LITTLE ELM, Texas – Edwin Bruce Kirkham was born to Edwin Hubert and Cora Vivien (Hall) Kirkham in White Plains, N.Y., Jan. 11, 1938. He graduated from White Plains High School in 1956 and attended Lehigh University where he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts with honors in 1961 and a Master of Arts in 1963. In 1968, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he earned the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English Literature.

He married Kathleen Ann Bristol in Sharon, Conn. in June of 1960. They had three children: Heather Ann Kirkham, Edwin Keith Kirkham, and Brian Buckhout Kirkham.

He was recruited by Ball State University in 1968 where he rose to the rank of Professor of English. While at Ball State he founded the Friends of the Alexander M. Bracken Library, and served as its executive secretary for 25 years. The annual lecture is named the Kirkham Lecture in his honor. Upon retirement in 2000, he was named Professor Emeritus by the university and a Sagamore of the Wabash by the governor of Indiana.

He opened an online used book business, The Melancholy Lobster Bookshop, in 1985, named for the lonely status of crustaceans in the Hoosier state.

He and his wife moved to Augusta in 2000 where they were active in the community. He served on the boards of the Westside Neighbors, Old Fort Western, The Friends of the Maine State Museum, and the Kennebec Historical Society, where he served as librarian. In 2020, he and his wife moved to Little Elm, Texas.

He is the author of four books, more than a dozen articles in referred scholarly journals, and numerous scholarly notes and reviews. He was a member of the American Association of University Professors, The Modern Language Association, The American Studies Association, The Midwest Modern Language Association, the Ohio-Indiana American Studies Association, Friends of Indiana Libraries, a founding member of The Friends of Libraries USA.

He is survived by his wife, Kathleen; daughter, Heather (Kirkham) Coy and husband Jay of Evansville, Ind., Edwin Keith Kirkham and wife Beth (Hall) Kirkham of Bath, Brian Buckhout Kirkham and wife Kelli (Vernon) Kirkham of Dallas; and grandchildren Natalie (Kirkham) Spencer, Nora Kirkham, Charlotte (Kirkham) Meeker, Jordan (Kirkham) Kavanaugh, Evan Kirkham, Chase Coy, Nash Coy; great-grandson, Maxwell Phillip Spencer; and sister, Barbara Kirkham.

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