Irene Olga (Monroe) Boyd

Irene Olga (Monroe) Boyd, 85, died in her home in Des Moines on October 2, 2022. She was born to Richard and Olga Monroe on July 31, 1937, in Beardstown, IL. Irene spent much of her early childhood in the Panama Canal Zone where her father was a civil engineer for the Army Corps of Engineers. The family moved to Rock Island, IL, where she graduated from Rock Island High School in 1955 with hopes of becoming a foreign correspondent. Instead, she joined the Davenport Times-Democrat as a staff writer. While working at the same paper, she met and married Robert Kirkby (Kirk) Boyd in November 1958.

They welcomed their daughter, Rebecca, into the world in December 1959. Thereafter, Irene worked as a legislative aide and newspaper proofreader, and took one class a semester while her husband worked in Des Moines as a legislative aide to Governor Harold Hughes and pursued graduate degrees in Iowa City. She became a widow in 1966 and decided to stay in Iowa City to complete her BA in child psychology (1970), MA in journalism (1977), and JD (1982), all from the University of Iowa. While in Iowa City, she worked as a writer for the Cedar Rapids Gazette, an Associate Editor for the UI College of Medicine, Health Science News Service, and an associate attorney for a Cedar Rapids law office representing many toxic shock syndrome victims and their families.

In the 1980’s, Irene and her second husband, Larry Chegwidden, moved to Sarasota, FL to semi-retire; however, she still worked in the legal field, and began work toward a MA in Library Science.

After the birth of her granddaughter, Carmen, Irene moved to Des Moines, and she and Larry divorced. Irene was always the first in line to pick up her granddaughter after school from kindergarten through high school. She briefly worked editing and proofreading the Register’s obituaries (had she prepared her own, her family is certain it would have been better edited), and part-time as a law librarian for the Nyemaster Law Firm. She retired in 2002.

Irene had a lifelong enjoyment of sketching and painting but her true love was bridge. She became a Bronze Life Master after her retirement and at one time played bridge about four days a week and was in charge of the library at the Des Moines Bridge Center. She once played a few tables away from Bill Gates and Warren Buffett at a tournament in Omaha; when asked if she met them she said she barely knew they were there because she was focused on her own game. In recent months she gave up playing, saying that she didn’t mind losing but she felt bad for her partners.

Irene is survived by her daughter, Rebecca (Bret) Dublinske, of Urbandale; granddaughter, Carmen Parrott, of Johnston, sister-in-law Tita Monroe of Bethesda, MD; cousin Eleanor Peterson of Streamwood, IL; and many friends at Plymouth Place in Des Moines and at the Des Moines Bridge Center.

At Irene’s request, no services will be held; however, she would like to remind you to eat your broccoli, call your mother and do something interesting every day.

Memorial contributions may be directed to the Des Moines Bridge Center, Iowa Public Radio or Iowa PBS Foundation in loving memory of Irene.

Online condolences may be expressed at www.HamiltonsFuneralHome.com.

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