Jon Patrick After McEnroe

Jon Patrick Kirsh, 23, died as a result of injuries sustained in a car accident on January 30, 2009. Jon was born June 18, 1985 in San Antonio, TX and adopted two days later. He resided in Suffern, New York through 5th grade. As a child, Jon loved Nintendo, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Oreos. Jon became an avid reader at an early age. His library, whose books numbered in the hundreds by the second grade, prominently featured R.L Stine and Harry Potter. Jon moved to Fort Mill, South Carolina in 1996. As time passed, Jon’s love of books and computers only grew. He enjoyed a deep kinship with the book House of Leaves and was arguably the best Dance Dance Revolution Player this side of the Mason Dixon. After graduating from Fort Mill High School in 2003, he attended University of South Carolina where he studied philosophy and anthropology. Jon was a complex thinker and especially appreciated the work of Fredrick Nietzsche, Franz Kafka, and Jean Paul Sartre. He enjoyed alternative music, cooking for friends, and taking long drives. Best of all, Jon had an eccentric and whimsical sense of humor. He was known by many in Fort Mill as the guy with the inflatable purple dragon tied to the top of his Monte Carlo.

Survivors include his parents, Catherine Bussell, Gary Kirsh and Paula Kirsh; sisters, Ashley Bussell, Shelby Bussell and Lauren Evans; grandparents Theodore and Sybil Kirsh and Vanda Bussell. Jon is loved by numerous aunts, uncles and cousins in addition to a host of friends.

A memorial service will be held Wednesday, February 4, 2009 at the Greene Funeral Home, Northwest Chapel, 2133 Ebenezer Road, Rock Hill, SC. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Fort Mill Library. To donate a book in Jon’s name, please fill out a donation form at their York County Library’s website: www.yclibrary.org/donations.php. Make checks payable to York County Library. Mail your check and completed form to: York County Library, PO Box 10032, Rock Hill, SC 29731.