Annie Irene Ward was born on April 6, 1909, in Painesville, Ohio, to Annie and Benjamin Ward. Annie Irene was given her double name to honor both her grandmothers—her step-grandmother Annie Marshall Wade Young and her paternal grandmother Irene Crane Briggs Ward. When she was about six months old, her family left Ohio by train, leaving one set of grandparents behind and being greeted by the S. Lawrence Ward family in California.
Annie Irene's father was a physician who practiced out of his home in San Fernando, California. Annie Irene was very interested in her father's work, and she followed his footsteps into medicine by becoming a nurse. One of her oft-recounted experiences was secretly witnessing the early-morning birth of her brother Edward.
Annie Irene graduated from San Fernando High School and Occidental College. She earned her nursing degree from Pasadena Junior College in 1932. After graduation Annie Irene became the resident nurse in Oakland at Ming Quong Home, a school and home for Chinese girls.
On New Year's Day 1929, the day before Annie Irene's father died of ALS, he indicated to her with his eyes that she should attend the Rose Bowl game. Both father and daughter shared a humorous moment as he listened on the radio and she watched from the stadium when a University of California, Berkeley, player recovered a fumbled ball, only to run the wrong way with it.
Soon after her father's passing, Annie Irene met her future husband and fellow Occidental College student, Maitland Stanley Dirks. She would feel that her father's prayer for her well-being had a part in their meeting so soon after his death.
During their courtship, Annie Irene was working in Oakland and Maitland was studying medicine at Stanford University. Along with watching the construction of the Golden Gate and Oakland Bay Bridges, the couple delivered many babies together. They were married on September 7, 1935, in the Presbyterian Church next door to the San Fernando home at 311 N. Maclay where Annie Irene had grown up. Her grandfather, the Rev. S. Lawrence Ward, officiated at the ceremony.
Maitland finished medical school at Stanford, and then the couple moved to Iowa City, Iowa, where he earned his speciality in radiology. Three children—Dorothy, Charles and Alice—were born in Iowa City. While they were in Iowa, a cancerous tumor was discovered on Maitland's pelvis. He underwent massive surgeries to remove the tumor and then to reconstruct his pelvis. Annie Irene remained by his side as his worried wife and his devoted nurse. She was overdue with her third child when Maitland's temperature spiked and the doctors thought he would die. Annie Irene remained with him until his fever broke, and then went upstairs to deliver her daughter Alice. She later said that she had declared to God, "Maitland is the father of my children, and it is only he who is going to raise them."
Maitland was still in a body cast when they moved to Phoenix, Arizona, and their youngest child, Shirley, was born. The Dirks family lived Long Beach, California, for a year before moving into the house at 6213 Morella in North Hollywood in 1947. Ultimately Maitland was able to walk again, but he always had pain. Annie Irene's nursing skills helped bring him relief. Every night throughout his life, Annie Irene would put hot packs on him and massage away his pain so he could rest.
In 1948 Annie Irene's nursing skills were again called upon for her daughter Alice. Alice was stricken with polio and encephalitis and after hospital treatment and time in an iron lung, Annie Irene helped with Alice's rehabilitation as she regained her mobility. Annie Irene used to joke that her training as a nurse had come in very handy for her family.
Annie Irene and Maitland had great faith in God and very great love and devotion to one another. With all their trials, they loved life and had a lot of humor in the midst of a very complicated life. They were devoted parents and were compassionate to friends and family who were either handicapped or ill.
When the children were grown, Annie Irene followed Maitland to Bakersfield where he served as the itinerant radiologist for a number of small, rural hospitals and prisons. Maitland worked until he was 80. Annie Irene and Maitland traveled a lot, sometimes bringing grandchildren along for an adventure. Annie Irene ventured with Maitland and later with her daughter Dorothy to visit her daughter Shirley and family in France. Annie Irene always had her camera at the ready and documented moments in their lives as well as in the lives of the many loved ones they visited. Annie Irene and Maitland maintained contacts whenever possible through visits or through Christmas letters sent to more than 200 friends and relatives every year.
