Tammy Duckworth Senator
Our McDonough County Board Candidates
District #1
Ken Durkin
Mike Kirby
Dana Walker
Dave Bartlett
District #2
Kathy Olesen-Tracey
Jenifer Bower
Rod McGrew
District #3
Tiffany Ketchum
William Thompson
Christian Lovell
Tim Roberts
District #1
Ken Durkin
Mike Kirby
Dana Walker
Dave Bartlett
District #2
Kathy Olesen-Tracey
Jenifer Bower
Rod McGrew
District #3
Tiffany Ketchum
William Thompson
Christian Lovell
Tim Roberts
Biography for Michael Davis Kirby.
I was born in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1963. In 1967 my family moved to Delaware County
Pennsylvania, and I attended public schools there in the suburbs of Philadelphia. I graduated from high
school in 1982 and began college at Pennsylvania State University’s main campus that same year. I
graduated from Penn State in 1988 with a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology. I began work as an
archaeological field technician in March of 1989. I decided to attend graduate school after a year of
fieldwork and began studies at Florida State University in Tallahassee in September 1990. I graduated
with a master’s degree in Anthropology in 1996, and in 1997 I moved to Austin Texas. There in Austin I
worked as an archaeological field technician, a construction materials inspector, and a substitute
teacher for the twelve years I lived there.
In 2009 I moved to Macomb to take a job with the Illinois State Transportation Archaeological Research
Program, now known as the Illinois State Archaeological Survey. After getting laid off from that job in
October 2010 I began attending Trinity Lutheran Church here in Macomb, where I met my wife Dr. Amy
Carr who is a tenured professor of religious studies at WIU. We got married in April 2013 and I decided
to cease pursuing archaeological work. I settled into the life of a married substitute teacher here in
Macomb. I have worked here as a volunteer at the Western Illinois Archaeological Research Center, the
Western Illinois Museum, and as the treasurer and property liaison for both Trinity Lutheran Church and
the Democratic Coalition of McDonough County. I currently serve as a representative of Macomb
District One on the McDonough County Board. I have learned the value of community in this small town,
the interconnectedness of all our lives, goals, and experiences here. I have also learned about the
painful consequences that result from politicians gaining high office only to pursue their own
economically-biased agendas at the expense of average people, at both the state and federal levels of
government.
As an archaeologist and construction materials inspector I have frequently gotten my hands dirty. In a
related yet different way I have gotten into the gritty day-to-day of public education as a substitute
teacher, a job I have done successfully since 2013 for many different school districts in our region.
Thinking of moving from substitute teaching to becoming a certified teacher, about four years ago I
applied and was accepted into Western Illinois University. Later that same year I decided that financially
the time was not right for me to return to the life of a student, and so I did not begin classes. This year
my financial situation has changed to allow me to attend WIU without any financial challenges. My goal
is to become a certified public schoolteacher, and I believe my talents would best serve society as a
middle school social studies teacher. I hope to return to WIU this fall semester as a graduate student in
the Alternative Certification Program in Education.
I was born in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1963. In 1967 my family moved to Delaware County
Pennsylvania, and I attended public schools there in the suburbs of Philadelphia. I graduated from high
school in 1982 and began college at Pennsylvania State University’s main campus that same year. I
graduated from Penn State in 1988 with a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology. I began work as an
archaeological field technician in March of 1989. I decided to attend graduate school after a year of
fieldwork and began studies at Florida State University in Tallahassee in September 1990. I graduated
with a master’s degree in Anthropology in 1996, and in 1997 I moved to Austin Texas. There in Austin I
worked as an archaeological field technician, a construction materials inspector, and a substitute
teacher for the twelve years I lived there.
In 2009 I moved to Macomb to take a job with the Illinois State Transportation Archaeological Research
Program, now known as the Illinois State Archaeological Survey. After getting laid off from that job in
October 2010 I began attending Trinity Lutheran Church here in Macomb, where I met my wife Dr. Amy
Carr who is a tenured professor of religious studies at WIU. We got married in April 2013 and I decided
to cease pursuing archaeological work. I settled into the life of a married substitute teacher here in
Macomb. I have worked here as a volunteer at the Western Illinois Archaeological Research Center, the
Western Illinois Museum, and as the treasurer and property liaison for both Trinity Lutheran Church and
the Democratic Coalition of McDonough County. I currently serve as a representative of Macomb
District One on the McDonough County Board. I have learned the value of community in this small town,
the interconnectedness of all our lives, goals, and experiences here. I have also learned about the
painful consequences that result from politicians gaining high office only to pursue their own
economically-biased agendas at the expense of average people, at both the state and federal levels of
government.
As an archaeologist and construction materials inspector I have frequently gotten my hands dirty. In a
related yet different way I have gotten into the gritty day-to-day of public education as a substitute
teacher, a job I have done successfully since 2013 for many different school districts in our region.
Thinking of moving from substitute teaching to becoming a certified teacher, about four years ago I
applied and was accepted into Western Illinois University. Later that same year I decided that financially
the time was not right for me to return to the life of a student, and so I did not begin classes. This year
my financial situation has changed to allow me to attend WIU without any financial challenges. My goal
is to become a certified public schoolteacher, and I believe my talents would best serve society as a
middle school social studies teacher. I hope to return to WIU this fall semester as a graduate student in
the Alternative Certification Program in Education.