Robert Lynn Irwin

Bob was born on July 9th, 1930 to Robert Lee and Ola Gilder Irwin in his childhood home on Shipman Place in Knoxville, TN. He has an older brother, Russell Walker Irwin and an older sister, Betty Lee Irwin. He had another sister Willi Katherine Irwin who died as an infant. My father often told stories of how my grandparents fed those who were hungry on their front porch during the depression.He attended Smithwood Elementary School and graduated from Central High School in the class of 1948. He then attended Tennessee Wesleyan College where he met the love of his life, Jane Martin. They were married January 24, 1953 at Anderson Street United Methodist Church in Bristol Tennessee. He graduated from the University of Tennessee in the year 1954 . He graduated from Duke University with a Master of Divinity degree in 1958. He then graduated from the Pacific School of Religion at Berkeley University with a Master of Theology in 1966.He served as a pastor in churches from Sacramento, California to Wilmington, North Carolina during his 55 years in the ministry. Most of those years were in the Holston Conference of the United Methodist Church from Chattanooga, TN to Radford, VA where he served more than 28 churches.