Andrew Franklin Kilby

Year Inducted: 2020

Andrew Franklin Kilby was born in Millers Creek in 1886.

In 1910, just before WWI, Kilby worked for the Giant Lumber Company where he ran the store as a payroll clerk. He enlisted in the Army in 1917 and served in the French Alps. He served in the 2nd Battalion, 20th Engineers in Europe. He was discharged from the Army at Camp Lee, VA in 1919, and when he came home he was hired to sell Fords by Gwyn Harper, one of the partners in the old Giant Lumber Company, and at that time, a partner in Yadkin Valley Motor Company.

Kilby became a partner of Yadkin Valley Motor Company in 1930. He served in the car business with numerous partners over the years. The company started out selling new Fords, Buicks, Overlands, Franklins, Kings, Indiana trucks, and Fordson and Ford tractors. They owned Ford dealerships in West Jefferson in 1921 and in Elkin in 1939. They sold many Ford Model T cars, and had a corral at the dealership for horses accepted for trade-ins. Kilby taught many horse riders how to drive a vehicle. Kilby’s son, Andrew “Bud” Lomax Kilby, joined him in the Ford business after serving in WWII and became a partner in 1948. Bud’s son, John Asbury Kilby joined them both in 1974. Yadkin Valley Motor Company serves as the oldest Ford dealership in North Carolina and 26th oldest in the nation today. They have sold thousands of vehicles to four generations of families and multiple businesses.

In addition to managing Yadkin Valley Motor Company, Kilby served on numerous boards in the community and played a vital role in helping establish Wilkes General Hospital (now Wake Forest Baptist Health- Wilkes Medical Center) by serving as the chair of the hospital building committee and the hospital board. He served on the board of commissioners for the Town of North Wilkesboro, was a past president of the Kiwanis Club, a past chairman of the board for the Wilkes YMCA and served on the board of the North Wilkesboro Savings and Loan. He was a founding member of the Wilkes Chamber of Commerce, Oakwoods Country Club and the N.C. Automobile Dealers Association. Kilby was a deacon and served on the pulpit committee at First Baptist Church of North Wilkesboro. He died in 1977.