[Bristol-Birds] OBIT: Hummingbird Man Jack Kestner (1921-2005)
- From: "Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Bristol-birds" <bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 11:29:37 -0500
Jack Hale Kestner, the hummingbird man who lived his life in a rugged backwoods
house on Clinch Mountain near Saltville, Va., died Wednesday at the age of 83.
He passed away at the Welmont Bristol Regional Medical Center with his family
at his side.
A devout subscriber to Bristol Birds Net and a vetran journalist, he wrote a
weekly column for decades in the Bristol Herald Courier. He wrote of
himmingbirds, dogs and his rural mountain homelife. Readers were endeared to
his words, stories and lifestyle.
In more recent years, many of his columns included bits and pieces about birds
which he would included in his columns. Sometimes he would contact the Bristol
Birds Net and ask permission to make one of our subjets of bird reporting or
discussion the main body of a column. He often sent e-mails to Bristol Birds
Net subscribers to ask more details or seek out a better understanding of
birdlife or nature. He was a wondful naturalist himself.
Many members of the Bristol Bird Club will remember first meeting Kestner
September 1997 at the Bristol Bird Club annual banquet held at Central
Presbyterian Church in Bristol Virginia. Bob & Martha Sargant, the
nationally-famous hummingbird author, bander and researcher from Alabama was
our speaker. As 166 persons were awaiting the introduction of the speaker,
Jack Kestner walked in at the back of the room. He was so well known that he
was quickly pointed out to the crowd. People began to stand up all over the
room and turn to just get a glimpse of this man whose columns they had read for
much of their lives. It was an emotional moment.
Near the hour of Kestner's death, and without out knowledge of his
hospitalization, Ron Harrington and I were birding at the crest of Clinch
Mountain along Va. Rt. 80 early Wednesday afternoon close to Kestner's cabin
above his beloved community of Hayters Gap. We exchanged plesant feelings
about Kestner and his columns. We talked about his subjects, his style and how
much we had enjoyed them.
Snow blanketed the mountain on this cold March day. We knew that the
hummingbirds would soon return to Kestner's gardens and feeders. He would not
and we did not know that. He had seen his last snowfall here and he would not
see another spring. He will be missed by his loving dogs, children, thousands
of devoted readers and swarms of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds who sip his sugar
water by the gallons from his feeders.
It is fitting that his children have chosen to have a casual outdoor gathering
of family and friends to be held at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 13, at Jack's home on
Clinch Mountain. People will park at Hayters Gap Community Center where
shuttle service will be provided to the cabin. People should arrived at the
community center by 2:30 p.m.
Kestner, a journalist and author, spent most of his career traveling the world
to report on the military, foreign policy and the casualties of war.
Former co-workers described him as a tenacious, meticulous journalist who
earned the respect of all he encountered. Whether traveling to the South Pole
or covering the Vietnam War, he was regarded as a fearless, almost
larger-than-life reporter.
He was a war correspondent for the Norfolk Ledger-Star. After moving back to
his native Washington County in the 1970s, he immersed himself in causes dear
to him including animals, the environment and literacy.
Born in the Hayters Gap community on Sept. 29, 1921, Kestner spent his early
years in his beloved Washington County mountains. His family moved to Bristol
Tennessee, and while a student at Tennessee High School, Kestner decided to
become a writer.
After graduating high school in 1940, Kestner attended King College but
withdrew when the country entered World War II the following year. He became a
Navy cadet, but a bout with rheumatic fever cut short his military career.
He graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1948 with a degree in
English.
In 1949, a new afternoon daily newspaper - the Bristol Virginia-Tennessean -
hired Kestner as a reporter. His byline appeared in the newspaper's first
edition on Oct. 16 atop a front-page story about an escaped prisoner captured
in Bristol.
In 1952, Kestner left for Bermuda, where he worked for two newspapers, the
Mid-Ocean News and the Royal Gazette. He also did some freelance photography
there and met Thelma Atwood, whom he married.
The couple left Bermuda and lived briefly in Washington County in 1956. Kestner
worked as a forest-fire lookout at a fire tower on Clinch Mountain and later
wrote a children's book called "Fire Tower" about his experiences there.
The Kestners also lived briefly in New York, where he went for treatment of an
ear condition. While there, he worked as associate editor of The American
Mercury, a magazine co-founded by author and newspaperman H.L. Mencken.
In 1959, the family, which by then included the first of three children, moved
to Norfolk, where Kestner began working for the Ledger-Star. For almost 20
years, he covered the military, and his assignments included everything from
the war in Vietnam to the first challenges of a military ban on gays.
Kestner filed stories from around the world - the South Pole, the Caribbean,
the Mediterranean and Europe.
He made two trips to Vietnam to cover the war. A third was canceled when his
wife died suddenly in 1967.
While Kestner's career took him around the world, he longed to return to the
mountains. In 1977, he retired from the Ledger-Star at 55 and moved to his
ancestral home in Hayters Gap.
Kestner built a mountainside house isolated from his neighbors on a 70-acre
farm at the foot of Clinch Mountain.
Kestner earned numerous awards for news and feature writing. Rather than
display them, he hung them inside his closet.
After his two youngest children grew up, Kestner spent his days rescuing stray
dogs, appreciating the wonders of the region and getting involved in causes he
considered worthwhile.
Kestner was an avid supporter of the Animal Defense League of Washington County
and a member of its board of directors.
He is survived by two grown daughters and a son.
The Bristol Bird Club photo album displays a photo of Jack Kestner on behalf of
the Birstol Birds Net, the BBC, birders and readers everywhere. It is
downloaded from the website of the Bristol Herald Courier and was taken by one
of the newspaper's staff photographer in 2003. Links appear below my signature.
Following delivery of this message, Bristol Birds Net messages will no longer
be sent to his address but he will remain subscribed to Bristol Birds Net as
long as we have a mailing list. It is a small token of our gratefulness.
Maybe the redbuds will bloom a bit more profuse in his memory in the next few
weeks and the first hummingbird of spring will still perch briefly at his
porch.
Wallace Coffey
Bristol Tennessee
(much of this material was taken from the lavish spread of articles found in
the Thursday, March 10 edition of the Bristol Herald Courier and taken from the
newspaper website at http://www.bristolnews.com )
BBC photo album in memory photo:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jwcoffeyy/album?.dir=/efd5
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