JOHN DAVID IRELAND

Our beloved David Ireland (John David Ireland) was born at home in Chugwater, Wyoming, in 1927, the youngest son of Macy Ruth and John Monroe Ireland. He died at home in Detroit, Michigan on October 23, 2006. His beloved wife of 30 years, Kathleen, was at his side, when he chose his moment to slip away. David Ireland graduated from Fort Collins, Colorado, High School, in 1945 and was immediately drafted into the Army. Upon his release from the U.S. Army, he entered the viola master studies program at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. He continued his studies at the University of Michigan from 1947 until 1951. In 1949 David Ireland married Daphine Porter. They had three children. They were divorced in 1967. In 1952, David Ireland joined the Detroit Symphony Orchestra as a violist, under conductor Paul Paray. He was a member of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra until his retirement in September, 2000. As a 48 year member of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, he played under four great conductors: Paul Paray, Sixten Ehrling, Antal Dorati and Neeme Jarvi. In 1985, when G. Herbig moved David Ireland to the back of the viola section and handed his Assistant Principal Viola position to a younger player, David turned the humiliation into triumph when he mastered the technique of holding the viola with his left thumb and playing the viola without using a chin rest or his left shoulder. He mastered what a younger violist said was "impossible". In 1995, conductor Neeme Jarvi returned David Ireland to the front of the section. David Ireland is survived by his wife, Kathleen Ireland, his three children Shelli Michael, Sean Patrick (Dale Catherine) and Jerome D,. (Soledad) Ireland. His two grandchildren, Claudia and Paula. David Ireland is loved by his brothers-in-law, Arthur (Catherine) Kingsley, John (Susan) Nuszbaum and his sisters-in- law, Patricia Lowe and Susan Rudolph. His passing is also mourned by his fellow musicians, his friends and neighbors. His funeral will be held Sunday, October 29, 2006 at 2 p.m. Visitation Sunday 9 a.m. - 9 p.m. at the A.H. Peters Funeral Home, 20705 Mack at Vernier Rd. in Grosse Pointe Woods, MI.