Dr. Jack R. "Doc" Irwin passed away on October 3, 2024. He was born April 30, 1931, in a northeastern area of Ohio, the third child of Lester and Ruth Irwin. His father was a machinist, but the family owned a small dairy farm as well. The daily milking of cows and the seasonal tasks of plowing, haying and threshing fell mostly to Jack and his older brother.

He graduated from high school in a class of just 23 seniors. He was a gifted student in mathematics and earned statewide honors in algebra and geometry. He was a member of the National Honor Society and participated in basketball, baseball, band and chorus. He was an Eagle Scout and was duly regarded as the best ping-pong player in the school.

After high school, Jack went on to twelve more years of full-time study at Kent State, Hiram College, Oberlin Seminary and Drew University, earning a B.A., M.A., M.Div. and Ph.D. While at Kent State, he lettered as a member of the wrestling team. In addition to his four degrees, he was a Fulbright Scholar for a year at the University of Oslo, Norway. After a summer of intensive language study there, all his classes were in Norwegian, and he became highly proficient in the language.

Jack's undergraduate major was philosophy, and in his graduate programs he majored in biblical studies, particularly the Old Testament. He was fluent in both Hebrew and Greek. He spent an entire summer as a member of the archaeological team at Tel-Balata, Jordan, site of the Old Testament city of Shechem. He taught college courses in philosophy and biblical history. As a specialty, he taught a course on "The Cultures of the Ancient Middle East" at an eastern college and lead those students on a six-week tour of the museums and archaeological sites of seven Middle eastern countries. His Master's thesis was a study of the stories in Genesis 1-11 about creation, a great flood, the Fall and the confusion of language, with comparison to similar accounts by the ancient Sumerians, Egyptians, Babylonians and others which were, of course, older than the Biblical accounts. His Doctoral dissertation was 200-page treatise on a single Hebrew word, providing a heightened appreciation of the revelatory significance of the word in both the Old Testament and the Dead Sea Scrolls.

His education qualified him to be a minister, his primary vocation, and he served congregations in Ohio, Illinois, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Though raised in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Jack developed a strong ecumenical spirit and spent his entire ministry in Community Churches of nondenominational character. He decried the many denominations and schisms in Christianity, feeling if Christians can't get along with each other as one body, what do they have to tell the world?

In the variables of life, Jack's work was occasionally outside the church. He was a salesman of computer software and services in the Chicago area. He was an owner/operator of a small dry cleaner in Spokane and added a T-shirt business to it. With his wife, he was owner of a 12-room motel in a resort area of Iowa, from whence they retired to Bella Vista in 1997.

Music was an integral part of his life. He possessed a fine voice and used it in a variety of ways as soloist and in ensembles. He was also an excellent choir director. He played the guitar and enjoyed using it with "children's time" in his church services and in sing-alongs in national parks where they camped. Fittingly, he met his wife while they both sang in a community chorus in Wisconsin.

He was preceded in death by his older brother and sister.

He is survived by his wife, Alice of Bella Vista; daughter, Terry (John) of Littleton, CO; stepson, Jeffrey (Dolores); and granddaughters, Florence and Olivia Beaster of McFarland, WI.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, November 2, 2024, at 1:00 p.m. at Presbyterian Church of Bella Vista, 1880 Forest Hills Blvd., Bella Vista, AR 72715.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to Circle of Life Hospice, 1201 NE Legacy Pkwy, Bentonvillle, AR 72712 or Presbyterian Church of Bella Vista, 1880 Forest Hills Blvd., Bella Vista, AR 72715.

Arrangements are under the direction of Bella Vista Funeral Home & Crematory. On-line condolences may be made at www.funeralmation.com.