Tribute to Charles R. Kilby

I called him Kilby.
He was born during the Jim Crow Era.
It was de-facto segregation in the North and de-jure segregation in the South.

Yet, Kilby took advantage of every opportunity to graduate from the Ohio State University
and to earn a MSW at Wayne State University.

I first met Kilby when he was a social worker at Dayton State Psychiatric Hospital.  He joined the Miami Valley Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers. Few African Americans in Dayton held a MSW degree at that time. He was a parent of four small children.

I came to know him better as I encountered him at professional conferences.
Case in Point. Kilby was at the 1968 Social Work Conference in San Francisco when the Black Social workers challenged the relevance of the professional organization and its racist practice. Black social workers walked out of the Convention Center, reassembled at Glide Memorial Church where the National Association of Black Social Workers (NABSW) and the Welfare Rights Movement of America were founded. The following year, I encountered Kilby on an airplane from Dayton to New York City to the 1969 Social Work Conference. Following the 1968 Conference Kilby and I attempted to start a Dayton NABSW Chapter.

A life dedicated to NASW, Kilby served on local and state committees. He worked tirelessly for the passage of professional  licensing for social workers in Ohio. I credit him for changing the mind of local State Representative, C. J. M Lin to support the Social Work licensing bill. He was an early Adjunct Professor of Social Work at Wright State University. He was a pioneer in mental health in Miami and Montgomery County.

Kilby was the 1976 recipient of  Ohio Region VII Social Worker of the Year Award and its Life- time Achievement Award, 2005.

Kilby hired me as part of his Administrative Staff at Day-Mont West Community Mental Health Center in 1975. My greatest professional remembrance is writing with him and others a eight million dollar federal mental health grant.





Kilby's legacy is a life of service and dedication to the profession of Social Work. He leaves behind a  a lovely family, Cynthia, sons, Karlton and Kevin and daughters Melanie and Rosalind.

My friend, rest from your labors in the presence of God.






Kilby NYC 1969

Kilby receiving 2005 NASW Lifetime Achievement Award
Presenter Gladys Turner Finney