John Edward (John Ed) Kimble died August 29, 2018, at Harris Hospital in Fort Worth following a long courageous battle with congestive heart failure.

John Ed Kimble was born April 4, 1939, in Gorman, Texas, to John Shelton Kimble and Letha Lucille Durham Kimble. His paternal grandparents were Dr. Edwin Walker Kimble and Mary Frank Shelton of Gorman, Texas and maternal grandparents William F. Durham and Annie Narcissus Redwine of Comanche, Texas. Grandfather Dr. Edwin W. Kimble, son of H.S. Kimble of Tennessee was a physician in the early days of Gorman, Texas where he traveled on horseback and by horse drawn buggy to treat the sick. John Ed's father, John Shelton Kimble was a pharmacist in Gorman, owned and operated the Corner Drug Store for many years until his death. The Kimble family was always very active in city, state, and national elections and various civic activities and served on many important boards in the area.

John Ed was always interested in technology and experimenting with electricity and as a natural outcome, was a pioneer data processing developer in the banking industry. He put one of the first Texas bank's ATM online to the computer department he helped found for the First State Bank of Abilene, Texas, which became a large bank processing center for many west central Texas banks. He rose to position of Vice President and Director of Data Processing at First State, and moved on to a similar position for the Continental National Bank in Fort Worth. Continental National Bank was taken over by Southwest Bancshares of Houston, and John Ed became a Vice President of Southwest Bancshares prior to resigning.

He stayed on in Fort Worth and founded the data processing facility for the Tarrant Appraisal District which became a large processing center charged with the responsibility of establishing the fair market value of over 500,000 properties in Tarrant County. He was instrumental in designing data bases to furnish information not only to various taxing entities in the county, but which now furnishes data on property in Tarrant County worldwide on the internet – as do many appraisal districts in Texas and elsewhere today. After he retired from the Tarrant Appraisal District (TAD), he continued to work for TAD on a contract basis and managed, programmed, and maintained the interface between the District and the State of Texas Property Texas Board.

In 1963, John studied for an Amateur Radio License and successfully passed a test before examiners of The Federal Communications Commission Dallas Office both in electrical circuitry as well as sending and receiving Morse Code the first time he sat for the exam, a feat which usually takes several attempts. He received his General Class Amateur Radio License. One of his most memorable experiences in radio was while in Abilene one cold night just before Christmas he could run several telephone patches from his apartment for doctors, nurses and other staff aboard the hospital ship "Hope" anchored off the coast of Nicaragua allowing them to talk to family and friends in the United States just before the holidays.

Not only was John Ed able to help the people on the hospital ship Hope off the Nicaraguan coast, he was successful, using his amateur radio equipment in Abilene, establishing two-way communications for many Air Force people from Thule AFB Greenland with their families in the United States.

John attended Gorman Grade School and graduated in 1957 from Gorman High School. He graduated from North Texas State University in Denton, Texas in 1962. During his banking career, he received his Graduate certificate from the American Institute of Banking and taught the AIB course "Fundamentals of Bank Data Processing" for many years to bank employees in both Abilene and Fort Worth Areas.

Blinn College, the first county-owned public junior college in Texas, also operates the Star of the Republic Museum at Washington, Texas. The College certified John Edward Kimble a direct descendent of a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence from Mexico, and John was accepted to membership in the Sons of the Republic of Texas in 2002 for work that his Great Grandfather, Herbert Simms Kimble had done for the Republic of Texas in 1836.

John's great-grandfather, Herbert Simms Kimble (H.S.), a Lawyer from Tennessee, came to Texas in 1836 and was elected Secretary to the Convention at Washington, Texas (Washington on the Brazos) where he helped draft the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence leading to the formation of the Republic of Texas. Some of the documents are in his handwriting, and he signed all copies as secretary.

H.S. Kimble also brought a team of four lawyers with him, and they together with a small group of men gathered at Washington on the Brazos and drafted the Declaration of Independence from Mexico and the Constitution. This marked the beginning of the Republic of Texas which won independence from Mexico inspired by the battle of the Alamo, with several other famous battles. After the convention completed its work, H.S. Kimble took an original copy of both signed documents back to Clarksville, TN where they were published in national newspapers.

Because his family played a direct role in the history of Texas, John was honored by both the City of Granbury, Texas and Hood County, Texas by being selected the Grand Marshall for the Texas Independence Day Celebration in March of 2014. He headed the large opening ceremony parade riding in an authentic 1936 period covered wagon following the six white horses of Hardin Simmons University carrying the six flags of Texas.

The work done at Washington, Texas led to the formation of the Republic of Texas and led to battle, at San Jacinto, which finally won independence from Mexico for the Republic of Texas. The battle of San Jacinto followed the Alamo and the completion of the Declaration of Independence.

The marker for the Battle of San Jacinto reads: "Measured by its results, San Jacinto was one of the decisive battles of the world. The freedom of Texas from Mexico won here led to the annexation and the Mexican-American War, resulting in the acquisition by the United States of the states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, Utah, and parts of Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, and Oklahoma. Almost one-third of the present area of the American Nation, nearly a million square miles of territory, changed sovereignty."

John married Sara Elizabeth Greer on July 1, 1971, in Baird, Texas. Sara preceded John in death on September 14, 2007, at UT Southwestern Zale-Lipshy Hospital in Dallas following surgical complications. They had one daughter, Lou. Lou and her husband, PJ, have two beautiful children.

Also preceding John in death was his little dog Shultzi, a small miniature Schnauzer. John always considered the dog a member of the family.

After John retired from the Tarrant County Appraisal District in 2000, he and his family purchased a home located in a gated community near Granbury, Texas known as Pecan Plantation, located on a peninsula formed on the Brazos River which was the original home to a million pecan trees planted by the Leonard Brothers of Fort Worth.

Always an avid bridge player, having learned to play sitting on his mother's lap watching her play, he attained the rank of Sectional Master from the American Contract Bridge League. He was instrumental in founding several bridge clubs playing at the Pecan Plantation Country Club, and in his latter years was Director of Information Technology for the Consolidated Bridge Club he founded at Pecan Plantation.

John married his second wife, Sondra Kay Adair, on August 5, 2010, at Rose Hill Manor. He is survived by his second wife Sondra Kay Adair Kimble, as well as Sara's and John's daughter, Lou Kimble; son-in-law, PJ; two granddaughters, Paige and Sara; and numerous cousins.

The family requests donations be made to The David Crockett Chapter of The Sons of the Republic of Texas in Granbury, Texas (where he served many years as Secretary/Treasurer), the ASPCA, or charity of choice.