Grady Connor Kilgore

Grady Kilgore was born November 23, 1934, in Jasper, Alabama, during the Great Depression and was a young boy during WWII. He learned early on about traditional values and hard work while growing up on the family dairy and cotton farm in West Alabama. He was the second of eight children born to Thomas Kermit Kilgore and Mary Elizabeth Rutledge Kilgore. 

In 1955 he enlisted in the United States Air Force and was trained as an aviation mechanic at Lincoln Air Force Base in Lincoln, Nebraska. He was deployed overseas. Later, along with his wife and young children, he was stationed at a strategic Air Command base at Loring Air Force Base in Maine during the height of The Cold War. In his civilian life he was employed at Trans World Airlines, the United States Postal Service, and several other companies. He was a skilled mechanic and electrician. A Freemason Member, he loved gardening, fishing, hunting, University of Alabama football, his Dallas Cowboys, his church, gospel music and his family.

He is preceded in death by wives, Carolyn Mobley Kilgore Libby, and Dorothy Flow Kilgore; son, Scott Kilgore; son-in-law, Donnie Braziel; and stepson, Jason Alexander; brothers, Thomas Rutledge Kilgore, and John Wilson Kilgore; sisters-in-law, Rose Kilgore, and Mary Dell Kilgore; brothers-in-law, Don Pate, Bill Elledge, and Ray Tharpe.

Grady is survived by children, Gregory Kilgore and wife, Nancy of Greenville, S.C., Michael Kilgore, and Katherine Kilgore Braziel of Fort Worth, and Frederick Kilgore of Benbrook; eight grandchildren; eleven great-grandchildren; loving fiancé, Nancy Blevins of Benbrook; siblings, Mary Kilgore Pate of Birmingham, Betty Kilgore Elledge of Birmingham, Robert Frederick Kilgore of Tuscaloosa, Doris Kilgore Tharpe of Santa Rosa Beach, FL, and Harry Clayton Kilgore and wife, Elaine of Northport; sisters-in-law, Gena Kilgore of Tuscaloosa; and many friends and extended family members.

Memorials: In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to his favorite charity, St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital (www.stjude.org).

Visitation: 8:30–9:30 a.m., Friday, August 16, 2024, at Winscott Road Funeral Home, 1001 Winscott Road, Benbrook, Texas 76126. Funeral service: 9:30 a.m., following his visitation. Burial: 11:30 a.m., Friday, at Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery, 2000 Mountain Creek Pkwy, Dallas, Texas 75211.