Iris Virgina Campbell

Iris Virginia Casselman Campbell was born on April 28, 1921 in Grainola, Oklahoma and died at Grace Presbyterian Village on July 12, 2014 at the age of 93. Iris grew up in Foraker, OK, the daughter of Tracy Franklin Casselman and Hattie Parthenia Perryman Casselman. She was valedictorian of her high school class. She attended Oklahoma A&M College (now Oklahoma State University), where she played violin in the orchestra. She married James Alexander Campbell on April 4, 1942 at the home of his parents in Arlington, Virginia. They enjoyed a 60 year marriage, during which she assisted her husband with his business, Campbell Engineering, as Secretary and Treasurer. Iris was active in the Women of the Church at each of the churches they attended in Dallas: Sunset Presbyterian, Glendale Presbyterian and Oak Cliff Presbyterian, and was presented with a Life Membership by the Presbyterian Women of OCPC. She also received a Life Membership because of her extensive work with the PTA in Dallas schools her daughters attended. She was one of several women on the PTA Council that worked to get 7-11 stores to hide the front of men’s magazines that have provocative pictures on the covers. She was a Bluebird and Camp Fire Girls leader as her daughters grew up, and Iris received the Camp Fire Girls’ Ernest Thompson Seton Award, which is given to those who have provided outstanding and distinctive services to the organization. She gave music to her daughters in a variety of ways, including singing to them, taking them to musicals, providing music lessons and playing the violin with them. A birdwatcher since her childhood, Iris also taught her family and various other friends and relatives to be observant of nature, especially birds. Donations may be made to Oak Cliff Presbyterian Church, 6000 So Hampton, Dallas TX 75232 or to Grace Presbyterian Village, 550 E. Ann Arbor, Dallas TX 75232.