Beverly A. “Bev” Kirkbride, age 74, a lifelong resident of Dover, passed away Wednesday, January 11, 2023, in Community Hospice Truman House, New Philadelphia, after a long battle with myasthenia gravis.
Born March 15, 1948, she was a daughter of the late Derlin and Betty Shumaker Miller. Bev graduated from Dover High School in 1966, and went on to earn her bachelor’s degree in education from Kent State University. She married Jeffrey “Jeff” Kirkbride, who survives, on February 1, 1969. Bev later taught at Dover’s East Elementary School for over 20 years until her activities were limited by illness. She loved teaching and children, and, for years, could not bear to be driven near East Elementary because of her sadness at having to leave her profession.
Bev was a member of the First Moravian Church in Dover as well as the Ohio Retired Teachers Association. She enjoyed gardening – particularly growing flowers, crocheting and cross-stitching. Bev crocheted hundreds of afghans and throws, giving almost all of them away to family, friends, and for use with infants and in health care facilities.
In addition to her loving husband, Jeff, Bev will be dearly missed by her children, Jennifer (Karl) Hoop of Freeport, and Ryan (Brandi) Kirkbride of Lexington, South Carolina; her grandchildren, Zak, Blake, Jackson and Max Hoop, and Mae Kirkbride; her sisters, Sandy (Gary) Page and Debbie (Mark) Stack; and her nieces and nephews.
Besides her parents, she was preceded in death by her beloved dogs, Tag and Smokey.
A funeral service will be held Tuesday, January 17, at 1 p.m., in the First Moravian Church; Pastor John B. Wallace will officiate. Burial will be later, following cremation, in Dover Burial Park. Visitation will be Monday, January 16, 4 – 6 p.m., in the Toland-Herzig Funeral Home & Crematory, Dover, and Tuesday, 12 – 1 p.m., in the church. To sign an online guestbook and share a fond memory of Bev, please visit the Obituaries link on the Toland-Herzig website.
Memorial gifts may be made to Community Hospice, 716 Commercial Ave. S.W., New Philadelphia, Ohio 44663, or MGFA (Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America), 290 Turnpike Rd., Ste. 5-315, Westborough, Massachusetts 01581.
Toland-Herzig Funeral Homes & Crematory
803 North Wooster Avenue
Dover, Ohio 44622
330-343-6132
www.tolandherzig.com