Reva Black Kirby was born on June 28 1905 in Colonia Pacheco, Chihuahua, Mexico to Morley Larsen Black and Lydia Ellen (Nellie) Porter. Reva worked for the U.S. Test Potato Test Facility at Aberdeen, Idaho. Reva was an excellent bowler and won many awards. Reva married Pete V. Kirby, b. 7 August 1902 Huntington, Emery, Utah son of Thomas J. Kirby and Amelia Manson. She also married Shelby Neville after Pete died. Reva died at age 87 on Jan. 21, 1992 at Aberdeen, Bingham County, Idaho. Reva was an excellent gardener and cook. Reva was kind and loving to her Mother, Father, siblings, children, grandchildren, and friends.

From Newspaper Article "Born June 28, 1905, in Pacheco, mexico to Morley and Nellie Porter Black, her family was part of the Mormon Settlements forced to leave their homes by rebels opposing Mexico's Revolutionary government. Reva, who was seven years old at the time, says she remembers every detail of the long ordeal. A long train ride took them to El Paso, Texas, where they spen two weeks as some old barracks. After another short train ride to Cortez, Colorado, a wagon train took them to Blanding, Utah, where they finally settled. When leaving Mexico, each family was allowed to take only one trunk of belongings and their bedding, leaving all the rest of their possessions behind. Thinking they would return as soon as it was safe, the refugees stashed and hid valuables wherever they could. Reva remembers her mother, who was very upset about leaving everything behind, buried her best china dishes in a big box. Although her family never did return, a neighbor did and unknowingly plowed them up, catapulting broken china everywhere. When Reva was still a young girl, she experienced several Indian wars. In her late teens she moved to Huntington, Utah, where she lived with a married sister and attended high school. While working in nearby Price to earn her yearly tuition of $25, Reva met Peter Kirby, whom she later married. When their oldest daughter was one year old, they moved to Aberdeenwhere Pete worked for a short while as a farmer's helper before purchasing a farm of his own. At that time the LDS church services were held in an old store. Most of the community residents kept a pig or cow and some chickens in their backyard. Prices were different, too, says Reva, who paid 25 cents for a box of cereal and five cents for a quart of milk. Pete and Reva raised a family of five, Peggy, twins, Beth and Blain, Don and Janice. Reva recalls one day when the four oldest children were playing outside. Their old sow somehow got loose and started chasing them around the house. Armed with her broom, Reva grabbed a child, threw him into the house and wacked the pig over the head to slow her down. As the children and the sow rounded the corner of the house each time she would repeat the process until all were safe inside. Today, Reva's children all are grown and she has many grandchildren to enhance her live. Since her husband's death, Reva has married Shelby Neville and added to her family with his two sons and a daughter-in-law and grandchildren."
Courtesy of the Deseret News