Kirby B. Payne, 90, a library director at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Transportation library, died of
lung cancer April 10 at his home in Arlington.
Mr. Payne worked for 18 years at the Department of Agriculture as assistant director of public services. He transferred to the
Federal Aviation Administration in 1969 and became responsible for consolidating seven headquarters libraries into the
Transportation library. He was then made director of the department's library until his retirement in 1972.
Mr. Payne was born in Clarksburg, W.Va., and at age 6, moved with his family to Southeast Washington, where his father, a
physician, bought a 40-acre tract of land south of the Capitol. Mr. Payne graduated from Eastern High School in 1933. He
worked at Sears Roebuck and the D.C. public library while attending night school at George Washington University. He
graduated in time for World War II, joined the Navy and served in the South Pacific as a communications officer aboard the USS
Las Vegas Victory, an ammunition ship.
After the war, he received a master's degree in library science from Catholic University in 1947. He worked briefly as an agent
with the New York Life Insurance Co. before joining the federal government.
After his retirement, he served as president of the Arlington Host Lions Club and participated in its many fundraising projects for
the blind during his 41 years of membership. He was made a life member of the Lions.
Mr. Payne was also a deacon, elder, usher and past president of the men's club of Little Falls Presbyterian Church in Arlington,
which he attended for 49 years. He was on the board of trustees for nine years of what is now the Virginia Hospital Center and
was a member of its development committee and its charitable Galen Society.
Survivors include his wife of 66 years, Vivian F. Payne of Arlington; two daughters, Suzanne Jelderks of Portland, Ore., and Marty
Walker of Seattle; a brother; a sister; six grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.