John E. Kimble Sr., 85, of Brown’s Run, New Freeport, PA died peacefully in his sleep Dec. 30 after a long illness. Mr. Kimble was a retired master sergeant and aircraft mechanic in the U.S Air Force, serving with distinction from 1944 to 1967, with active duty in WWII and the Korean Conflict and combat duty in the Vietnam War. After his military retirement, he became a plant engineer for Blue Bird Body Co. building assembly lines at factories in Georgia, Virginia, Iowa and Quebec. He retired to his family home on Brown’s Run in 1995, about a mile from the home where he was born to Edward R. and Norine Fordyce Kimble.
Mr. Kimble is survived by a son, Edward, of Cleveland, OH; a sister, Mary Lou Pelley of LaSalle, CO; two brothers, George, of Huntington, WV, and Donald, of Moundsville, WV; step-brother, Dr. Vaun Newill of Oxford, PA, numerous neices and nephews, as well as his beloved dog, Skittles. He was predeceased by brothers Melvin and Wayne.
A memorial service is planned in the spring at Sand Hill Cemetery. Memorial donations may be made to the American Diabetes Association.
The Tennant Funeral Home in Hundred, WV is in charge of arrangements.