John Kirk Ferguson was born in Great Falls, Montana, on April 17, 1935. His family moved to Bluffton, Ohio in 1939, then to Riverside, California in 1944. After attending local schools in Riverside including Poly High School, he enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve in 1952, and was a Charter Student at the University of California at Riverside when the campus opened in February 1954. After graduating with a BA Degree in June 1957, Kirk attended Naval Officers Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island, and was commissioned an Ensign on November 1, 1957.

As a Surface Warfare Officer, Kirk's 30 year Naval career included being the Vietnam War Skipper of a squadron of 20 Strike Assault Boats operating on the northern Mekong River, adjacent to the Cambodian border in 1970. He was also Skipper of the USS Flint (AE 32), an ammunition ship from 1973-75, enjoying two deployments to the Western Pacific and Indian Oceans, the latter of which included the evacuation of Saigon in April 1975. Kirk retired from active duty in April 1981 and enjoyed ten years as a Design Engineer in the Standard Missile Dept. of General Dynamics in Pomona, California.

Along with his many affiliations in Masonic organizations, Kirk was also the president of Riverside March Field Chapter, MOAA (Military Officers Association of America), in 1989, and has subsequently been on the Chapters Board of Directors as a Governor Emeritus. Kirk was also the 2005-2006 President of Riverside Chapter No. 237, AARP, Inc., and for many years has been the West Coast Correspondent for the U.S. Navy Historical Foundation, in Washington, D.C., and a Life Member of the Naval Order of the United States.