A Legacy of Giving: Honoring Dr. Timothy W. Kinlock

In 1988, while recovering from major surgery, Dr. Timothy W. Kinlock received a small but life-changing gift from his wife, Patti: a copy of The Killer Angels, Michael Shaara’s award-winning novel about the Battle of Gettysburg.

That one thoughtful gift during his recovery opened the door to a lifelong connection with American history — and a profound love for the battlefields where it was made.

Before long, he began making regular pilgrimages to Gettysburg, drawn by history and the sacred nature of the ground itself. His battlefield travels soon expanded to Antietam, Monocacy, Fort Donelson and Chattanooga. With each visit, Kinlock’s appreciation deepened — and so did his alarm at the creeping threats of development. Houses here and a strip mall there were bad enough, but it was the looming possibility of a casino near Gettysburg that made the threat unmistakable. He knew he had to act.

That sense of urgency brought him to the American Battlefield Trust. In 2011, Tim made a $100 donation — the first step in what would become a remarkable journey of giving. By the next year, he had joined the Color Bearer Society, and in the years that followed, he became one of the Trust’s most faithful supporters.

Over the course of 13 years, Tim and Patti made 901 individual contributions totaling more than $338,000 — the second-highest number of gifts from any donor in Trust history. But the impact was not just about volume, Kinlock gave with intention and heart, reflecting his deep belief that preservation ensured future generations would understand the price of freedom.

After meeting with Trust officials during the quiet phase of the Trust’s Our Enduring Legacy capital campaign, the Kinlocks made a $50,000 pledge—paid in full the following month. It would be one of his final contributions. Just months later, in August 2024, Kinlock passed away at age 71.

At his memorial service in the Washington National Cathedral, the words of Joshua Chamberlain rang through the vaulted space, and the congregation rose to sing The Battle Hymn of the Republic.

But the story didn’t end there. In the months that followed, Patti Kinlock found a way to honor her husband’s memory in a most meaningful way: through the land, the stories and the students he had cared about so deeply.

In early 2025, she made a transformational memorial gift of $310,000, creating a legacy that will embody her husband’s values and love of history through three vital initiatives:

• The Battlefield Readiness Fund ($100,000): A flexible, rapid-response fund to protect threatened battlefield land — honoring the kind of support Tim gave so generously before his passing.
• The Timothy W. Kinlock Gettysburg Field Trip Grant Program ($60,000): Enabling students to stand where history happened, and where Tim once stood, year after year.
• The Timothy W. Kinlock Education Fund ($150,000): Supporting educational initiatives in perpetuity — from leadership programs to video content and beyond.

Classroom initiatives were particularly close to Kinlock’s heart, with him once remarking:

“Education is crucial, because students can get a more direct sense of what happened by going to the battlefields themselves — beyond what they can read about in books or see on television or the Internet.”

Through this gift, thousands of students will walk the ground that Dr. Timothy Kinlock loved. They’ll learn the stories he treasured and continue his legacy through a deeper appreciation of the sacrifice, the civic duty and the history that binds us.

To Kinlock, preserving battlefields was a way of safeguarding the heart and soul of America’s story. His quiet, unwavering generosity has become a lasting legacy — one that will continue to educate and inspire generations to come through the power of place.