ANNA MEURS IRVING was nominated by her daughters Deborah Irving Reimann and Mary Irving.  She is being inducted posthumously into the Hall of Fame for her fifty (50 !!) years of dedication as an employee of the Rensselaer City School District and for her humanitarianism. 

Anna is an alumna for the Class of 1945.  She began her career as a secretary for the school district even before she graduated high school.  Like most women who work outside the home, her dual career was as a wife and mother to her 3 children, all of whom were schooled in the city:  William (deceased), Class of 1969, Deborah, Class of 1974 and Mary, Class of 1983.  For most of her career Anna was personal secretary to the principal.  She was known to faculty and staff as the “go-to” person for all things.  Anna, or Mrs. Irving as the students knew her, was motherly and kind, but also “no-nonsense”.  Anna served the district also in the capacity of member of the Board of Education.  In addition she served her community as a member of the Rensselaer Historical Society and the Rensselaer Business and Professional Women’s Association.  In both, she promoted the impact women can have in the business world and for their city.  She also served her church, The Church of the Redeemer, in many capacities, as a member of the choir, the altar guild, the Redeemer guild, offices within the Vestry and as Sunday school teacher.  Her volunteerism benefitted Damian House, Capital City Mission (Love Knots), families she adopted during the holidays and others when the need called.  Her commitment to others reached beyond the city in her work with the Order of the Amaranth, Capital City Court 15 and the Order of the Eastern Star, Van Rensselaer Chapter #256, especially with the Diabetes Foundation and Leukemia Society.  This commitment continued when she needed to be placed in a nursing home, in her latest role as advocate for her fellow residents at the Eastern Star Home in Oriskany, NY.  Anna lived a good and productive life, having passed just recently in 2013