Iona May Kiger

Iona May Kiger became “like the angels in heaven,” departing this life on December 23, 2020 after a long battle with Parkinson’s. She was preceded in death by her parents, three husbands, and her daughter-in-law, Elisabeth McCoy Priest. She is survived by her sister Lucinda Kay Downing, her son Dana Priest and his daughter Sarah, her daughter Sharon Lynn Fuller (Priest), son-in-law Edward Fuller, and their children: Joshua (and wife Cassiopeia), Evan (and wife Amanda Gosling), Emily, Jordan, Katerina, Hannah, Christian, Larisa, and Victoria. Great-grandchildren include Joshua and Cassiopeia’s son, Orion Martin and daughter, Andromeda Fuller and Katerina’s daughter, Delilah Jones.

Iona was a lifelong resident of Northern Virginia, being born to John and Lucille Crumbaugh (Gray) of Falls Church on October 6, 1937. She graduated Fairfax High School on June 6, 1955, the first in her family to do so. Like many of her high school girlfriends, she attended weekend square dances called by Ralph Case at Fort Belvoir, where she met her first husband, Wayne Priest, a soldier from Upstate New York. Wed September 21, 1955 at Annandale United Methodist, the couple first lived in the Buckingham Apartments in Arlington for five years. The birth of their son prompted them to move to a house on West Fall Place in Falls Church, and the birth of their daughter caused them to move to a larger house in the Broyhill Crest section of Annandale. That marriage ended in divorce in 1970, but Iona kept the house until 2001, when she moved next door.

Before becoming a mother, Iona worked as a secretary at the Navy Annex building; as a single mother she returned to secretarial work, first typing up dictation at home, then working for the Air Force at the Pixie Building in Arlington, and later at the Pentagon from 1969 through 1975, being promoted from GS 5 to GS 7 (Step 7), finishing as secretary-stenographer to the Air Force Logistics Plans Division.

Iona began dating retired Greyhound Bus driver Clark Dofflemyer and the couple were married December 28, 1974, in a small private ceremony in Hagerstown, MD, where Clark had grown up. He moved into her house in Annandale, but the couple also built a country get-away home in Ida, near Luray, VA. With her first husband, Iona had traveled by car across the country to visit Wayne’s relatives in California; with Clark, she traveled often to Florida (where he owned property in Daytona) and several times to Europe and the Holy Land.

When Clark died just before Thanksgiving 1991, Iona returned to work as a receptionist, first for H & R Block, and then for Evergreen House senior apartments in Annandale. She eventually started dating Robert Kiger, who had never married and had lived next to Iona since she moved to Annandale in 1967. In 2001 he proposed, and she accepted. They were married May 12 at Barcroft Bible Church in Fairfax, and began traveling around the country in Robert’s large and comfortable RV. When Robert’s health began to fail a decade later, they sold the RV and both homes and moved into Greenspring Village in Springfield, where they both finished their lives, Robert passed away on May 11, 2012.

Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die” (John 11:25-26). He also said, “You must be born again” (John 3:7). Iona says she was born again at Billy Graham’s 1952 Crusade held at the National Guard Armory, her friend Joyce Furry inviting her to attend with a group from Annandale Baptist Church. Her faith remained strong throughout her adult life, and she was a regular church attender, first at Annandale United Methodist, and then Barcroft Bible Church, beginning in 1971 and officially joining January 28, 1973. She attended until she was no longer able to in early 2015.

A family graveside service will be held Friday, January 8, 2021, at 3 pm, which will be livestreamed on Facebook Live and YouTube at Murphy Funeral Home Falls Church. A public memorial service will be planned for later in the year, when travel prohibitions are lifted and it is safe to gather in large groups again; for more information please check on murphyfuneralhomes.com for updates.