Kristine Kay Birch, 62, of Yale, Illinois passed away at 7:25 p.m. on Monday, October 26, 2026, at Union Hospital in Terre Haute, Indiana following a courageous and hard-fought battle against esophageal cancer.
Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, November 2, at the Barkley Funeral Chapel in Greenup, Illinois. Visitation will be held from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, November 1, 2026, also at the funeral chapel. The burial will be at the Hickory Cemetery, New Hope Cumberland Presbyterian Church, rural Yale, Illinois following the funeral service.
Kris was born on January 18, 1964, to Earl Gordon and Catherine Elizabeth (McReaken) Buckner. She married Jeff Birch on June 5, 1982. They began married life in Jasper County with Jeff working for Willow Hill Grain while Kris started at Freedom Oil working at the counter and as a bookkeeper. Kris moved on to McDaniel Oil and to logistics. Over the years she went on to work for Hickox Trucking and finally the last several years at Lewis Transportation. Kris was always set on finding her drivers the best load. This was work which came quite naturally given her experience with her family’s trucking company.
Their family grew by one with the arrival of a son Jessie on February 27, 1989. They chose a beautiful spot for their permanent home on a bluff overlooking the North Fork of the Embarrass River. Here they built their house doing the majority of the work on their own, along with family and friends. From here Kris and Jeff spent years following Jessie to all of his many baseball games as well as her nieces and nephews athletic or band adventures from Illinois to Texas. Sports remained ever present in her life and a family affair with most weekends finding her following one sport or another on the TV with family. NASCAR was a favorite. She and Jeff traveled to a number of tracks across the country with Daytona and Indianapolis among their favorites.
Kris was preceded in death by sister Karen Taylor, brother-in-law “Jim” Taylor; parents Earl and Catherine Buckner. She is survived by husband Jeff Birch and son Jessie Birch; sister Karla (Randy) Jones of Blue Ridge, TX; nephews Travis (Paige) Jones of Austin, TX; Garrett (Ali) Jones of Broken Arrow, OK; Jeremy (Jennifer) Taylor of Mattoon, IL; Allen Taylor of Hidalgo, IL; niece Liz (Ryan) Will of Oblong, Illinois; brothers-in law John (Laura) Birch of Newton, IL and Mike (Sandy) Birch of Newton, IL; nieces and nephews Tiffany (Curtis) Will of Newton, IL; Garrett (Meredith) Birch of Newton, IL; Taryn (Torrey) Wolf of Newton, IL; Mitchell Birch and Erin Stanford of Effingham, IL; Claire (Alex) Creech of Maryland Heights, MO; and several great nieces and nephews.
In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital: 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105.
Online condolences can be expressed at www.barkleyfuneralchapels.com
