John V. Kinsley Jr.'s Obituary
John Vandergrift Kinsley Jr. graduated to heaven on February 14, at home in Seaford, Delaware, surrounded by his family after a hard-fought battle with lymphoma. He was 77.
Son of John and Iola Bardsley Kinsley, he was born in Philadelphia in 1946. He grew up in Newtown Square before moving with his parents to Florida. During the Vietnam War, he served in the U.S. Navy aboard the U.S.S. Vulcan, stationed in Norfolk.
In 1967 he married Carol Jean Thompson in Royal Oak, Maryland.
Mr. Kinsley became a professional fire fighter in Lantana, Florida, in 1970 and became one of the first nationally registered paramedics. He continued to work as an electrician on off-duty days.
In 1980, the Kinsleys moved to Tilghman Island, Maryland. Mr. Kinsley built a home next to his parents’, doing almost all the work himself. He opened an electrical contracting business and later was a paramedic at Fort Meade, Maryland.
In 1990, Mr. Kinsley became one of the first paramedics in Sussex County, Delaware, relocated to Seaford and helped build the county’s Emergency Medical Services. He retired in 2008 as Division Manager.
He is remembered as a generous and talented man who was able to find a solution, one step at a time, for any problem except the disease that took his life. Mr. Kinsley is pre-deceased by his parents and an infant sister, Diane. He is survived by his wife, Carol; a son, John V. Kinsley III, and daughter-in-love, Diana Kinsley; a daughter, Elisabeth “Lisa” K. Wile, and son-in-love, Andy Wile; five grandchildren: Vaughn Willenberger, Matthew Ritter, Evan and Erik Kinsley and Abigail Wile; and four great-grandchildren.
A Celebration of Life will be held at Crossroad Community Church, 20684 State Forest Road, Georgetown, Delaware, on Monday, Feb. 19 at 2 p.m. Visitation begins at 1 p.m.
Interment will be held later at Spring Hill Cemetery in Wagram, North Carolina.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Firefighter Cancer Support (firefightercancersupport.org), St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, or Tunnel to Towers Foundation.
*** Florists - All floral tributes need to be delivered directly to Crossroad Community Church
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