Funeral services for immediate family will be held on Saturday, October 9th, 2021 at 10 am at the Kimball Stake Center at 1266 South 32nd Street, Mesa, Arizona 85204. The funeral will be streamed for all those who wish to view (follow this link to view live stream https://youtu.be/DABqZiT-p5I )
Kirt Dean McFarland, age 69, passed peacefully, Saturday September 18th, 2021, at Banner University Medical Center, Phoenix, Arizona with family by his side.
Kirt was born July 23, 1952, the fourth son and child to Vern Weatherston McFarland and Grace NaDean Lowe of Franklin, Idaho.
After the loss of his father to a tractor accident on the family farm in Franklin, Kirt moved with his mother and 5 brothers, to Logan, Utah, where he attended Wilson Elementary. While attending Logan High School, he was the “Grizzly” bear mascot his junior year, and then went on to become the first male cheerleader his senior year. He then attended Utah State University where he was an Aggie cheerleader. He loved adventure and so began motocross racing where he excelled at his riding skills. He was well known in the Cache Valley community due to his winning numerous races and building a motocross track.
Kirt served a two year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, to the British Columbia Alaska Mission from 1971 to 1973. After returning from his mission, he met and married Nancy Ann Hunter. Of this marriage, came two beautiful children, Melissa Ann and Brady Kirt. He worked for Parsons Concrete, in the Cache Valley area driving cement trucks. Kirt was never afraid to try anything in life. He decided to build his first home in Mendon, Utah, from the ground up with the help of an older retired contractor. When Kirt and Nancy divorced, he had the opportunity to move to Arizona to become the broker for King B Jerky Co.
He dated and married his sweetheart, Julie Jon Slade, in 1980, and of this marriage came two beautiful daughters, Lisa and Brooke. Kirt thrived when he was working and began to expand his brokerage business beyond selling beef jerky, to snack and food items. He was a natural entrepreneur and developed many novel food and snack items. Because of Kirt’s salesmanship skills, he excelled in business and went on to patent and trademark some of his business ideas. He was well known and liked by his business associates as well as his customers. Over the years Kirt became known as “The Jerky Man”.
Kirt and Julie took on the task of being their own contractors and together built six homes throughout Mesa and Gilbert, Arizona, within the first 12 years of their marriage. Kirt was a wonderful father and instilled in his four children his love of thrill seeking adventure. He did this through riding roller coasters across the country, snow and water skiing, and many boating trips to Lake Powell.
Kirt treasured his grandchildren more than life itself and loved singing to them a favorite family song “Over the River and Through the Woods”. He will be deeply missed by his grandchildren.
Kirt was preceded in passing by his parents, Vern Weatherston McFarland and Grace NaDean Lowe, and his two brothers Royal and Jeffery. He is survived by his wife Julie and his children, daughter Melissa and granddaughter Ellinor of Washington State; Son Brady of Arizona; Daughter Lisa (Matt) Bitter and grandchildren, Landon, Abigail and Pearson of Utah; Daughter Brooke (Justin) Rolph and granddaughters Emma, Hannah, Leah, and Clara of Arizona; Siblings; Tom (Chris), Wade (Cindy), Duffy (Connie).
A viewing will be held on Friday, October 8th 2021, from 6 pm to 8 pm at Bunker Family Garden Chapel at 33 North Centennial Way, Mesa, AZ 85201.
He will be interred at the Mountain View Cemetery in Mesa, Arizona.
We will miss Kirt so much. He brought a lot of laughter and fun to my childhood with his teasing (threatening to flush our heads down the toilet 😉), setting up the coolest trains for us to watch, and enjoying ASU football games. We, of course, loved the candy shows he let us tag along to (every kid’s dream!) and will always be grateful for the time we got to spend working the Jerky Shack. It was the best to see him become a grandpa and just absolutely love and adore those sweet grandkids. We will miss him so much and are praying hard for you, Julie, and Melissa, Brady, Lisa, & Brooke to feel comforted and at peace. We love you guys!!
So sorry to see my fun cousin suffer and leave this earth. Julie may your family be at peace. Love you.. Nancy McFarland Burton
I’ll forever be grateful for all that Kirt taught me. He hired me when I was a young father and trained me to sell, negotiate, and really listen to what others need. Getting the job done right was the priority. He was one of the few people I have known that could size up a situation and make the right call every time. Clear vision is what I saw him bring to every situation. He was always helping someone with something and acting like he didn’t have anything to do with it.
I’m so grateful he was a pivotal part of my life.
I am so sad to hear about Kirt. He was always so funny and always had a joke. He is my first cousin and we grew up together in Franklin. Just feel bad we didn’t get to have more to do with each other. Sending my deepest sympathy to Julie and his family. Hope to see him in Heaven.
So so sorry to hear about Kirt.He was always so happy and funny . He is my first cousin and we grew up together in Franklin. Wish we could have had more times together. Sending my deepest sympathy to your family.
A friendly neighbor to us and a Generous man who gave my boys employment opportunities selling jerky !
A friendly neighbor to us ! A Generous man who gave our boys employment opportunities selling jerky !
I loved talking Lionel Trains with Kirt and will miss him very much. Lora Lee and I send our condolences to Julie and family.
