John Kirk Ferguson

His late Father and Mother, Fred and Ruth Ferguson, resided for nearly sixty years in Riverside and are buried in Crestlawn Cemetery’s Masonic Garden, as are his Grandparents, George and Herma Rauenbuehler. Kirk will be buried in an adjacent gravesite.

Kirk’s Brother, Dean, is buried at Riverside National Cemetery. Kirk is survived by Dean’s three Sons: Bruce and his wife, Derrilee, of Lancaster, South Carolina; Scott and his wife, Adriana, and their children, Stephanie and Gabriel, of Coconut Creek, Florida; and Andrew and his wife, Chen, and their children, Angela and John, of Liberty Township, Ohio.

Kirk was a 1953 graduate of Riverside Poly High School and a Charter Student at the University of California at Riverside when the campus opened in February 1954, graduating with a B.A. degree in June 1957.

In 1952, Kirk enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve, and after graduating from UCR and the U.S. Naval Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island, he received a commission in the U.S. Navy and retired with the rank of Commander. Two highlights of his Naval career include having commanded a unique squadron of twenty Strike Assault Boats on the upper Mekong River and adjacent canals in 1970 during the Vietnam War, and also having served as Commanding Officer of USS FLINT (AE-32), an ammunition ship from 1973 through 1975. Kirk earned sixteen service ribbons and medals, which include the Bronze Star Medal with the Combat “V” device for Valor and the Combat Action Ribbon. He was also the 1989 President of the Riverside March Field Chapter of the Military Officers Association of America.

Following his retirement from the U.S. Navy in 1981, Kirk worked for General Dynamics as a Design Engineer for the Standard Missile Department at their Pomona, California division until his retirement in 1990.

He has written enumerable U.S. Navy oriented magazine articles, conducted oral histories of World War II Navy veterans, and appeared in History Channel videos.

Kirk was a Master Mason and Life Member of Riverside Lodge #635, F.&A.M; Riverside Chapter #622, Order of the Eastern Star; 32nd Degree Scottish Rite Mason; Knight’s Templar in the York Rite of Freemasonry; and an Aloha Temple Shriner of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, the world’s largest fraternal philanthropy.