Ira H. Weaver, Jr. Kinawa Middle School teacher 1965-1985, Voice Music, English, Social Studies, June 29, 1924 - November 10, 2021, died after a brief illness. He was born on June 28, 1924 in Moatsville, West Virginia. He moved with his family to southern Ohio at a very early age and grew up near Chillicothe. Ira graduated from Centralia High School in Ross County, Ohio in 1942 and immediately enlisted in the U.S. Army. He was selected for the aviation training program and learned to fly single-engine fighter aircraft. After training, he was stationed with an Army Air Forces fighter squadron in the Southwest Pacific. Ira was wounded while on a mission over the Philippines in December 1944 and received the Purple Heart and would receive numerous Air Medals as well. At the end of the war, Ira was discharged and returned to the U.S., where he attended the University of Michigan on the G.I. Bill. In college he studied music, which was a lifelong passion. Upon completion of his studies in Ann Arbor, Ira began a job in Lapeer, Michigan, where he taught vocal music at the Lapeer junior and senior high schools and led his students in many community concerts and musicals. While living in Lapeer, he met and married Judith Donnan, but the marriage eventually ended in divorce. While teaching in Lapeer, Ira made many lifelong friends and became a talented photographer and woodworker.
Ira (Ike) remarried, and he and his wife Arla (née Bolton) relocated their family to Okemos, Michigan, where he took a job with the Okemos Public Schools. For nineteen years he taught vocal music, English and social studies. Ike retired from teaching in 1985. The family moved to the countryside near Williamston, Michigan in 1969.
They spent many summers traveling across the country visiting numerous national parks and other points of interest. For several years, he and Arla resided in St. George, Utah during the Michigan winters, allowing for many visits to nearby parks for photography trips. Ike also took joy in photographing the lighthouses along the Great Lakes coasts of Michigan. He shared his many interests with his family, instilling a love of travel, learning, nature, and reading in all his children and grandchildren. Throughout his life he was devoted to playing the piano, primarily classical works. He was always curious, and he loved learning new things. In fact, when he and Arla were looking for a house, he read a book on how to build a house and then built the house in which the family lived for three decades.
Ira (Ike) Weaver is survived by his wife of 55 years, Arla; daughter Jane (Bill Davis) Weaver, stepsons Michael (Linda) Teays and Stephen (Karen) Teays, and son John (Cathleen) Weaver, seven grandchildren, two great grandchildren, and siblings Charles (Darlene) Weaver and Shelby (Pete) Shaffer.
At this time, no services are planned.
Our thanks to Jill K. Baker and for sharing this sad news.
https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/williamston-mi/ira-weaver-10448140
Laurel Winkel (1968)
(Comments from the OAA Facebook group)
David Stacks
He was a really, really good man. I never knew he was a fighter pilot.
Kathleen Anne
What a life so richly lived.
Annie Coburn Halatek
Kathleen Anne I thought the same thing. I remember him, a really nice guy. May he rest in peace.
Patricia McKane
I remember him being so kind.
Maureen Casteel
Patricia McKane That’s the first thing that came to mind as I remembered him. So incredibly kind.
Monte Montgomery
Thanks for posting this. Ira Weaver probably had a stronger positive influence on me than any other music teacher, playing the biggest role of anyone in my now 50- (!) year career as a musician -- with the possible exceptions of Allan Sherman, Spike Jones, and my mother. Just today I had a sudden memory flash of singing "Consider Yourself," from "Oliver," to Ira's peppy piano accompaniment. To this day I kinda choke up whenever I hear the song "The Water is Wide," which he taught us in 7th-grade choir. Here's James Taylor's heartbreaking version. RIP Ira! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opfEk_Yoksk
Loren Omoto
Monte Montgomery I remember you were also a fan of his piano stylings on "Nola." Unforgettable.
Monte Montgomery
Yeah, and I still can't play the damn thing! I do however remember for some reason the name of its composer: Felix Arndt.
Abbie Burke Vandenberg
Wow! What an obit! I had Mr Weaver for chorus at Kinawa Middle. He doted on Bronnie Cross(?) as the soloist in everything we did. He knew music well
Beth Holden Graves
I somehow remember reciting a poem in his class that started.. Oh I have slipped the surely bonds of earth. (Even though it was middle school chorus.
David Stacks
Beth Holden Graves " High Flight" BY JOHN GILLESPIE MAGEE JR.
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
of sun-split clouds,—and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of—wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air ....
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark nor ever eagle flew—
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God."
Beth Holden Graves
David Stacks yes! Do you recall learning this in Mr Weaver’s class?
David Stacks
No I can't say that I remember that. It's my favorite poem...
Monte Montgomery
David Stacks One of the local stations (WJIM? WILS? WITL?) used to sign off with a stentorian reading of that poem, accompanied by images of celestial clouds. I used to catch it often, after watching Good Neighbor Sam on the late, late, late show.
Esther Spaeth Kelly
Mr. Weaver was my choir teacher from 6th-8th grades. The fact that so many of us chose that elective repeatedly is a testament to his infectious love of music. Thankful for him (and Mr. DeWald) today. Rest In Peace.