Viewing: Thursday, December 26, 2013 from 12-6pm at Long Beach Colonial Mortuary

Services: Friday, December 27, 2013 at 11am at Cottonwood Church 3311 Sausalito St. Los Alamitos, CA 90720

Interment: Forest Lawn Memorial Park 4471 Lincoln Ave. Cypress, CA 90630

Obituary

Tommie Lee Kirkpatrick, Sr. was born May 13, 1928 in Malone, Texas. His parents were Henry and Estelle Kirkpatrick. He was the eldest of three children. Both parents and two brothers preceded him to glory.

The Kirkpatrick family left Malone, Texas in 1944 and moved to Long Beach, California. There he attended Franklin Jr. High School and Polytechnic High. His first job was Thrifty Drug Store as a short order cook, on 4th Street and Pine.

In 1948, he met Joann Dunbar and they were high school sweethearts. They married in 1948 and had two children, Sheila Kirkpatrick, Rogers and Tommy Lee Kirkpatrick, Jr.

He was one of the first black bus drivers at the bus company in Long Beach. While he was working at the bus company, he went to school for real estate and passed his examination to become a real estate agent.
In 1970, he started working at Standard Brand Paint Company. In 1978, he met Gail and Jason Cooper and formed a union and got married in 1985. He retired at Standard Brand Paints in 1993.

Tommie accepted Christ at an early age, he first joined White Rose Church COGIC under the pastor Samuel Tillman in 1945 with his parents. In 1963 he took his family and joined New Hope Baptist Church, under his uncle, Reverend N.J. Kirkpatrick.

In 2005, he joined Cottonwood Church under the leadership of senior pastor, Bayless Conley, with his wife Gail.

He leaves to cherish him in memory, a loving wife of 28 years Gail Kitkpatrick; one sister Ossie Murray of Las Vegas, NV; three surviving children Sheila Kirkpatrick-Rodgers of Los Angeles, CA, Tommy L. Kirkpatrick, Jr. of Long Beach, CA and Jason Cooper of Long Beach, CA; nine grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, a host of nieces and nephews, cousins, church family and a host of friends.