Kirt Decherd was somewhat of a professional volunteer.
Decherd pursued service as if it were a second career, friends said, especially into his retirement. He spent time volunteering nearly every day, such as work through his church or the St. Vincent de Paul Society providing food and financial assistance to families in need.
All times, he served out of the goodness of his heart.
“He loved life, and he loved people,” said his son. “He wanted to be out there in the world, in the community, in the middle of life with people.”
Kirtland Decherd of Chamblee died Monday after a fight with acute myeloid leukemia. He was 78.
A service is scheduled Friday at 11 a.m. at Decherd’s church, Our Lady of Assumption Catholic Church in Brookhaven. The family will have a private burial later, with Fischer Funeral Care, Atlanta, handling the arrangements.
Two weeks before his death, Decherd and his son attended a performance at Atlanta Symphony Hall and dined at The Colonnade, an evening impressed in his son’s memory. Decherd struck up warm, easy conversation with several of the diners seated around their table, remembered his son, Chris Decherd of Washington, D.C.
As the evening came to a close, his son said Decherd looked at him with tears in his eyes. “He turned to me and said, ‘Son, people, don’t you just love people? People are the greatest.’ ”
Decherd was born in Meriden, Conn., April 10, 1935. He graduated from high school in Meriden, and later from the University of Vermont. After a stint working in New York, Decherd worked as a fire inspector for the Gwinnett County Fire Department for three decades, beginning in the late ’70s, and was a member of the Metropolitan Fire Association. He and Barbara Decherd, his wife of 48 years, raised their four children in Chamblee.
His son remembers several summers spent with his father cultivating the grounds at their neighborhood swim and tennis club. The work was substantial, but Decherd took very little pay. “To him that wasn’t about the money, it was about doing a public service for the families in the neighborhood,” he said.
Decherd also devoted many hours to his children’s sports and activities, serving as the much-loved announcer for the Huntley Hills Club swim team up until three years ago. Decherd had a distinctive voice, deep and confident, said friends. He enjoyed singing in his church choir.
Every month for almost 30 years, Decherd and his wife had dinner with other couples in their church. They relied on each other as a community of support, said Paul Roberts of Atlanta, a member of “The Group” for about 20 years.
“Kirt was very sociable,” said Roberts. “He exhibited a very Christian approach toward everybody, he felt a desire to help people that needed help.”
Decherd indulged in a few simple pleasures, said friend Martha Banna of Brookhaven, who also volunteered with the St. Vincent society. He collected model fire engines, books on firefighting, baseball cards, postage stamps, and beer cans, the latter on display throughout his home. And he tried to walk every day.
“All other hours he was doing something for his family or for others,” Banna said. Just the way he liked it.
Decherd is also survived by his wife, Barbara Decherd; his daughters Ellen Ballerene of Yellow Springs, Ohio, Nancine Decherd and Anita Decherd of San Diego; and his sister, Ann Thornton of Pinehust, N.C.
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