Irene Wilson

Biography

Irene Wilson passed away peacefully on April 6, 2015 after 95 years on this planet. Irene was born on January 23, 1920 in Macon, Georgia, which should say a lot for her wanderlust genes, as her parents, Otto and Irene Stack were originally from Chicago. The family returned to the Windy City, but subsequently moved to Philadelphia where she met her former husband, Julian Brigham Pinto. In 1948, Julian and Irene took a motorcycle and sidecar across country, including old Route 66, to start their newlywed lives in Southern California.

Irene was a graduate of Foreman High School (1937), Mount San Antonio Community College (1972), and California State University, Fullerton (1980) with a B.A. in American Studies. Irene retired from Covina Valley Unified School District, Tri-Community Adult Education in 1995 where she was employed as an executive secretary. Irene also served as an adjunct instructor in Business Communications and typing at her alma mater, Mount San Antonio Community College, following her baccalaureate degree.

During her lifetime, Irene traveled extensively throughout the United States (sometimes in the passenger seat of a Cessna 182) and to 39 countries, including Egypt, Kenya and Tanzania, Eastern and Western Europe, and the South Pacific. An amateur artist in painting, Irene had a life-long passion for archeology and the arts.

Her son, John Brigham Pinto of San Diego, California, an ophthalmology consultant and her daughter, Laura Lynn Hansen of Monson, Massachusetts, an Associate Professor at Western New England University survive her. We mention their occupations here because Irene believed that one of her biggest life accomplishments was to see her children through to the completion of their own college educations. Three grandchildren, Graham, Erik and Anne, as well as two great-grandchildren also survive her.

A private memorial service will be held at the home of her daughter. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in Irene's name to the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE, https://www.arce.org/donations/contributionform)