Career, community and family highlight Beverly Kinzie's life
June 19, 2019
After helping place upward of 30 murals on walls throughout Alva, Beverly Kinzie has stepped down from the presidency of the Alva Mural Society. This seems like an appropriate time to recognize her lifetime of accomplishments. Lots of people in the area think of aviation and innovation when hearing the Kinzie name, but Beverly has provided her own unique contributions to the Kinzie legacy.
She graduated from Daniel Webster High School in Tulsa and from Oklahoma City University. She moved to Alva in 1961 when she married Wayne.
In 1963, Beverly agreed to be the temporary secretary for Kinzie Industries but she ended up as office manager for over 44 years with as many as five businesses to oversee at a time. Her personal business endeavors include real estate, antiques and housing rentals. She and her husband had businesses in RV rentals, aircraft rebuilding, aircraft manufacturing, helicopter ag spraying, and helicopter souvenirs.
In these businesses, she dealt with a wide variety of customers from every state in the U.S. and over 20 foreign countries. Customers included movie stars, business moguls, police and sheriff's departments, border patrol, DEA, FBI, military, various departments of the U.S. government and foreign aristocracy.
Kinzie was also an early adopter of technology in the office. In the 1970s they used huge desk console Burroughs computers driven by cassettes with no monitors, only printouts. Later the office upgraded to the Radio Shack TRS80 desktop computer, which used floppy drives and was more powerful than the big Burroughs but only 1/8 the size. During her management, she saw the office move from dial-up internet connection to modern DSL. Her office was one of the first to use the telex and fax. These were particularly needed for corresponding with foreign customers and government entities.
In addition to the usual office chores of customer orders, supply ordering, customer service and payroll, Kinzie operated a complete self-contained facility. They handled FAA paperwork, designed and printed brochures and flyers, handled direct mail advertising, made printed catalogs of products and services, maintained a customer database and mailing list, and shipped to customers.
While managing a busy office, Kinzie found time to serve the Alva community. She was a member of the Alva School Board for over 20 years including the time the Alva Middle School was built. She was instrumental in starting the Alva Goldbug Education Foundation and worked with Ed Brower for the initial donation to get it started. She served over ten years on that foundation.
Kinzie was influential in initiating and planning the Year 2000 all-school reunion for the Alva Public Schools. She was involved in founding the First United Methodist Community Thanksgiving Dinner, helping serve the meals for many years.
Venturing into books, Kinzie authored "Early Woods County Oklahoma" and edited the book, "Experiences on the Prairie: The Story of Andrew and Jeanie."
Along with developing all their business interests and staying involved in the community, the Kinzies reared four children: Paul, Mark, Tim and Teresa.
When she can find some spare time, Beverly enjoys painting, quilting, gardening, grandkids and travel. She has been to every state in the U.S. and over 25 foreign countries.
Stepping down from the Alva Mural Society presidency, Kinzie leaves the office to the capable hands of Brenda Hood.
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