OCTOBER 23 – Francis Deane Irving, IV graciously accepted the spiritual summons of the Lord Thursday, October 18, 2012. He was born September 7, 1917 at the Deanery, the ancestral home of the Irvings and the Deanes, to Francis Deane Irving III and Lillie Rhodes Irving.

Mr. Irving graduated from VPI with a Bachelor of Science degree. He served in the Army Air Force during WWII, rising to the rank of Captain in the Air Transport Command (China-Burma-India theatre of operation). After the war he returned to his James River farm and taught the On Farm Adult Veterans class at Cumberland High School. He returned to Virginia Tech to get a master's degree in education, then taught agriculture, math, science, and chemistry at various schools including Pamplin, Goochland, Grange Hall, Thompson, and Robious. He was principal at Pamplin High School until consolidation and assistant principal at Thompson Middle School until annexation.

He was a member of the Masons, St. James Episcopal Church of Cartersville, and the Military Order of the Stars and Bars. He served as treasurer of the Jamestown Society and president of the Virginia Chapter of the Descendants of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. Mr. Irving was president of the Quarles Senior Center and on the Board of Governors of the Richmond Senior Center. His hobbies included hunting, fishing, billiards, ballroom dancing, and writing poems. He blessed his extended family with his gift for preserving the family history through storytelling and poetry.

He is survived by his sister's husband, William Royall Baker; five nephews, Dwight and James Baker, Richard, Deane, and Dennis Irving; niece, Sharon Baker Swink; numerous great-nieces and nephews; three cousins, Ben Irving Johns, Roy Rhodes, and Richard Rhodes, and their families warmed the cockles of his Irish heart! He was predeceased by his parents, a brother, Carleton Irving, sister, Charlotte Irving Baker and his wife, Mary Watkins Irving.

The family will receive friends at the Norman Funeral Home, Goochland, on October 27, from 3 to 5 p.m.

Graveside services will be held at the Deanery in Cartersville on October 28, at 2 p.m.

Norman Funeral Home, Goochland, is in charge of arrangements.