In Memoriam: Irene Newkirk

Drive, spirit, style, and love. Those are the qualities friends and co-workers say defined Irene Newkirk, who passed away on Dec. 31 at the age of 86.

Originally from Minnesota, Newkirk retired to Door County with her now-deceased husband, John Newkirk, in 1969. Over time she became a familiar and constant face at Scandia Village, where she volunteered and also pushed for the construction of the Bargains Unlimited resale store and the chapel that was named for her in 1990.

When asked what it was like to work with Newkirk, Rev. Don Heeringa, who worked as administrator at Scandia Village from 1988 to 1992, began his response with a laugh.

“She could be frustrating at times,” said Heeringa. “She would get an idea in her mind and just really put her energy towards that. And she had a way of sucking you into her dreams.”

At the time Heeringa was administrator, Scandia Village was already in the midst of a major construction project and navigating a lot of changes in the field of nursing. That didn’t stop Newkirk from coming forward with her vision for adding on a chapel, and Heeringa said that, despite the work, he’s glad that she did.

“Because of that Scand has a beautiful chapel and a resale shop that’s done an incredible amount of good work for the business and its residents,” said Heeringa.

Newkirk was also the driving force behind the creation of the Fairfield Museum, an art gallery that was named for and the dream of Irene’s companion William Fairfield. While the gallery is no longer open, those who worked there with Newkirk said they were proud of what they accomplished together while it was running.

“We did some amazing things there, and she was an amazing woman,” said Cheryl Stidwell Parker, who worked as the Fairfield’s executive director from 2000 to 2002. “We could yell and scream and cry and at the end of it all hug each other. That was Irene.”

Liz Wallner worked with Newkirk as a volunteer at both Bargains Unlimited and the Fairfield Gallery. She said volunteering for Irene was always challenging but always rewarding as well.

“She always pushed people into doing things they might not think they could do,” said Wallner. “She just had great expectations of people and she got you to live up to them.”

But while she was driven, Newkirk was nowhere near being all business. She had a deep interest in the personal lives of the people she worked with, and she formed lasting friendships with a lot of them.

Wallner said she and Newkirk would go out for dinner together every Sunday after they’d finished volunteering at Bargains Unlimited, and they kept the tradition up even after they had stopped working together.

“We continued to do that until just the past year or so. She just made everything turn into a personal friendship,” said Wallner. “She was a loyal friend, and she loved Door County.”