It is with humble hearts that we come to you as the Kirby family and, regrettably, inform you that Steve Kirby passed away on February the 18th 2026. He died doing what he loved. Robert Steven Kirby, formerly known as “Steve,” was the son of the late Robert Lee Kirby and Florabelle Autry Kirby. He was the brother of the late Donald Kirby. Steve leaves behind his two sons, Elijah Kye Kirby and Trevor Delaney Kirby of Demorest, Georgia.
If there is one thing we know to be true, it is that Steve would not want us to mourn his death but to rejoice in his passing. Steve was a man of faith, and we know he finally got his long-awaited meeting with Jesus. Steve Kirby was a devout man of faith, especially in his later years. Many times, he let my brother and I know he would not have made it to where he was in life without his love for Jesus Christ. He spent much time in third-world countries with the torch, using his divine gift. He doctored the sick and mended the broken without fear in Haiti for many years. His latest mission was to Ecuador, where he had planned on going back this spring.
Steve Kirby was a man who wore a coat of many colors. In his late teenage years and early twenties, Steve was a Green Beret in the United States Army. He proudly served in the Army for a number of years while completing his pharmacy degree in 1978 at the University of Georgia. He later went on to become a truck driver delivering freight across the nation, until He finally decided to come off the road and start a family in the late 90’s. Once my brother and I were born, Steve had his sights set high, yet again returning to college to complete his nursing degree from Brenau University in Gainesville, Georgia. Steve worked as a nurse for a few years before deciding to return back to college at the ripe old age of 50. Steve graduated from The University of North Georgia when he was 52 as a nurse practitioner, where he held a family practice in Toccoa, Georgia, and owned a quick care clinic in Commerce, Georgia, until his abrupt separation in March of 2022. Steve semi-retired until the later part of 2025 because he said, “retirement just isn’t for me,” where he went back to work at a Quick Care clinic in Commerce for Piedmont Health.
Steve Kirby loved his patients with all of his heart, and the Kirby family’s heart goes out to all of you, because not only have we lost a loving father, but you all have lost one of the greatest family practice providers there will ever be. Steve was not only a doctor, but he also cared for each and every one of his patients like they were his own flesh and blood. Whether you all know it or not, he labored over your health even when he was not at work. The man simply had a talent like no other. From broken bones to broken hearts, Steve could fix it all.
From riding a motorcycle cross-country simply on a whim to dancing on the center line of a highway in a third-world country. The world was seemingly his oyster, and you were just living in it. Steve had seen everything from the worst of the worst to the best of the best, and somewhere in the middle, he found happiness.
Once again, our message as a family is to rejoice in the passing of Steve Kirby because that is what he would have wanted. Dance in the street and sing praise to the highest our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. At Steve’s final request, there will be no service. And personally, I believe he would not have even wanted the “fuss” over an obituary.
Humbly and truly, the Kirby family.
An online guest registry is available for the Kirby family at www.mcgaheegriffinandmcentire.com.
McGahee-Griffin & McEntire Funeral Home of Cornelia, Georgia (706-778-8668) is in charge of arrangements.
