Nan B Irick

nan was my little celery stalk. i always picked her up & spun her around giggling whenever we met up. we shared very happy afternoons together hiding out, painting, drawing & telling stories. she was a gusher like myself...she was always bubbling over with love for britt, kate, chris & so many other friends & twinkly-eyed people...so many of whom i never met, & it always was a sea of names & enough love for them all. nan was a mailbox elf! always sending postcards & love letters & knitting scarves & teacups & making average days into magical singing telegram days. on my crabbiest of bleak days...all it took was having tea from the teacup she sent me...to be lifted into a realm of hope & inspiration to feel loving once again. this speaks volumes about her. to be able to inspire another to be a volcano of valentines one again. what a gift. we shall keep her heart in our hearts...like a tree with the echos of years told in its trunk...of lean years & happy years & blooming years...

whenever i think of her i feel well-loved...she knew the only real meaning of life: love, love, love, love, love in all of its awkward, triumphant disguises.

 

I met Ms. Irick in math class when she was our substitute, and then again later that day in computer science. In math she talked to about art, her children, movies, and a bunch of little things. Then in computer science she made everyone feel very special by being impressed with all of the games we were making and talking to all of individually about them. The next year she was in and out of Penman a lot. I remember her helping a girl who's first language was not english get published so that she would get credit for her work. She really stood up for that girl. Those are things that I remember first when I think of Ms. Irick, and the things that made me fall in love with her as a person. I also remember saying "Your name is almost like that substitute, Ms. Irick's name!" to Kate, when we were talking about how no last names start with the letter "I," and then I remember Kate patting me on the head several times after that. Before that point I had only seen Ms. Irick once, and I did not anticipate missing her this much.

My memories with Nan would be all the beautiful conversations I had the pleasure of having with her. All she did for other people. All she did for us.

My first encounter with Ms Irick was when I was a Junior in Art 1. Ms Bickelhaupt was out for the day and she subbed for our art class and she was really charismatic and interesting. She was also really helpful to those around me like the autistic girl who sat next to me. She helped her a lot with her journal and I swear her journal entries looked so much better after Ms Irick helped her that class. She also helped me to make spheres come out of the picture more using hatching and cross hatching. I don't have a single negative or boring memory of her in my classrooms. In fact I always hoped that she would be the sub for all of our classes when our teachers were out.

I also knew her outside of the classroom as being a Mountain club mom. When I was still co-president my senior year, she would come on the canoe trips with Kate and it was so cool to see that she didn't treat us like children or talk down to us. She was just another person on the trip enjoying the experience. The last time I saw Ms Irick was in June when I went on the canoe trip as an Alumni and the entire Irick clan came. She was a lot of fun on that trip and I was excited to see that she was one of the chaperones.

I will always miss Ms Irick and know that she's in a better place now. She was awesome!

I remember before I knew Mrs. Irick too well, in fact not at all.  I remember before she substituted in any of my classes, seeing her in the hallways and wondering what she was like.  I remember I knew Kate and Alex and I had heard so many cool things about Mrs. Irick.  Eventually, she substituted in some of my classes at W-L, and I got to know her fairly well.  She was an amazing person and I especially loved how we both had a deep appreciation for art.  She was always very down-to-earth and relaxed, much like I encourage everyone to be.  She knew how to be happy and make everyone else happy, and I'm sure the latter made her even happier.  We all really appreciated the impact she had on us at Washington Lee.  It was two years ago for me, but I still remember it like it was yesterday.

 

I try not to think of death as an end.  I once had a near-death experience that changed my views on it entirely.  She is still with us, and she always will be.  She's not gone, so even as distraught as I am I try to remember that.