When a friend of Nick Khaliq’s was having an issue with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs a few years ago, Gordon Kirk stepped in to help.

“I had pretty much thrown up my hands, and Gordy said, ‘No, you go talk to so-and-so, and tell them Gordy Kirk sent you,” Khaliq said. “That was all it took. A lot of people talk that talk, but he made it happen. He was always cool, calm and collected under pressure.”

Kirk, who spent decades working with the Veterans of Foreign Wars, helping his fellow veterans navigate the VA health care system, died March 2 of complications related to pneumonia at Regions Hospital in St. Paul. He was 101; he would have turned 102 on March 23.

Kirk, a World War II veteran, lived a life of service and “believed in looking out and helping your fellow man,” Khaliq said. “He always had the utmost respect for people’s dignity and their humanity, regardless of who they were and what title they carried. He not only survived hard times, but he thrived, and it never made him really bitter. His legacy will be the example that he set for many of us.”

A longtime VFW member, Kirk became the first Black commander of the organization’s Minnesota chapter in 1995. A longtime resident of St. Paul’s Rondo neighborhood, Kirk also was active in the Hallie Q. Brown Community Center’s Retired Men’s Club.

“He was so amazing,” said Khaliq, the club’s president. “You know, I can’t remember what happened yesterday, but that brother, I mean, he was organized, good with details, and once he was given a task, you didn’t have to ask him twice about it. He set a very, very good example, especially for young Black men, but for men in general, and especially veterans, because he loved and cared for veterans dearly. He was a sounding board for many veterans, not only in our community, but throughout the state. He stayed focused and kept his eyes on the prize.”

Graduated in 1942 and enlisted

Kirk was born in Helena, Mont., on March 23, 1923. His father’s career with the Northern Pacific Railway moved the family west to Seattle just as he was starting grade school. When Kirk was 10, the family moved to St. Paul. He graduated from Marshall High School in 1942 and enlisted in the U.S. Army.

During an interview with the Pioneer Press in 2023, Kirk said he encountered the open racism of the segregated South when he and his fellow Black recruits were boarding a train in Kansas City en route to basic training at Fort Bliss, Texas.

“The conductor comes up and says, ‘You boys will have to ride in the Jim Crow car,’ ” he recalled. “I’d heard about Jim Crow cars, but I’d never seen one. I hadn’t ever been called ‘boy.’ ”

Kirk hoped to join the paratroopers after basic training, but Black soldiers were still prohibited from doing so. He was instead assigned to a trucking company under Gen. George Patton.

“He learned how to drive at a very young age, and a lot of the other brothers who were from the South, they didn’t have that exposure to cars or driving,” said Rochelle Tate, his niece. “So when Uncle Gordy went into the Army, they made him a driver because he could drive and a lot of others didn’t have that experience. He’d been driving since he was 14.”

Landing at Omaha Beach six days after D-Day, Kirk served in Europe for the rest of the war. During the Battle of the Bulge, his company “was tasked with delivering troops to the front lines near Bastogne in the dead of winter, enduring frostbite and regular bombing by German planes,” according to an article published in the Gopher Oversea’r.

In addition to landing on the beaches of Normandy, he was involved in campaigns in northern France, the Ardennes, Rhineland and Central Europe.

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“It was during the Battle of the Bulge when he spent three cold nights sleeping under his truck that he suffered frostbite to his hands,” according to the Gopher Oversea’r article. “He reminisced about arriving at Dachau one day after it had been liberated.”

After being discharged on Dec. 19, 1945, Kirk returned to St. Paul and spent a decade working as a streetcar driver for Twin City Rapid Transit. He then spent the next 30 years working as a skycap with Braniff and then Northwest airlines.

Kirk was proud of his “life of service,” Tate said. “It’s in our blood and DNA, and there’s certainly a lot of value and pride in being able to provide service to people. Not a lot of people understand that these days. They don’t want to. They think that if you’re serving other people, it’s degrading, but for my family, that’s really important for us.

In 1958, Kirk married his wife, Gwen, and the couple had three children; she died in 2005.

Active in VFW

Kirk was instrumental in creating the Twin Star VFW Post 8854 in 1964. He rose through the chairs at the post, district and department levels to become the first Black VFW member in Minnesota to attain the office of Department Commander from 1995-1996.

Gordon Kirk, a longtime member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, became the first Black commander of the organization’s Minnesota chapter in 1995. (Courtesy of Department of Minnesota Veterans of Foreign Wars)

He was a life member of the VFW and joined Brooker Edmund Post 724 in New Brighton after the Twin Star Post closed.

Kirk served as the VFW’s hospital representative from 1997 to 2019 where he advocated for veterans who need assistance at the VA Medical Center. He was elected to be the chairman of the Big 10 Conference from 2000-2001.

Kirk remained active in VFW until a month before his death, said Joe Mauricio, a longtime friend and fellow VFW member. “He was like a father to me,” Maurico said. “In fact, I called him ‘Papa.’ I asked him if I could call him that, and he said I could. He was more of a father to me than my own father was. I could talk to him; I could never talk to my dad.”

Barry Henriksen, past state commander of the VFW and current adjutant quartermaster, said everyone loved visiting with Kirk at VFW events. “He was at our fall conference last September at 101,” he said. “Anytime he was at an event, everybody was so excited to see him. His mind was so sharp. He was very proud of his service. He always wanted the VFW to succeed. You know, he’s very proud of it. He was very proud of his service, both in the war and then his entire life. His entire life was about service.”

Pillar of church community

Kirk was a beloved member of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in St. Paul, said the Rev. Shawn Evelyn, the priest in charge of Holy Trinity.

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“He was one of the pillars of our community,” Evelyn said. “He’s accomplished many things in his tenure – not just in his military service, but in his work and his life in the community and his outreach. He’s been a staple of our community and of our little slice of the world here, and we’re going to miss him.”

Kirk was a longtime usher and was a mentor to younger members of the congregation, and he and his wife occasionally took at-risk youths into their home.

Kirk’s memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday at St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral in Minneapolis. The service will be at the cathedral to accommodate the large number of people expected to attend, Evelyn said.

Visitation will be at 10 a.m. Thursday at St. Mark’s; a 2 p.m. repast will be held at the Hallie Q. Brown Community Center in St. Paul.

Brooks Funeral Home in St. Paul is handling arrangements.