Mary L. Kirkpatrick

Mary L. Kirkpatrick, 95, of Moline, Illinois, died Sunday, May 3, 2020, at UnityPoint Health – Trinity Rock Island, as a result of a stroke two days prior.

Private burial is in Rock Island National Cemetery. Trimble Funeral Home and Crematory, Moline, is entrusted with arrangements. Memorials may be made to Animal Aid Humane Society, Moline, where she volunteered for many years and served as treasurer.

Mary was born April 24, 1925, in Harvard, Illinois, to Joseph and Philomena (Herde) Schmidt. Her parents met on the ship from Germany to Ellis Island in 1923. She grew up in Southern Wisconsin.

Upon graduating high school, she moved to Chicago, where she eventually attended the Aircraft Instrument School in Chicago. She relocated to Riverside, California, where she worked as an Instrument Technician at the San Bernadino Army Air Field during the war.

After the war, she moved back to Chicago, where she met her husband, Deane “Barney” Kirkpatrick. The couple moved to Rock Island in 1956. She worked on the Rock Island Arsenal in the production department.

Always game for adventure, her love of travel took her all over the United States and also to Europe more than a dozen times. She maintained close relationships with her German relatives, last visiting in 2015 for a Schmidt Family Reunion.

Mary is survived by children, Craig (Denise) Kirkpatrick of San Clemente, California, Lisa (Randle) Stearns of Port Byron, Illinois, and Diane Wilson of Orlando, Florida; grandchildren, Colin Kirkpatrick and Cara Wilson; three great-grandsons; step-children, Terry (Gail) Kirkpatrick, and Trish Kirkpatrick; a sister, Katie O’Brien of New Berlin, Wisconsin; and several nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband in 1989, a brother, Harold Schmidt, and a son-in-law, Dan Wilson.

Share stories and condolences at TrimbleFuneralHomes.com.