Dr. June Irwin

Dr. June Irwin, 89, a well-known former Professor of Health and Physical Education for Women at Stephen F. Austin State University, passed away on April 5, 2015 at Nacogdoches Medical Center.

Dr. Irwin was born on August 4, 1925 in Laneville to Grover and Margie Holland Irwin. She graduated from Laneville High School and earned her B.S. degree from SFA. She earned her M.A. from Texas Women's University and completed additional graduate work at the University of Texas. In July, 1958 she was awarded the Ed.D. degree by the University of Indiana in Bloomington.

After serving as a health and physical education teacher in Tenaha, Nacogdoches, and Gaston High Schools, Dr. Irwin joined the SFA faculty in 1947 where she served continuously until her retirement December 31, 1985, with the exception of leaves of absences for graduate study at Indiana University. She was inducted into the SFA Athletics Hall of Fame in 2010.

A lifelong Christian Dr. Irwin faithfully attended First Baptist Church Nacogdoches until her health deteriorated.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Grover and Margie Irwin; her brother, Thomas Irwin; sisters, Faye Irwin Blanton, Margaret Irwin Eddlemon, and Mary Nell Irwin Duran; only nephew, David Blanton; and sister, Louise Irwin Jacks.

She is survived by her niece, Judy Blanton Chappell and husband Larry of Colleyville, Texas; her great nieces, Davi Blanton Dixon, her husband Ron and son Rex of Henderson and Jennifer Chappell Fariss, her husband Landon and children Dylan and Kaylan of Coppell. She also leaves behind a large extended family of Lumberjack friends, colleagues and students.

An avid fan and supporter of the Ladyjacks basketball team, Lumberjacks Men's basketball and football teams, Dr. Irwin and her sisters Mary Nell Duran and Louise Jacks were season ticket holders who rarely, if ever missed a home game. They often boarded the bus for out of town games until declining health prevented them from traveling. You would be hard pressed to find a more loyal supporter of SFA than Dr. June Irwin and she often said that she bled "purple." She never missed an opportunity to recruit potential students for SFA and she was always appreciative of the long career she enjoyed as part of the faculty.

Dr. Irwin's family wishes to acknowledge and give "special thanks" to her caregivers who watched over her for the past two years and especially during her final days. They are Sharon Culpepper, Elizabeth Sitton and Tammie Jarrell.

Cason Monk-Metcalf will direct the services beginning with Refreshments at noon on Thursday, April 16, followed by the memorial service at 2:00 p.m.officiated by Dr. Allen Reed and final interment at Lakewood Memorial Park Cemetery in Henderson at 4:15 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions to SFASU The Irwin Ladyjack Managers Scholarship, P. O. Box 6092, SFA Station, Nacogdoches, Texas 75962.