Iris was born January 23, 1925 in Grand Rapids, Michigan to the late Arthur Russell Tremaine and Edith Iris Estelle Tucker Tremaine. Born to two deaf parents late in their lives, Iris learned to conduct family errands, business and communication from an early age, and knew American Sign Language as soon as she could talk. Her parents still had challenges caring for a young child though, and Iris was primarily raised by an aunt, Nell Ferguson and a beloved uncle, Roland. She met and married her now deceased husband Leo Raymond Sullivan in a wartime romance that lasted 60 years. During their lives together, she worked as a dental assistant, a nutrition counselor and an insurance secreatary for many years, but her most cherished job was a homemaker and mother to five daughters. Moving frequently to follow opportunities for her builder husband, she created home after home in Michigan, California and Ohio, and moved to Cary, NC after Leo’s passing. In Cary, she found a whole new life that she treasured with nice weather and a long growing season, in a lovely home of her own with a small backyard and garden, a beloved Yorkie named Maggie, and being only blocks from two daughters whose lives she could share on a daily basis. The last move to the Manor was another delightful phase, where she quickly made new friends and blossomed with an unexpected social life.
She is survived by her beloved daughters, Kathy Miller and her husband, Stew of Cary; Maureen Sullivan and her husband, Phillip Lieberman of Birmingham, MI; Colleen Anderson and her husband, Michael of Austin, TX; Doreen Meffert and her husband, Rudy of Brighton, MI; and Janeen Sullivan and her husband, Steve Sedahl of Cary; nine grandchildren; six great grandchildren; and two great great grandchildren. She will be greatly missed and never forgotten for the legacy of her large, loving family.
Gratitude to the Manor for their facilitating her needs and elegant lifestyle there, and to all the 3HC Hospice team for their amazing support and care, especially Pam, who to our good fortune became Iris’s caregiver with professional loving care and friendship. A memorial service for family will be held 11 am Sunday, April 15, 2012 at Brown-Wynne Funeral Home Chapel, 200 SE Maynard Road, Cary, NC 27511. The family will receive friends immediately following the service.
Memorials may be made to Wake County Public Library Trust Fund (http://www.wakegov.com/libraries/about/libraryfund.htm or Eastern North Carolina School for the Deaf (http://www.encsd.net )
Condolences may be sent to www.BrownWynneCary.com
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