Former Yorktown Supervisor John Kibbe Dies at 96
John “Jack” Kibbe, who served two terms as Yorktown Supervisor in the 1960s, died peacefully in Yorktown on March 21. He was 96.
He was born June 6, 1924, in Waterloo, Iowa to Kyle and Elizabeth Marie Curran Kibbe. His family soon moved east, and Mr. Kibbe grew up in Southwick, Mass.
After attending high school, he enlisted in the United States Merchant Marines as the United States entered World War II. He served aboard convoy ships transporting wartime supplies to Europe across the North Atlantic.
He married his childhood sweetheart, Pat Hosley, in 1944. They would remain married for 70 years until Pat’s death in 2014. When the war ended, he and Pat settled in New York City and Jack went to law school while Pat started her acting career. When he graduated, he started his own law practice, working from a small office under an elevated subway line on the East Side of Manhattan.
Jack and Pat moved to Yorktown in 1955 and set to work fixing up a long-unoccupied house on Crompond Road (Route 202). During his first campaign for supervisor, Mr. Kibbe promised that if he were elected, he would give up his law practice in New York City, and he eventually founded a local firm (now known as Kibbe & Iasiello). He worked in the Yorktown community for 50 years.
Mr. Kibbe also served as chairman of the Yorktown Board of Ethics and as a trustee of Westchester Community College. He was immensely proud to have served multiple generations of Yorktown families as a counselor, trusted adviser and friend. He was known for his judgment, fairness and intelligence; he had a keen sense of humor and wide-ranging knowledge of history, politics and current events.
He was a supportive partner for Pat, who had a long career in theater, radio and television and who ultimately devoted her talents to writing books for young adults and founding Kids to Kids, a humanitarian organization committed to providing educational materials to children in refugee camps worldwide.
The couple raised five children, all of whom attended school in Yorktown. Mr. Kibbe was an avid fan of Yorktown football and lacrosse games; he loved the outdoors and dogs and was committed to environmental causes as well as social justice.
He is survived by five children, Jon, Kyle, Ethan, Allison and Justine; six grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.
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