The Life of a Good Man - Joseph Louis Irr, Jr.

Joseph Louis Irr, Jr. (Joe), was born on February 20th, 1934. His parents, Dorothy Ann Brown and Joseph Louis Irr, already had one child, Dolly (Dorothy Anne Ferrick) and soon after his birth, they had 3 more children in stair-step fashion, Jimmy (James Anthony Irr), Rena (Arlene Geraldine Heckenliable) and Peggy (Margaret Hansen).

When Joseph was 12 years old, his mother, Dorothy died from Tuberculosis. Which left his dad with five young children to raise. Soon his father married a good woman named Myrtle Hanrahan, who truly was a good mother to all of them.

Joseph' s father was a truck driver, and he would often accompany his father during his long trips. At age 11, Joseph got his first job at Rutfield's Grocery and Meat Market. He delivered groceries and stacked beer in the basement. He had to work all through high school. He also worked at Bay State Bindery, in downtown Boston, 6 days a week, and most of that was on night shift.

For his education, he attended an all boy's school called Boston Trade High School. When the time came for his high school graduation, his father told him he could not attend because he would be out of town...but his father and mom came to the graduation to surprise him. However, they ended up with a surprise of their own, because Joseph had graduated with high honors. He was a member of the National Honor Society and graduated top of his class and won a scholarship to Teacher's College. His parents asked him, "Why didn't you tell us"? He said, "Oh, it was no big thing". He was always very humble and a man of few words.

Although his teachers wanted him to pursue a math teaching career, Joseph felt it was more important to work and help bring in money for his family.

Joe had many friends through his life and always went out of his way to help people. He had a friend that wanted to go into the priesthood, and so Joe accompanied him to the seminary. Joseph had said it was to talk him out of it, but his sister Rena said it was because he was always the closest thing to an angel their family had.

His grandfather, George Louis Irr, worked at the Ideal Movie Theater on South corner. He used to let Joseph's sisters help clean up the theater, but Joseph only remembered doing it once himself. They all got to see the movies for free. He also remembers sneaking up on to the roof of the theater and listening to the movie through the vents. He came from a very musical family that loved to sit on the front steps and sing through the summer and pretend they were all the stars. Once, he and his sister Dolly tried to win a contest at the theater's talent show. They sang "Sentimental Journey" and did pretty good.

At age 17, Joe joined the Army National Guard and worked a few weekends a month while also working side jobs. He had been working at John Hancock Insurance Agency for about 2 weeks when he spotted Kathleen Kane. He said it was love at first sight. But she was so shy she always ran the other way. Finally Stan Kenton Orchestra came to the company and put on a performance for the employees. Although he did not go to the concert, he stopped Kathleen as she was pushing a cart and asked how she liked the band. It was then that she finally spoke with him!

On their first date, he walked her to the door and said, "I'd kiss you but I have a cold". She said, "Don't let that stop you"! Although Kathleen's mother tried to break them apart, her father would always take Joseph's side. For instance, Kathleen would invite Joseph over for dinner and then Kathleen's mother would refuse to let her open the door and let him in! So Joe would have to wait around outside until Kathleen's father came home from work to let him in.

Often he would sing this song to her: "She's my Kathy, I'm her Joe, She's my sweetheart, and I'm her beau. Soon we'll marry, never more to part.
Little Kathy Kane is my sweetheart."

When Joseph was 19 years old, he and Kathleen were married on June 14th, 1953 at Sacred Heart Church in East Boston. They spent their wedding night at the Statler hotel in Boston and then took a bus to Alton Bay, NH because neither of my parents had their licenses to drive. They stayed at her Aunt Inez's cabin on Lake Winnipesaukee. For the first year, they lived with Kathleen's parents until they got their own apartment on Cross Street in Winchester, MA. After Kathleen's father died, her mother moved in with them until she passed away in 1972.

Joe and Kathy had three children, Joseph F. Irr, Thomas V. Irr, (deceased) and Kathleen L. Irr McLaughlin.

Joseph began working for a small printing company but soon heard of a full time job opening up at the Massachusetts National Guard office. That is when his military career really took off. He would become Active Duty Army for 6 months or longer and then switch back to civil service. He served his country for 42 years of combined service between the Army and the Army National Guard and across many states before finally settling in Northern Virginia in the early 1980's. Joseph retired as a Chief Warrant Officer 4.

First and foremost, Joe was a family man. While his children were young, he worked night shift at the Bowl-A-Way Lanes Bowling Alley, in Burlington, Massachusetts. He loved to take his kids to work with him! Not only at the bowling alley, but also to the National Guard buildings where his children enjoyed climbing on real tanks. Joe loved to fixed electronics on the side and old tube televisions and radio equipment. He also played the accordion. He loved to dance and listen to all kinds of music genres.

In his life after retirement, he purchased a motor home with Kathy and started working part time at Thousand Trails Resort in Gloucester, VA. Their children and grandchildren loved to go on camping trips with them and all of them have fond memories of summers spent at Thousand Trails. They made many friends at the campground while biking, crabbing, fishing, playing card games and water volleyball.

With a great faith in God, Joe and Kathy would daily spend time reading the Bible and praying for their entire family. On December 6, 2014, Joseph L. Irr, Jr. passed away peacefully. He is survived by his wife and two of his children, 12 grandchildren and 8 great grandchildren.

Visitation will be held at Laurel Hill Funeral Home on Wednesday, December 10, 2014 from 6 to 8 p.m. with Prayer Service beginning at 7:30 pm. Followed by family comments. Funeral Mass will be held at St. Patrick Catholic Church on Thursday December 11, 2014 at 11 am. Entombment will follow at Laurel Hill Memorial Park.