Dr. Delroy Hire’s roots run deep through Allen and Monroe counties in Kentucky and Macon County in Tennessee. To help celebrate that heritage, Dr. Hire is funding a lecture tour by a WKU graduate student through those counties.
Representatives of historical societies from Allen and Monroe counties in Kentucky and Macon County, Tenn., gathered with Dr. Delroy Hire on Friday at the Allen County Historical Society and Museum. Dr. Hire is funding a lecture tour in which a graduate student from WKU’s Department of Folk Studies and Anthropology will research and present findings on the history of those three counties. Pictured (from left) are: Krista Steenbergen, WKU Development Office; Dimple Thompson, Monroe County; Michael Meador, Macon County; Sara Lu White, Monroe County; Jim Carter, Monroe County; Jolene Cooper; Allen County; Dr. Delroy Hire; Ricky Hire, Macon County; Blanche Trimble, Monroe County; Erika Brady, WKU Folklore and Anthropology. (WKU photo by Bob Skipper)
The first Osby Lee Hire and Lillian K. Garrison Hire Memorial Lecture Tour will take place this summer. The gift from Dr. Hire will help fund work by a graduate student in Folk Studies and Anthropology to explore the world known by the Hires and how they, their neighbors and their families lived.
“I am glad to have such a prestigious university as WKU and its outstanding Department of Folk Studies involved in a memorial lecture series in honor of my mom and dad,” Delroy Hire said. “This work will be presented in conjunction with three outstanding historical societies in the counties where they spent their entire lives outside of dad’s military service in World War II.”
Delroy Hire, who now lives in Pensacola, Fla., said his father’s side of the family was among the early settlers in Macon County. His father, O.L. Hire, was orphaned at an early age and eventually moved to Allen County to live with his half-sister. It was there that he met Lillian Garrison, whose family was among the county’s early settlers. They were married on her 21st birthday.
During the Depression, O.L. and Lillian moved to Monroe County where he ran a peddling route, opened a Western Auto Store and both served as postmaster.
Delroy Hire was born and raised in Monroe County, graduating from Tompkinsville High School in 1959. He graduated from WKU in 1962. He was instrumental in creating the Tompkinsville Class of 1959 Scholarship Fund, now in its third year, which provides scholarships to beginning WKU freshmen who are Monroe County High School graduates.
“Mom and dad moved back to Scottsville and now are buried on the same farm within sight of the original farm house dad was raised in and mom lived in after they were married,” Delroy Hire said. “So it really is a complete circle.”
His uncle, Ray Garrison, is a well-known family historian who has numerous papers, articles and original documents. Some of those are housed at WKU.
“I hope the lecture series will serve an educational purpose and as historical documentation for the enrichment of all citizens of these counties as well as a memorial for mom and dad for ‘how they lived’ for generations to come,” he said.
Contact: Krista S. Steenbergen, (270) 745-6994.
