Spirides, Kalegis (Kal) 87, fell asleep in the Lord on May 22, 2020. He was a life-time Tarponite born to Dionysios and Esmine Spirides. When he was a young child, the family moved to Asheville, North Carolina and returned when Kal entered high school. Graduating from Tarpon High, he attended University of Florida studying business management and accounting. Between his third and fourth year, he entered the army during the Korean War and after basic training, was sent to Military Intelligence school in Maryland. On completion of that training, Kal was assigned to Counter Intelligence in Atlanta, GA and assisted the FBI and GBI in investigations into sensitive civilian security events. He held top secret clearance while operating in a civilian capacity. After serving the armed forces, Kal returned to UF to complete his college education and receive his diploma.
Kal began work with Sperry Electronics/UNIVAC as a junior accountant, transferring to the computer department when the first computer was installed. His job was system analyzing and programming account, payroll and purchase accounts. When Sperry moved to Miami, Kal took a job with Pinellas County in the computer department. He was a system analyst programmer, and then became manager of Systems Analysis and Computer Programming overseeing nine programmers. He was the programmer and project leader for installing the first communication computer link in Florida from the Pinellas County computer to the FBI NCIC system. He trained police personnel from St. Petersburg, Clearwater, also Pinellas and Hillsborough County Sheriff departments to use terminal protocols in accessing the FBI NCIC data base. He obtained vehicle tag records from Tallahassee for Pinellas and Hillsborough counties and programmed a data base system where police could radio in the numbers to their stations and get vehicle information locally for the first time.
When Kal left the county, he was appointed by the Tarpon Springs city commission as city clerk and remained for several months until he decided to open a Nationwide Insurance Agency in Tarpon Springs. While he established his agency, he also worked with the St. Petersburg Junior College at the Tarpon campus full-time in the Computer Science Department as a Computer Science Instructor in main-frame Cobol programming and also taught computer literacy courses for personal computers. Kal decided to retire in 1994 and enjoy life and family. After several years of retirement, Kal applied for position with the DHS – Transportation Security Administration at Tampa International Airport where he performed duties in support of TSA mission to protect the flying public. He volunteered to perform collateral general administrative duties for Airside F. And he developed a Microsoft EXCEL application to help manage the daily screener land loading. In 2008, Kal retired for the last time to again enjoy life with his wife and family. Kal’s main goal in life was to care for his family. He loved his sons and cherished his grandchildren, spending as much time with them as he could. He was an open-hearted, generous man who liked to make people laugh.
Kal is predeceased by his parents and brother, James. He is survived by his wife, Billie, of 49 years, his sons, Dion (Amy) and Harry (Michelle), three beautiful granddaughters, Alexis, Kaitlyn, Teresa, his namesake grandson, Kalegis, and his sister-in-law Despina, niece, Catherine and nephew, Dan (Jeanette) and two great nieces, Anna Catherine and Christina.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the St. Nicholas Cathedral Choir organ fund, Philoptochos of St. Nicholas or the Daughters of Penelope in Tarpon Springs.