Beverly Irwin

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Beverly Joan (Fairlie) Irwin, 83, of Mountain Home, passed away on Friday, Dec. 2, 2011, at a Boise hospital.

Services will be held at the First Congregational Church on Tuesday, Dec. 6, with a viewing at 10 a.m., and funeral services at 11 a.m. Burial will be held at a later date in Iowa. Arrangements are under the direction of Rost Funeral Home, McMurtrey Chapel.

Beverly was born Nov. 26, 1928, at York, Neb., to Beulah H. and Harold J. Fairlie.

She married DeWayne E. Irwin on May 5, 1947, at the Little Brown Church in the Vale in Nashua, Iowa.

Her BA degree was from Iowa State Teachers College (UNI). She taught five years in Iowa schools and moved to Riverside, Calif., in 1956. She got her master's degree from San Diego State College and her administrative credentials from San Bernardino State.

She spent 20 years as a marketing research supervisor.

She returned to teaching as an elementary music supervisor for 14 years in the Corona-Norco School District in California.

She wrote magazine articles as well as semi-classical music and enjoyed watercolor painting.

She was a member of the Riverside Master Chorale.

Upon retirement, she moved to Mountain Home and resumed numerous sewing and craft hobbies as well as joining her local church bell choir at the First Congregational Church.

In college she was a member of Sigma Alpha Iota, an honorary musical fraternity and chartered an alumni chapter in Riverside--San Bernardino counties.

She served as musical director for the Riverside Children's Theater.

She also enjoyed driving horses in nationwide competitions.

She was a director of her Arlington United Methodist Church Choir as well as for a local women's group.

Beverly is survived by her husband, DeWayne (Knute), daughter Amy and her husband, Tom Hinkler, of Mountain Home, son Colin Irwin in Los Angeles, Calif., and her sister Val and her husband, Travis Phillips, of Baton Rouge, La.

She was preceded in death by her parents and her brother, Shelton.

In lieu of flowers, Beverly requested that donations be made to diabetes or cancer research or to a favorite charity.