Iris Stone

Iris “Dean” Stone, was born Iris Dean Bailey on March 4, 1934 to Haleyville, Alabama sharecroppers, James Fred Bailey and Nellie Anna Champion Bailey. The family grew cotton and most of the food they put on their table. Growing up the third of nine children, she worked hard but not without fun in the midst. She and her sisters, as young mothers, would tell tales of those years around the table and laugh so hard that they cried. Dean appeared in those stories as the one who blinded the old rooster when he stole her biscuit, the rescuer from snakes, and scaring her sister, Millie, in a midnight outhouse run. She attended Kraft primary school and graduated from Phillips High School in Bear Creek, Alabama in the spring of 1952.

She left the farm for Birmingham to work and live with her sister, Millie. She met a handsome airman, who had returned from Korea, and married in December 1955.

In 1958, the Alabama farm girl moved to Miami with her newborn son so her husband could attend Embry-Riddle Aviation Maintenance Technician School. This was the beginning of her love for the beach.

In 1960, this farm girl moved to Springfield, Virginia and very soon after delivered a daughter and then a son two years later in 1962. They lived for a couple of years in an apartment at Hamlet West in Alexandria.

As their family was growing they purchased a house on Dinwiddie Street in Springfield Virginia in the fall of 1964. The farm girl quickly embraced suburbia endearing herself to neighbors, making Koolaid for the neighborhood kids, practicing yoga on the living room floor, and feeding anyone she could convince to sit around her table to eat her exceptional cooking and baking. But she held on to many of her farm girl ways- hanging her clothes on the clothesline, growing flowers and vegetables in her yard, and washing all her dishes by hand.

Dean went to nursing school in 1977 at the Fairfax County School of Nursing and worked for 21 years as a nurse at Fairfax Hospital. Her patients felt and appreciated her compassionate spirit. Her coworkers became her little family. They took trips to the beach and celebrated major life events with each other.

Her family’s deep roots in the Churches of Christ led her spiritual journey, from the tiny Thornhill Church of Christ in Haleyville to Acipco Church of Christ in Birmingham to the Central Church of Christ in Miami to Springfield Church of Christ to the Fairfax Church of Christ- and finally to the Highland Church of Christ in Abilene, Texas. She loved Jesus with an open mind and an open heart. She was kind and warm and volunteered at every church in some capacity- Sunday school teacher, kitchen helper, maker of meals for the homeless, but her favorite job of all was to be a greeter. That way she got to see everyone and hug everyone she possibly could. Her cheerfulness was contagious.

Her family was her pride and joy. Nothing else made her happier than to have her whole family gathered around her table. She has lost so many of her family over the years- her husband- Billy Stone, her parents- Fred and Nellie Bailey, her brothers- Wayne, Jim, Ferrell, Wendell, and Colen, her sisters- Millie Newman and June Benford, and her grandsons- Nathan and Dustin Stone.

On January 30, 2022, at 87 years old, she left behind so many that will miss her: her children- Jeffrey Stone (Laurie) of West Chester, PA, Julie Stone Danley (Tim) of Abilene, TX, Daniel Stone (Dinah) of Accokeek, MD. Her grandchildren[1]Corey Danley (Brittney) of Hickory, NC, Drew Danley (Bryn) of Paige, TX, Jason Stone of West Chester, PA, Mary Kate Danley (Damon Smallwood) of New York City, Lucy Danley (Connor Murnane) of Bowie, MD, Paige Stone of West Chester, PA and Kimberly Orrison (Christopher) of Mechanicsville, MD. And her great-grandchildren- Ava, Christopher, Peyton, Dallas, Addyson, Lana, Cohen, and Kian. her sister- Barbara Hutcheson of Jasper, AL. And so many nieces and nephews and their families, her church friends, and her lovely neighbors.

We will celebrate her life on April 30th, 2022 at Thornhill Church of Christ in Haleyville, Alabama where she will be laid to rest amidst her family and ancestors. To remember her you may donate to Camp WaMaVa or the Fairfax Church of Christ Food Program. But mostly please remember her in the way you live this life- wear bright colors (especially pink), hang your clothes on the clothesline and delight in the way they smell after they dry, grow something beautiful or delicious, cook for anyone who will gather at your table, take a walk, know your neighbors well, hold a baby, play a game of Scrabble, do a crossword puzzle, and every night look for the moon.