Iris Harrington Efird

Iris Harrington Efird departed her earthly home for her heavenly one on August 17, 2024, just one day after her 94th birthday. She was born on August 16, 1930, the second child of Claude and Lena Harrington, both pioneer mill workers in the newly formed town of Kannapolis. Throughout her life, she would refer to the simple lessons she learned by growing up in the mill village which had profound effects upon her daily life and faith.

She shared her humble home with two siblings, an older sister, Vivian Harrington Shaver, of Sanford, NC, and a younger brother, Bob (deceased) who lived in Raleigh. Their family quietly reflected the distinguished hallmark of typical mill village values such as faith, hard work, and determination

Highly valuing education, mill workers such as Claude and Lena Harrington sacrificed to send all their children to college. Iris, along with her sister Vivian and brother Bob, attended Wake Forest College before it was moved to Winston-Salem from Wake County. At one point, their industrious parents sold the family car in order to afford this vision which had not been an option for themselves, having grown up on farms in Alexander County. While at Wake Forest, Iris was an alto soloist in the choir for a performance of Handel’s Messiah. She was also chosen to the Homecoming Court on two occasions.

Before going to Wake Forest, Iris was in the J.W. Cannon High School marching band from 1946-1948 in which she was part of the first group known as “Letter Girls.” She was the original “O” in the word, C-A-N-N-O-N. For many years, Kannapolis show bands were the pace setters for area high school bands. This one-of-a-kind troupe began a quick setting trend of “Letter Girls” for other high school bands in the Piedmont of North Carolina and beyond. Apart from her noteworthy contributions to the Cannon band, she was also selected to be the first person to represent the city of Kannapolis in the Carolinas Carrousel Parade in Charlotte in 1947, the inaugural year of that event.

Perhaps no one has ever embodied the name she was given at birth more completely than Iris. Named for a much loved flower her mother planted in her garden, Iris was always known for her grace, charm, and wit. Even though she only stood at five feet, four inches tall, she always stood out in a crowd. People were drawn to her genuine kindness as well as her inner and outer beauty. Of all her character traits, however, her faith in Christ was the most endearing to those who knew her best. If someone knew Iris, they also knew her God. They also knew she prayed for them.

Her husband Don, one of the first building contractors in Kannapolis, lovingly named a street for his wife-Iris Avenue-on which they would build a rambling ranch style house and raise seven children within its walls. This home has been the site of hundreds of birthday celebrations for children, great grandchildren and great-great grandchildren during the past 68 years. It was also the site of legendary, backyard basketball games throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the starting point for yearly Boy Scout hikes to Camp John J. Barnhardt each June, and many Bible studies over the years, for both college and high school students.

Believing that their home was to be an extension of their personal faith and lifestyle, Don and Iris dedicated their house to God in the summer of 1956 through the prayers of the Rev. John L. Fain, who was the pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Kannapolis at that time. In the family den, over their hearth and mantle made of Tennessee crab orchard stone, quietly hangs the words from Psalm 127, “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain that build it.” It has always served as a daily reminder of what their purpose was to be on Iris Avenue and in the world beyond. Truly, their home was used primarily for the glory of God. Upon a recent visit to the White House in Washington, D.C., one of the grown Efird children noticed the same Tennessee crab orchard stone used in the grand foyer of the president’s home and was reminded of his own home and godly heritage on Iris Avenue back in Kannapolis.

For parts of four decades, neighborhood children naturally became part of the Efird extended family as they were in and out of the house on a regular basis. As childhood visitors entered the back door, they were most likely greeted with a booming, “Close the back door!” from Don who was the guardian of the home-as well the power bill. Iris, the heart of the home, and queen of hospitality, instinctively treated all children as her own while they were visiting. On one occasion, she lined four of her boys on the couch to cut their toenails. When she finished, one small voice said, “Thank you, Mrs. Efird!” Not until she looked up did she realize she had also trimmed one of the neighborhood boy’s toes as well

Don and Iris wrote their life story with compound-complex sentences of children. These seven children would enter their world over a period of seventeen years, welcoming five boys in a row before adding two daughters as graceful punctuation marks at the end: Rick (Emily) of Phoenix, AZ; Lee (Lynn) of Kannapolis; Larry (Carla) of Durham; Don, Jr. (Lisa) of Kannapolis; Jay (Jayne) of Concord; Ann, and Susan (Everett) Bracken of Lilburn, GA. Iris was preceded in death by her loving daughter Ann in 1999. She was also preceded in death by her parents Claude and Lena Harrington. Her husband Don died in August of 2021.

She is survived by her sister Vivian Shaver of Sanford, sister-in-law Betty Harrington of Raleigh, and sisters and brothers-in-law, Charles and Kathy Efird of Harrisburg and Darrell and Jean Bost of Kannapolis. Don and Iris had eighteen grandchildren and twenty-six great grandchildren. Each grandchild would rightly consider themselves to be her “favorite” because she loved each of them equally and proudly. She also prayed for them daily.

Apart from her unwavering dedication to her family throughout her entire life, Iris also found time to be involved in Kannapolis City Schools through her work with the PTA on all levels. Also known as a popular public speaker, she was one of the founders, as well as a past president of, the Bible Teaching Association in Kannapolis City Schools, a past North Carolina state president of the Gideons Auxiliary, a founding officer for the Christian Women’s Club in Cabarrus County, and a volunteer Sunday School teacher at the former Northeast Hospital. She was active in the Women of the Church at First Presbyterian of Kannapolis, along with having been a past choir member and Sunday School teacher. She was one of the first directors of the “Last Supper” living drama done every three years at First Presbyterian since the early 1960s. In 2004, she along with her husband Don, were made honorary alumni of William Jennings Bryan College, in Dayton, Tennessee, where Don served as a college trustee for over twenty years.

Iris was a talented artist, who for many years, drew her own family Christmas cards to send to friends. One of her most popular cards was of the “Old Lady and the Shoe” which she did as a birth announcement after their first daughter, Ann, was born. She also served as the secretary for the family business, R.D. Efird Realty, which was run out of a home office before that was commonplace. She chose this scenario so she could be home with her children as they were growing up.

Though named for a gentle flower known as an “Iris,” she was also a Southern, “steel magnolia.” (Ask any one of her children!) She never encountered a challenge from which she would run. This included prematurely losing a 32 year old daughter, surviving a stroke at age 84, and fighting breast cancer at age 88. Through everything, she found her unwavering strength in God. She often quoted the words from the old hymn, “Trust and Obey,” confidently referring to those two verbs as her spiritual “tranquilizers.”

A Celebration of Life service will be held in the First Presbyterian Church sanctuary on Tuesday, August 20, 2024, at 1:30 pm. Dr. Rick Efird and the Rev. Eddie Spencer will officiate. A livestream of the service will be available at www.firstpresb.org. (Service can be accessed through Sermon Archive/livestream link.) The family will receive friends following the service in the fellowship hall. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Gideons International, Kannapolis Camp, PO Box 52, Kannapolis, NC 28082 or the Kannapolis Bible Teaching Association, Post Office Box 987, Kannapolis, NC 28082-0987.