Irvin Iona Richards nee Peart was born on June 19, 1925 in the parish of Manchester, Jamaica, West Indies. She was the first child of Isabel Miller, and had three other siblings: Dorie, Irma and Clarence who preceded her in death, while being survived by her youngest sister Lorna P. Facey who currently resides in Philadelphia.
Her early childhood was spent in the rural countryside of Manchester before migrating to New York City in 1947 to live with her aunt and uncle, Irene and Dudley. Upon arriving in Manhattan, Irvin had to acclimate to a vastly different culture as well as attend night classes at Morris High School in the Bronx. A hard-working student, Irvin took a job washing dishes to provide additional income for the family and finance her continuing education at the City College of New York after graduating high school. After receiving her BA degree, Irvin began working at New York-based clothier Jack and Jill. She would make this her professional home for decades while Harlem’s Church of the Crucifixion became her spiritual home and the place in which her commitment to the Episcopal faith deepened. An active member and participant on numerous boards and committees within the Church, it was almost inevitable that this would be the venue in which she would meet and subsequently marry the Reverend John B. Richards in 1973.
The union between Irvin and John would forge a faith-based and loving partnership that took them out of New York and to the Lowcountry of Charleston, SC where he became rector of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church.
It was during these early years in Charleston that Irvin began teaching at Fort Johnson High School. Throughout subsequent years, her teaching would be focused on English, Social Studies and Civics, eventually leading her to influence the lives of many students including those at Middleton High School. Irvin continued her own academic pursuits, and secured her Master’s degree at the esteemed institution, The Citadel just in time to accompany her husband to his next pastoral assignment in Wilmington, NC.
After a few years in Wilmington, the couple returned to South Carolina where John provided spiritual leadership in Pineville and then back in Charleston at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church.
In February of 2001, Irvin’s beloved husband, Reverend John Richards passed away. Though she continued living in their cozy Charleston home for a few years after, she would eventually move into the Bishop Gadsden Retirement Community. The Episcopal community was her home until symptoms of Dementia worsened and her family decided to move her to a Memory Care facility in Florida where they could better attend to her. Irvin was ultimately transferred to a residential Memory Care facility, Sonata in Coconut Creek, FL. where she left this earthly plane and passed on to glory on June 30, 2019
