Mary Elsie Rose (Kirby), daughter of Charles Edward Rose and Mary Virginia McKee (Rose), was born in Spring Hill, Kansas in May 1892. After graduating from Kansas State Agriculture College in Manhattan, Kansas, she embarked upon a lifelong career in teaching and education spanning the years 1911 to 1962. In 1916, at the age of 24, she married Buford Varble Kirby, employed in the grain business. Five years later, in Conception Junction, Missouri, she gave birth to a daughter, Mary Madge Kirby. Kirby taught in several Kansas communities, including Chiles, Bucyrus, Lawrence, Olathe, and Stillwell. In the latter two locales she rose to the administrative level of principal (1940's-1950's). By the time she settled in Lawrence, Kansas, the community in which she eventually retired, she was considered too old to serve in an administrative capacity, but did continue her role as educator by teaching second grade at Woodlawn School, plus teaching night classes at the high school. Kirby also fostered her own professional development by acquiring a Master of Arts degree in education from the University of Kansas in 1952. In 1962 she officially retired from the teaching/education career, remaining in Lawrence, Kansas, until her death on October 21, 1978.
From the guide to the Papers, 1908-1972, (University of Kansas Kenneth Spencer Research Library Kansas Collection)
