Celebrating 100 Years, Virginia Irvin, born October 9th, 1917.

Celebrating 100 Years Of  Love with my mother Virginia Irvin!!!

From the beginning

Here she is having just arrived in Brooklyn New York.

With her father and mother on Fire Island

Mom Dorothy and Virginia

Dad Rea and Virginia

She loved her visits to Fire Island

Hiding in the grass

Virginia with her sister Barbara

Virginia sculpts a beautiful bust of Barbara

A family affair

With her children Christie and Jamie

Being a freelance artist meant everything to Virginia

New addition to the family, baby Molly with her big sister Christie and big brother Jamie

Here they are all grown up (almost)

Thinking about things

Funny Mom

A wonderful surprise 70t birthday party

Hitting 80's in stride

Today Virginia Irvin, my mother, would have been 100 years old! It is always an awe-inspiring realization to understand how fleeting we are with our time in this world. What little impact we have on the world at large and yet how long we carry our loved ones in our hearts and minds, each generation making space for someone new for their time on this planet. 

My mother was so important to me. I credit her with teaching me strength through adversity and the belief that we must always move forward, move on, in as caring a way as possible.

I am so glad my children had her in their lives, in speaking with them they tell me what an important figure she was to them. They have memories of her which are not mine.

I am so glad my grandson had a chance to know her too. He does not remember her as he was just 4 at the time of her death. But what was so amazing to me was how important he was to her.  She would light up when he visited, her attention would be riveted on him. My guess was that she was looking at her lineage moving down through time.

We have lost many people this year, I am sending my thoughts and prayers to all those whom I have loved and moved on. As silly as it seems I like to believe that their core essence is hanging out together and enjoying their affection in a more unworldly way. 

Hopefully I can join them all someday in the FAR future :-)

Mom with me

                             Here are some samples of her exquisite work, 
                           she was a master with line drawing. 

Christie

Jamie

Christie and Jamie on Hyde Street, S.F.

My father Bob Hagopian

Our home on Spencer Street, Sausalito

At the Race Track for the S.F. Examiner

A comic strip which never got off the ground

Mom in her bedroom on Wisconsin st.

Virginia's mother Dorothy, La Grange, St. Croix

Chicken in our backyard, Cyprus

Molly in the kitchen 

Molly, Cocoa and guitar

San Francisco, early 1950's

                          Happy 100th Birthday to Virginia Irvin, Mom, 
                        Grandmother and Great Grandmother

                      All images and photos are copyrighted and the property of the Molly Rea Trust. No copying permitted.