneda Marie Kirk

Elneda Marie Kirk, age 92, of Abingdon, Maryland passed away on December 6, 2017 at Upper Chesapeake Medical Center in Bel Air, Maryland. Born in Petersburg, Virginia, she was the daughter of David Close Root and Stella (Miller) Root and was the wife of the late Ermol Kirk.

Mrs. Kirk is survived by three daughters, Linda Kratochvil and husband, Gary, of Bel Air, Shirley Kelly and husband, Darvin, of Myrtle Beach, SC and Sharon Kirk of Baltimore; three grandchildren, Philip Kratochvil, Rachel Kratochvil and Heather Pierce; and great-grandchild, Addison Cordara.

Elneda was the youngest of five children. The family moved to a farm in 1930 in Forman, WV, with cows, horses, sheep, and chickens. The depression came and work was hard to find but they always had something to eat. Elneda and her brother walked 1 ½ miles to go to school in all kinds of weather.

Elneda didn’t like living in the country. She was lonesome, had cats and dogs to play with, but no real friends. Her two cousins, Ronald and Lonnie Kirby, would come to stay with the family during the summer. She was a real tomboy. Her parents let her use a 22 rifle to go squirrel hunting when she was only twelve years old. She went to church every week standing in the back of an old pickup truck with many others.

The family later moved to Gormania, WV, where she met the love of her life. She was only 15 years old, when she met Ermol Kirk. She said her heart went flip flop and his big brown eyes made her love sick. They hung out at the town’s only restaurant, which also had a juke box. At Bayard High School, she played basketball in the fall & winter and baseball in the spring & summer. One of her best friends was Toots Lloyd. Then the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and the world changed instantly. She remembered her science teacher, Mr. Shaffer, telling the class what happened, with tears running down his face. Elneda’s brothers and her precious Ermol went to war and the love affair was put on hold. He and Elneda wrote letters as often as they could while Hitler tried to destroy the world.

Meanwhile, Elneda graduated from Bayard High School and the family moved to Baltimore in 1943 to find work. The three sisters plus one young child all slept in the same bed. This little country bumpkin learned to ride the street cars and go downtown to the big city. She got a workers permit and was assigned to work at the Glenn L. Martin Airport Factory and filed and retrieved airplane blueprints. She was a real Rosie Riveter.

Ermol came home from the war in August 1945. They were married a few weeks later. She kept and treasured Ermol’s love letters that he wrote to her and will be buried with them.

Ermol and Elneda liked to play penny poker, go to auctions, and sell stuff at flea markets. They had a poodle named Pepe who loved to steal Ermol’s socks when he came home from work.
They were married for 53 years and then it was time for Ermol to go to heaven. Now, Elneda is reunited with her precious Ermol and most likely gazing at his big brown eyes.