As Larry Kimbrow navigated his way through the early morning hours on June 6, many thoughts ran through his mind.
After all, it was the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
Kimbrow is, was and forever will be a military man. And darn proud of it, too!
Kimbrow, a Poplar Bluff graduate, is retired now, but giving to his country, as well as the local community, is what has driven him throughout a life that has witnessed countless changes in many countries during his nearly 30-year military career.
After graduation, Kimbrow enrolled at Three Rivers College in 1967. But God had a different plan.
“I was one of the first 100 to enroll but I couldn’t afford the $50 tuition. So, I was looking for something else to do, so I joined the Navy,” said Kimbrow.
Spanning 28 years of active duty, Kimbrow commenced his career in Vietnam.
“When I was enlisted, I as an aviation electrician. I had never even touched an airplane,” recalled Kimbrow.
So, after eight weeks of boot camp, off Kimbrow went: for six months of occupational training.
“I started working on airplanes; I got to visit 40 different countries,” he said.
Eventually, Kimbrow transferred to cargo planes.
“That is when I was in Vietnam, working on cargo planes,” he said. “They were vintage WWII planes … 1969, 1970 — in that period. We were holding them together with Duct Tape and bailing wire if we didn’t have parts”
Wherever there was an airport in Vietnam, Kimbrow was there.
To bookend his career, Kimbrow found himself in the Persian Gulf.
“(Until then), I had never been out of the state of Missouri,” Kimbrow said of his early days. “And they paid me to go to those places. Some were good, some were bad.”
On Sept. 30, 1996, Kimbrow called it a career.
As Kimbrow currently sits — at home in Poplar Bluff — aged 75 — life now centers upon his family and philanthropic efforts.
It’s about giving back.
After all, there is no place like home.
“When I retired, I had a new wife and three kids under five years old. I wanted a place … I had been all over the world and had looked at many places. And I wanted to come back home because I knew what kind of community it was,” said Kimbrow. “What they provided me as far as education and friendships, and I knew I wanted to bring back my kids, to raise them. It worked out perfectly. I settled back in like I had never left.”
Kimbrow met his wife, Amalia, while on active duty.
“We call her Amy. She is a native of the Philippines,” said Kimbrow. “I met her when I was stationed there.”
His children, Kimberly, Timothy and Kaycie all graduated Poplar Bluff High School — carrying on the family tradition.
Upon graduation, both Timothy and Kaycie were accepted to the Naval Academy.
“They were the first two ever from Poplar Bluff High School. They have finished their time now and are out and have great jobs,” Kimbrow said.
__Life after the military__
Philanthropic efforts now consume Kimbrow’s day-to-day activities.
Unbeknownst to him his post-military career was just taking off.
“That is my passion,” he said. “Once I came back here, I was willing to be a greeter at Walmart if I had to. Fortunately, when we moved from Memphis, there was an ad in the Daily American Republic for an associate dean of workforce development at Three Rivers College. I applied and they hired me.”
Kimbrow retired from Three Rivers as executive vice president of academic affairs in 2009.
“That has given me the opportunity to spend my time on my passion, which is community service. I was never able to do that with the military, because you are either transferring or moving,” he said. “Now I have devoted myself to do that. There are so many organizations that need help. I find those that I seem to fit into perfectly. It’s hard to get fired.”
Veterans’ organizations fill an untapped retirement need for Kimbrow.
“I feel like I need to pay it back to all of those veterans,” Kimbrow said.
Like many veterans before him, life after active duty can be tough terrain.
“Since I have retired, I have faced a lot of emotional and physical issues. And the people helping me … it is paying it forward,” Kimbrow said.
It is easier to say which organizations with which he is not affiliated than vice versa.
Below are but a few.
The Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter (president) and the Butler County Memorial Wall Committee (president) are two that deeply resonate with Kimbrow.
Kimbrow said of the Veterans Memorial Wall: “We resurrected that. All of the original founders had either died off or were in nursing homes. It was rudderless, as you call it in the Navy.”
The Veterans Honor Tour is another organization to which Kimbrow dedicates his time and focus.
“There is a board of four of us. We picked it up this year, and our first tour is coming up in September (27-29),” Kimbrow said. “It is free. We take 30 veterans. We are taking applications now, and it cuts off July 11. We take the oldest to the youngest.”
As if he weren’t busy enough, Kimbrow also gives his services to the Rogers Theatre board.
“It is an amazing facility we brought back to life,” said Kimbrow. “It is alive and growing.”
The theater opened for business on June 1, 1949.
“We had our birthday celebration and had Narvel Felts here,” said Kimbrow. “We had over 700 people at the concert. This guy is amazing. He is 85 and is from Malden. He is a legend and has played all over the world. He is more popular overseas than he was here. He does a two-hour set and never misses a note.”
Staying active, both physically and mentally, has been and remains at the epicenter of Kimbrow’s retirement.
Clint Eastwood once said: “Don’t let the old man in.” And Kimbrow epitomizes such a notion.
“If I wasn’t doing that (volunteerism), I would be sitting here in the chair. I suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, so there are different ways. I am proud to say that I go to therapy at the VA, and group therapy,” he said. “I see the other guys, and they handle it in different ways. They stay at home, don’t have any friends, they live for coming once a week, or two weeks, and they are just miserable. I know the other way to combat that is to get out in public and do things. Something to get up for.”
At a time when things change more than they stay the same, Kimbrow has remained constant, ageless.