Iris Nathalia Edinger

1929 - 2022

October 12, 1929 - August 23, 2022 Iris Edinger (née Mason), passed away peacefully in her home at age 92, surrounded by friends and family, on August 23, 2022, less than 3 months after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
Iris was born in Detroit, Michigan to 1st and 2nd generation Polish and Slovak immigrants, and spent her childhood years in northern Ohio, especially Cleveland, including one favorite year on her uncle's farm. As a teenager, Iris and her mother moved to Tucson, Arizona, where she completed high school.
Iris graduated from University of Arizona before moving to Los Angeles to attend USC library school in 1950. She earned additional Masters degrees in English and Anthropology from UCLA and CSUN, respectively.
She began her career as a secondary school teacher in Los Angeles in 1957, and spent most of her 34-year teaching career teaching English, social studies at Birmingham High School and Mulholland Junior High, in the San Fernando Valley. A dedicated and innovative teacher, Iris taught about Women's history, Black history, and Native American history when these disciplines were in their early years. She was an active, career-long member of her union, the United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), especially the UTLA Human Rights committee.
A skilled musician, Iris played the recorder and the piano and sang. Iris was a founding member of the Songmakers, from its beginnings in Griffith Park, when it was called People's Songs West.
Iris was a dedicated peace, social justice, and labor activist throughout her life. While a mother of young children, she demonstrated against the Vietnam War. In the 1980's, she joined an international peace delegation to Hiroshima, and protested against US intervention in Central America. In the 1990's she blocked nuclear weapons testing at the Nevada Test Site. Throughout the Iraq wars, as a long-standing member of Veterans for Peace, she helped run the Arlington West memorial on Santa Monica beach.
Iris attended Emerson Unitarian-Universalist Church in Canoga Park for more than 50 years, where she helped organize the Emerson social action alliance. Her volunteer activities with the American Friends Service Committee, the Sanctuary movement, and No More Deaths focused on refugees and on border issues.
Iris' extensive travels took her to the far corners of the world, often volunteering on projects such as building a school in Nicaragua, or archeological digs with Elder Hostel. Closer to home, she was an active member of the Sierra Club, both for outdoor recreation activities and for environmental activism, especially around nuclear issues in California.
Predeceased by her husband of 60 years, Eddie, Iris is survived by her sons Steve (Maricruz), Evan (Jennifer), step-daughter Karen (Dzevad), her six grandsons in California and Newfoundland, Canada, and close family friends Ruben, Fran, and David.
A public Celebration of Life for Iris Edinger will be held Sunday, December 18th, at 1 PM, at Emerson Unitarian-Universalist Church, 7304 Jordan Avenue, Canoga Park, CA 91303.
In lieu of flowers, donations in Iris' memory to the American Friends Service Committee, the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, or the Emerson memorial fund are welcomed.