In 1992, at the age of 82, Maitland Stanley Dirks passed away in their home on Morella in North Hollywood. They had been married for 56 years. Annie Irene then spent time in Seattle and France before returning to the Morella home where she was looked after by her oldest granddaughter who had also become a nurse. She followed Maitland eight years after his death, passing away on May 6, 2000, in the Morella home. She was 91. —Shirley Dirks Thiéry
Annie Irene's father was a physician who practiced out of his home in San Fernando, California. Annie Irene was very interested in her father's work, and she followed his footsteps into medicine by becoming a nurse. One of her oft-recounted experiences was secretly witnessing the early-morning birth of her brother Edward.
Annie Irene graduated from San Fernando High School and Occidental College. She earned her nursing degree from Pasadena Junior College in 1932. After graduation Annie Irene became the resident nurse in Oakland at Ming Quong Home, a school and home for Chinese girls.
On New Year's Day 1929, the day before Annie Irene's father died of ALS, he indicated to her with his eyes that she should attend the Rose Bowl game. Both father and daughter shared a humorous moment as he listened on the radio and she watched from the stadium when a University of California, Berkeley, player recovered a fumbled ball, only to run the wrong way with it.
Soon after her father's passing, Annie Irene met her future husband and fellow Occidental College student, Maitland Stanley Dirks. She would feel that her father's prayer for her well-being had a part in their meeting so soon after his death.
During their courtship, Annie Irene was working in Oakland and Maitland was studying medicine at Stanford University. Along with watching the construction of the Golden Gate and Oakland Bay Bridges, the couple delivered many babies together. They were married on September 7, 1935, in the Presbyterian Church next door to the San Fernando home at 311 N. Maclay where Annie Irene had grown up. Her grandfather, the Rev. S. Lawrence Ward, officiated at the ceremony.
Maitland finished medical school at Stanford, and then the couple moved to Iowa City, Iowa, where he earned his speciality in radiology. Three children—Dorothy, Charles and Alice—were born in Iowa City. While they were in Iowa, a cancerous tumor was discovered on Maitland's pelvis. He underwent massive surgeries to remove the tumor and then to reconstruct his pelvis. Annie Irene remained by his side as his worried wife and his devoted nurse. She was overdue with her third child when Maitland's temperature spiked and the doctors thought he would die. Annie Irene remained with him until his fever broke, and then went upstairs to deliver her daughter Alice. She later said that she had declared to God, "Maitland is the father of my children, and it is only he who is going to raise them."
Maitland was still in a body cast when they moved to Phoenix, Arizona, and their youngest child, Shirley, was born. The Dirks family lived Long Beach, California, for a year before moving into the house at 6213 Morella in North Hollywood in 1947. Ultimately Maitland was able to walk again, but he always had pain. Annie Irene's nursing skills helped bring him relief. Every night throughout his life, Annie Irene would put hot packs on him and massage away his pain so he could rest.
In 1948 Annie Irene's nursing skills were again called upon for her daughter Alice. Alice was stricken with polio and encephalitis and after hospital treatment and time in an iron lung, Annie Irene helped with Alice's rehabilitation as she regained her mobility. Annie Irene used to joke that her training as a nurse had come in very handy for her family.
Annie Irene and Maitland had great faith in God and very great love and devotion to one another. With all their trials, they loved life and had a lot of humor in the midst of a very complicated life. They were devoted parents and were compassionate to friends and family who were either handicapped or ill.
When the children were grown, Annie Irene followed Maitland to Bakersfield where he served as the itinerant radiologist for a number of small, rural hospitals and prisons. Maitland worked until he was 80. Annie Irene and Maitland traveled a lot, sometimes bringing grandchildren along for an adventure. Annie Irene ventured with Maitland and later with her daughter Dorothy to visit her daughter Shirley and family in France. Annie Irene always had her camera at the ready and documented moments in their lives as well as in the lives of the many loved ones they visited. Annie Irene and Maitland maintained contacts whenever possible through visits or through Christmas letters sent to more than 200 friends and relatives every year.
