Irene was born February 8, 1930 in Atlanta, Georgia, the daughter of the late Walter Bryant Stewart and Louella Agnew Stewart. A devoted loving, mother and grandmother, she worked for thirty years as a Budget Analyst with the Army Corp of Engineers and retired in 1990. She was Methodist by faith.

Survivors include her daughter and son-in-law, Melanie and Tom Edwards; sons and daughter-in-laws, Randy and Marilyn Brooks, Marietta, Georgia and Jerrold and Martha Ann Brooks, Vancover, Washington; sister and brother-in-law Charlene and Bill Lindsey, Conyers, Georgia. Four grandchildren and three great grand-children also survive.