Carole H. (Hiller) Kirkbride

Carole H. Kirkbride, 80, passed on, Sunday, May 19, 2019 with her family at home in Exton, PA.

At Moore College of Art, Carole majored in Interior Design, earning the Wanamaker Prize, and received the John Sartain Graduate Scholarship for advanced study in Fashion Design. From 1979 – 2003, Carole was an Interior Designer, Color and Historical Consultant, and Office Manager for DK Architects/Planners, L. Robert Kimball Associates, and Kirkbride Associates Architects & Planners. Among her projects, she successfully nominated the Farmers and Mechanics Trust Company Building, the first skyscraper (1906) in West Chester, PA, for the National Register of Historical Places (1983). Carole was President of the Chester County General Federation of Women’s Clubs from 2000-02 and President of the Southeast Region Pennsylvania Women’s Club from 2002-04, and she received the Distinguished Service Award from the Council of Educational Facility Planners International, Northeast Region, in 2008. As a devoted horticulturalist certified by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, for many years Carole judged the Philadelphia Flower Show, and City Gardens for the Philadelphia Green program.

Carole is survived by her loving husband of 57+ years, Edward (“Mr. Ed”) Earle Kirkbride; daughter, Austin Lyn Barnett; her son, Dr. Robert Earle Kirkbride, and her daughter-in-law, Melissa Grey.  Celebrations of her life with family and friends will be held in the future.