In 1992, at the age of 82, Maitland Stanley Dirks passed away in their home on Morella in North Hollywood. They had been married for 56 years. Annie Irene then spent time in Seattle and France before returning to the Morella home where she was looked after by her oldest granddaughter who had also become a nurse. She followed Maitland eight years after his death, passing away on May 6, 2000, in the Morella home. She was 91. —Shirley Dirks Thiéry
Annie Irene Ward was born on April 6, 1909, in Painesville, Ohio, to Annie and Benjamin Ward. Annie Irene was given her double name to honor both her grandmothers—her step-grandmother Annie Marshall Wade Young and her paternal grandmother Irene Crane Briggs Ward. When she was about six months old, her family left Ohio by train, leaving one set of grandparents behind and being greeted by the S. Lawrence Ward family in California.
Annie Irene's father was a physician who practiced out of his home in San Fernando, California. Annie Irene was very interested in her father's work, and she followed his footsteps into medicine by becoming a nurse. One of her oft-recounted experiences was secretly witnessing the early-morning birth of her brother Edward.
Annie Irene graduated from San Fernando High School and Occidental College. She earned her nursing degree from Pasadena Junior College in 1932. After graduation Annie Irene became the resident nurse in Oakland at Ming Quong Home, a school and home for Chinese girls.
On New Year's Day 1929, the day before Annie Irene's father died of ALS, he indicated to her with his eyes that she should attend the Rose Bowl game. Both father and daughter shared a humorous moment as he listened on the radio and she watched from the stadium when a University of California, Berkeley, player recovered a fumbled ball, only to run the wrong way with it.
Soon after her father's passing, Annie Irene met her future husband and fellow Occidental College student, Maitland Stanley Dirks. She would feel that her father's prayer for her well-being had a part in their meeting so soon after his death.
During their courtship, Annie Irene was working in Oakland and Maitland was studying medicine at Stanford University. Along with watching the construction of the Golden Gate and Oakland Bay Bridges, the couple delivered many babies together. They were married on September 7, 1935, in the Presbyterian Church next door to the San Fernando home at 311 N. Maclay where Annie Irene had grown up. Her grandfather, the Rev. S. Lawrence Ward, officiated at the ceremony.
Maitland finished medical school at Stanford, and then the couple moved to Iowa City, Iowa, where he earned his speciality in radiology. Three children—Dorothy, Charles and Alice—were born in Iowa City. While they were in Iowa, a cancerous tumor was discovered on Maitland's pelvis. He underwent massive surgeries to remove the tumor and then to reconstruct his pelvis. Annie Irene remained by his side as his worried wife and his devoted nurse. She was overdue with her third child when Maitland's temperature spiked and the doctors thought he would die. Annie Irene remained with him until his fever broke, and then went upstairs to deliver her daughter Alice. She later said that she had declared to God, "Maitland is the father of my children, and it is only he who is going to raise them."
Maitland was still in a body cast when they moved to Phoenix, Arizona, and their youngest child, Shirley, was born. The Dirks family lived Long Beach, California, for a year before moving into the house at 6213 Morella in North Hollywood in 1947. Ultimately Maitland was able to walk again, but he always had pain. Annie Irene's nursing skills helped bring him relief. Every night throughout his life, Annie Irene would put hot packs on him and massage away his pain so he could rest.
In 1948 Annie Irene's nursing skills were again called upon for her daughter Alice. Alice was stricken with polio and encephalitis and after hospital treatment and time in an iron lung, Annie Irene helped with Alice's rehabilitation as she regained her mobility. Annie Irene used to joke that her training as a nurse had come in very handy for her family.
Annie Irene and Maitland had great faith in God and very great love and devotion to one another. With all their trials, they loved life and had a lot of humor in the midst of a very complicated life. They were devoted parents and were compassionate to friends and family who were either handicapped or ill.
When the children were grown, Annie Irene followed Maitland to Bakersfield where he served as the itinerant radiologist for a number of small, rural hospitals and prisons. Maitland worked until he was 80. Annie Irene and Maitland traveled a lot, sometimes bringing grandchildren along for an adventure. Annie Irene ventured with Maitland and later with her daughter Dorothy to visit her daughter Shirley and family in France. Annie Irene always had her camera at the ready and documented moments in their lives as well as in the lives of the many loved ones they visited. Annie Irene and Maitland maintained contacts whenever possible through visits or through Christmas letters sent to more than 200 friends and relatives every year.
