LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Mr. David Seton Kiernan, 69, of Little Rock, Ark., died on Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2010, at the University of Arkansas Medical Center.
He was born in Lawrence on Sept. 29, 1940, the son of the late Arthur M. and Mary (Casey) Kiernan. He graduated from Saint Patrick Grammar School in 1954 and from Phillips Academy, Andover, in 1958. In that same year, the late Congressman Thomas J. Lane appointed him to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. Two years later, he was diagnosed with Type 1 (juvenile) Diabetes and could no longer pursue a career in the Navy. He then transferred to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, from which he graduated in 1962.
For most of his professional career, David worked for the federal government in Washington, D.C. For several years, he served on the House of Representatives Banking Committee as the Minority Assistant Staff Director for Housing. He then served as Deputy Director of Congressional Relations at the Federal Home Loan Bank Board. He subsequently became the Director of Federal Government Relations for the Associated Credit Bureaus, Inc. In the final phase of his career, he worked at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the Office of Rural Development.
He is survived by his wife, Carol (Garison) Kiernan of Little Rock; her parents, Shirley and Jim Garison, of El Dorado, Ark.; a brother, Arthur J. Kiernan of Haverhill; a sister, Sister Miriam Kiernan O.P., of St. Catherine Convent, Caldwell, N.J.; and a sister-in-law, Sheila (Cavanaugh) Kiernan of Indio, Calif. He was predeceased by his brother, Paul B. Kiernan. David had a special bond of gratitude with his nephew, Stephen Kiernan, of California, who donated a kidney to David in 1999, thereby giving him 11 more years of life.
ARRANGEMENTS: A Mass of Christian burial was celebrated at the Cathedral of St. Andrew in Little Rock on Aug. 12, 2010. Funeral arrangements were under the direction of Roller-Chenal Funeral Home. Contributions in memory of David may be made to the American Diabetes Association, P.O. Box 1833, Merrifield, VA 22116-8033.
