John K. Irwin Sr. was born on April 7, 1894 in Watertown Township (near Mayville) , Tuscola County, Michigan. He was the son of Adam Irwin and Susannah Valentine and a member of the Watertown Centre Methodist Episcopal Church. He was a graduate of Fostoria High School graduating the 10th grade in 1910. After high school he worked for awhile on the family farm and later moved to Pontiac, Michigan in 1914 to join a sister who already lived there where he first worked as a street car conductor while attending school at the Business Institute and later worked at the Pontiac Commercial & Savings Bank in downtown Pontiac. He enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War I serving in "Battery D. 111 Field Artillery 29 Division" in France. He was honorably discharged and returned to Pontiac where he met and married Dorothy J. Callow on November 16, 1920 in Pontiac. He was the father of 5 children including Russell who died in childbirth, John K. Jr., Richard M., Robert C., and Dorothy Jean. He founded John K. Irwin & Sons Real Estate and Insurance Firm in Pontiac, Michigan in 1925. He was a former member of the Oakland County Board of Supervisors and past President of the Pontiac Board of Realtors, serving as a Director for 10 years. He was also a member of the Board of Directors of the National and Michigan Real Estate Associations, American Right of Way Association, Senior member of the Society of Residential Appraisers, Pontiac Lions Club, Pontiac Area Chamber of Commerce, Elks Lodge No. 810, Veterans of Foreign Wars No. 1008 and the First Presbyterian Church of Pontiac, Michigan. He passed away on February 21, 1966 at his office in Pontiac and was laid to rest in the Perry Mount Park Cemetary in Pontiac, Michigan.
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