In 1992, at the age of 82, Maitland Stanley Dirks passed away in their home on Morella in North Hollywood. They had been married for 56 years. Annie Irene then spent time in Seattle and France before returning to the Morella home where she was looked after by her oldest granddaughter who had also become a nurse. She followed Maitland eight years after his death, passing away on May 6, 2000, in the Morella home. She was 91. —Shirley Dirks Thiéry
Annie Irene's father was a physician who practiced out of his home in San Fernando, California. Annie Irene was very interested in her father's work, and she followed his footsteps into medicine by becoming a nurse. One of her oft-recounted experiences was secretly witnessing the early-morning birth of her brother Edward.
Annie Irene graduated from San Fernando High School and Occidental College. She earned her nursing degree from Pasadena Junior College in 1932. After graduation Annie Irene became the resident nurse in Oakland at Ming Quong Home, a school and home for Chinese girls.
On New Year's Day 1929, the day before Annie Irene's father died of ALS, he indicated to her with his eyes that she should attend the Rose Bowl game. Both father and daughter shared a humorous moment as he listened on the radio and she watched from the stadium when a University of California, Berkeley, player recovered a fumbled ball, only to run the wrong way with it.
Soon after her father's passing, Annie Irene met her future husband and fellow Occidental College student, Maitland Stanley Dirks. She would feel that her father's prayer for her well-being had a part in their meeting so soon after his death.
During their courtship, Annie Irene was working in Oakland and Maitland was studying medicine at Stanford University. Along with watching the construction of the Golden Gate and Oakland Bay Bridges, the couple delivered many babies together. They were married on September 7, 1935, in the Presbyterian Church next door to the San Fernando home at 311 N. Maclay where Annie Irene had grown up. Her grandfather, the Rev. S. Lawrence Ward, officiated at the ceremony.
Maitland finished medical school at Stanford, and then the couple moved to Iowa City, Iowa, where he earned his speciality in radiology. Three children—Dorothy, Charles and Alice—were born in Iowa City. While they were in Iowa, a cancerous tumor was discovered on Maitland's pelvis. He underwent massive surgeries to remove the tumor and then to reconstruct his pelvis. Annie Irene remained by his side as his worried wife and his devoted nurse. She was overdue with her third child when Maitland's temperature spiked and the doctors thought he would die. Annie Irene remained with him until his fever broke, and then went upstairs to deliver her daughter Alice. She later said that she had declared to God, "Maitland is the father of my children, and it is only he who is going to raise them."
Maitland was still in a body cast when they moved to Phoenix, Arizona, and their youngest child, Shirley, was born. The Dirks family lived Long Beach, California, for a year before moving into the house at 6213 Morella in North Hollywood in 1947. Ultimately Maitland was able to walk again, but he always had pain. Annie Irene's nursing skills helped bring him relief. Every night throughout his life, Annie Irene would put hot packs on him and massage away his pain so he could rest.
In 1948 Annie Irene's nursing skills were again called upon for her daughter Alice. Alice was stricken with polio and encephalitis and after hospital treatment and time in an iron lung, Annie Irene helped with Alice's rehabilitation as she regained her mobility. Annie Irene used to joke that her training as a nurse had come in very handy for her family.
Annie Irene and Maitland had great faith in God and very great love and devotion to one another. With all their trials, they loved life and had a lot of humor in the midst of a very complicated life. They were devoted parents and were compassionate to friends and family who were either handicapped or ill.
When the children were grown, Annie Irene followed Maitland to Bakersfield where he served as the itinerant radiologist for a number of small, rural hospitals and prisons. Maitland worked until he was 80. Annie Irene and Maitland traveled a lot, sometimes bringing grandchildren along for an adventure. Annie Irene ventured with Maitland and later with her daughter Dorothy to visit her daughter Shirley and family in France. Annie Irene always had her camera at the ready and documented moments in their lives as well as in the lives of the many loved ones they visited. Annie Irene and Maitland maintained contacts whenever possible through visits or through Christmas letters sent to more than 200 friends and relatives every year.
In 1992, at the age of 82, Maitland Stanley Dirks passed away in their home on Morella in North Hollywood. They had been married for 56 years. Annie Irene then spent time in Seattle and France before returning to the Morella home where she was looked after by her oldest granddaughter who had also become a nurse. She followed Maitland eight years after his death, passing away on May 6, 2000, in the Morella home. She was 91. —Shirley Dirks Thiéry
