Background
He was born in Braymer, Missouri, graduated from Northeast High School in Kansas City, Missouri and Central Missouri State University in Warrensburg, Missouri.
He was born in Braymer, Missouri, graduated from Northeast High School in Kansas City, Missouri and Central Missouri State University in Warrensburg, Missouri.
He started his newspaper career at The Daily Star-Journal in Warrensburg and rose to be its editors He went on to be editor of the Jefferson City News-Tribune. He purchased weekly newspapers Windsor, Missouri Review and then the Lamar, Missouri Democrat.
Governor Forrest Smith asked him to write speeches for him.
In 1960 he was defeated by Warren Hearnes in his first bid for Missouri Secretary of State. Kirkpatrick was a publisher by trade.
The Northwest Missouri Press Association gives an annual award bearing his name. Numerous public facilities in Missouri have been named in Kirkpatrick"s honor.
Senate Concurrent Resolution 36, passed in 1998, renamed Missouri"s State Information Center the Kirkpatrick Information Center.
The main library at the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, Missouri, is named the Kirkpatrick Library. The Student Government Association at the University of Central Missouri has established the " Kirkpatrick " for outstanding public service and the promotion of higher education in Missouri. This acknowledgment of service is awarded every spring for the past 23 years in the Kirkpatrick Library around Saint Patrick"s day in honor of Mr.
Kirkpatricks heritage.
Past recipients Governor Matt Blunt, Deleta Williams, State Representative and current Universal Content Management Board of Governors member, Senator Claire McCaskill, Governor Jay Nixon, Robin Carnahan, Missouri Secretary of State, David Pearce, State Representative, Paul Levota, House Democratic Leader.
He was a member of Sigma Tau Gamma Fraternity. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as Missouri"s Secretary of State from 1965 to 1985, establishing the current Missouri record for tenure of an elected state constitutional officer