To our friends and neighbors to the south…our last memory of “Kirt the Jerk” was in May of this year. Metzie was putting the trash can out and Kirk was putting his out too. A young couple was walking thru the Hood and Metzie and Kirt starting talking and meeting them. As we turned to go inside, Kirt told the couple,”You know the Mesa Temple is going to be open for the public in the fall…if you want to go tour and see it, either one of us would love to take you. “
Our blessed crazy neighbor, who always told us how glad he was we were his neighbors, will be missed so much!!
May God Prevail with all of us forever.
Love Reed and Metzie.
We loved Kirt! We have known him from being in the same ward for the last 13 years. He is so funny. Caylie loved how he would play and tease her. So sorry Julie and family for your loss. He will truly be missed. Hugs and Prayers!❤️
We loved Kirt! We have known him from being in the same ward for the last 13 years. He is so funny. Caylie loved how he would play and tease her. So sorry Julie and family for your loss. He will truly be missed. Hugs and Prayers!❤️
The Selvidge Family
We loved Kirt so much! Ken spent many hours driving across the state with Kirt helping him to service his stores when he needed him. They enjoyed that time together greatly. We are so sorry for Julie’s and her family’s loss. He will be greatly missed! Our prayers are with you all!
I had the privilege of sitting with my 4 year old son during Sunday school with Kirt and Julie as his first teachers of Christ in his life. Beginning to introduce Jesus Christ to my special needs son has been invaluable. He speaks of Jesus often from everything they have taught and can’t wait to go to church to see Kirt and Julie. The example of love in their marriage was inspirational and their compassion to teach 4 year-olds about Jesus was so special. These memories will never be forgotten and Kirt and Julie made an impact in my children’s lives that I can’t believe was so special. He will continue to teach us all about compassion and the love of Christ through his beloved memory. We are so lucky to have been a part of his life and learn from him so much just in a short amount of time. We pray for peace in your family’s hearts. We love you so much. Karsen Pyburn-Walker
Kirt was such a great guy. He gave our boys the opportunity to make some summer money through him, by visiting Circle K’s all around the valley. As for me, he will always be remembered for having “the best jerky ever!” Till we meet again Kirt. 💞 Love the Willis Family ☺️
I have been truly blessed because of the friendship that I had with Kirt. I got to serve with him in the Elders quorum presidency. Me and Kirt were from the same hometown Logan Utah we joked about Logan all the time. I can say that Kirt was one of my best friends if I ever needed anything he was always right there. Being a divorced dad Kirt understood the things that I went through. Kirt was truly a champion above men. I will miss his sweet kind spirit that he brought into a room. I will be truly indebted to him for the things he taught me. I love you Kirt and I know that you’ll go on and the spirit world to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ I look forward to the day that we can all be together again. Thank you for being so kind to Kaitlynn and letting her ride the go cart around your backyard. Kirt was a true disciple of Jesus Christ in all aspects of his life. Kirt you better find a good fishing hole that we can go fishing when I get there. It’s got to be as pretty as Yellowstone lake in the mornings.I pray for you Julie and your family part of the sweet soft comforting gift from our Heavenly Father.
Kirt was one of the first missionaries I ever met as a young teenager and I learned a lot of the basics of the gospel from him. He was fun, patient, real, knowledgeable and had such a strong testimony of Christ! I am so grateful for him still all these years later. Fast forward through the ups and downs of life and again he and Julie were there for my boys and I when both boys were on missions at the same time. Life challenges hit again, and without my knowing, a remainder of a mission was paid in full! Although I have attempted over the years to explain to Kurt and Julie the magnitude of that gift, they will never understand how much they impacted the lives of my sons and I! I can say only, with all the intensity of my heart, I am grateful to know that life does not end here.
Til we meet again Kirt.
Carol Conroy (Lance)
Julie, our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family at this difficult time. I remember Kirt as being so generous. About 100 years ago when I worked for Allstate which was on McKellips, he rented the office next door. His landlord was one of my bosses so he came into the office quite frequently. He always brought candy and jerky for us and we were all like little kids, so excited! When he saw how excited that made us, he knew we had a key to his office and told us we could go over any time when he wasn’t there and eat whatever we wanted to! He was often gone later in the day so in the afternoons when we all needed our sugar fix, we took turns going over and bringing back snacks for the whole office. We LOVED working next to him! May the Lord always be your constant companion and help you through the next several weeks and months. We all love you Julie! Lisa Hale Thompson
My thoughts and prayers go out to Julie, all the kids, and grandkids. Kirt was an amazing example of Christlike service. He was always there to help when anyone needed it. Helping and serving made Kirt happy! He was amazing with the kids in nursery and I will never forget him teaching all of us, “Over the River and Through the Woods”. I will never forget this song. He always had a smile on his face and a joy for life that was contagious. His joy and zest for life and helping others will continue to bless the lives of others. Love you Kirt and Julie
I’m so sorry to hear of Kirt’s passing. I’m not family but I sure felt like family since I have been cutting his hair for I think about 30 years. I will sure miss seeing him and hearing his stories of his grandchildren and all of his business ventures. He was a very nice man and will be greatly missed
As was typical of Kirt, he volunteered and between Christmas and New Year’s of December 1978 helped my wife and I move our few belongings from Cache Valley to Billings, MT. We were moving there to start my professional career after college. It was a great help at that time. These many years later, it was a blessing from all these miles away to be able to be part of his funeral via Zoom. May the knowledge of the plan of salvation and the love and peace of our Savior comfort his loved ones at this time. He was a good man.