Sadly, Irving’s wife passed away from a heart attack in 1990. It affected him deeply, and took him a long time to be able to move on.
“When my wife passed away, I went up to my family’s farm in the pasture where the cabins were and burned them down, so no one could go up there anymore,” said Irving. “I ended up going to counseling for two years after she died; I would just cry. One day, a young counselor advised me to go back to our house and get rid of my clothes, my house, and everything in it. She said it would be kind of life being reborn. So, I threw my old clothes away and bought new ones, and left. And, it was like being born again. It worked.” After moving on along his path, Irving married his second wife, Ida, about five years later. He met her at his cousin’s funeral in Idaho.
“I told her if she ever were to come to Washington, she should let me know and I would take her to lunch. Six months later, she called me and said she was passing through town, so I took her to lunch. Six months after that she did the same thing, so I took her to lunch, again. After another six months, we were married.”
