Mary Kathryn (Kit) Maloney Quirk, 99 of Navarre, FL., passed away on Monday, October 24, 2022.

Kit was born and raised in Washington, DC she fell in love with Mike Quirk in High School. During WWII in June of 1944 while on a three-week liberty, Mike flew home from England, proposed, and they were married. When he told his father he was marrying her, his dad's response was "Do you think that you can live with such an opinionated woman?" She lived the life of an Air Force wife moving every 1-2 years to Bolivia, England, Africa, Spain, and multiple sites in the US, adding 7 children to her family. They retired from Eglin Air Force base, always planning to settle in DC, but with children still in school, they moved to Navarre. Settling into a new area, she decided she needed a more adult name than "Puddy" which is what family and friends called her in DC. She had always liked the name Kit – so she became Kit.

Kit and Mike always loved the water and boating. Upon retirement, they bought a 37-foot boat and cruised down the Inland Waterway from Maryland to Navarre. Independent and determined as ever she bought a boat for herself and took to repairing it herself, even crawling into the hull to replace rivets as needed.

She enjoyed gardening (even though not much grew in the sand here), visiting and supporting national parks and zoos, and travel.  In her 90s she went to Italy twice, took a three-week cruise to Europe, and flew to Australia for a cruise to New  Zealand.

She believed strongly in giving back: she was a Girl Scout leader, volunteered for hospice, Catholic Charities,  Council on Aging, and mentored military wives at Hurlburt. She volunteered at the Pensacola Lighthouse into her 80s, which included climbing the stairs to the top multiple times. Both she and Mike were active in the Coast Guard Auxiliary for decades. Her retirement ceremony was at the Air & Space Museum at NAS Pensacola.  Even after moving to Azalea Trace Retirement Community, she volunteered with the Activities Department for Willow Brooke Court.

A devout Catholic all her life, she lived her beliefs. She also believed others should live theirs. She enjoyed an eclectic group of friends. Kit attended daily Mass and was a Eucharistic minister, bringing communion to residents in Azalea Trace. She will be greatly missed here on earth; while enthusiastically welcomed by family and friends in Heaven.

Kit is preceded in death by her husband, Michael Joseph Quirk; son, Michael Joseph Quirk, Jr; sister, Rosemary O'Reilly and sister in law, Elizabeth Quirk Griffin.

She is survived by her daughters, Sharyn Figgins (Ronald) of Pensacola, FL, Constance Quirk (Kevin) of Camden, SC, Mary Kathleen Moro (Giorgio) of Miami, FL, Penny Pait, of Pensacola, FL and Denise Whitlock of St Augustine, FL and son, Patrick Quirk (Betty) of Houston, Tx. Kit is also survived by her beloved fourteen grandchildren and sixteen great grandchildren.

A funeral service will be held in Washington, DC with burial at Gates of Heaven Cemetery in Silver Spring, MD.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to Catholic Charities of Northwest Florida 1815 North 6 ^th Ave. Pensacola, FL 32503 www.ccnwfl.org, Gulf Breeze Zoo 5701 Gulf Breeze Parkway, Gulf Breeze, FL 32563 www.gbzoo.org, or Pensacola Council on Aging 875 Royce St., Pensacola, FL 32503 www.coawfl.org.

Special thanks to Irene Boog, great friend and neighbor.