Irene Louise Welden Segroves – age 78 died at her Knoxville home on Sunday afternoon, December 26, 2021, after a long battle with congestive heart failure, diabetes and kidney disease. Irene was born in Philadelphia, PA, on October 20, 1943, the daughter of Christian Frederick Welden Sr. and Olive Margaret Sutherland Welden, who predeceased Irene as did her brother, Chris.
Survivors include Irene’s husband of nearly 50 years, Gerald G. (Gerry) Segroves; stepson, Barry Martin Segroves of Pleasant View, TN; son, Graham McKenzie Segroves of Seattle, WA; twins, Mary Katherine Segroves, Knoxville, and James Frederick Segroves, Arlington, VA; and grandchildren, Samuel, Nathaniel, Dalton and Andrea Segroves.
A voice major, Irene earned a bachelor’s degree in music from UT Knoxville in 1965 and a masters from the University of Arkansas in 1967. In 1963, she toured across Europe with the well-known UT Singers, with whom she shared a four-year membership along with that in the UT Opera Workshop. At Arkansas, she studied under Richard Brothers and sang with Scola Cantorium, a group similar to the UT Singers. To help earn her way, she was a residence hall counselor and worked in the Ozark Regional Library in Fayetteville. She returned to Knoxville in 1968 and worked for nearly two years proof-reading and editing books for a publishing company in Oak Ridge before being laid off after the firm’s acquisition by Kingsport Press; she then did a short stint proof-reading books for UT Press. Irene then took part in a federal pilot program in the Knoxville City Schools system, traveling to about a dozen schools teaching music. After the program ended, she taught remedial reading at Park Lowry Elementary School. After acceptance into the UT College of Law in the mid-1970s, she left after nearly two years to join her mother and brother in producing traditional Pennsylvania Dutch sgraffito pottery under the name Welden Pottery for various craft shows and stores. Many of the works created and produced by Welden Pottery over its many years of operation are held today in private collections. A few, however, can occasionally still be found for sell on the Internet.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to St. James Episcopal Church, 1101 North Broadway, Knoxville, TN 37917, where Irene was a member; or to East Tennessee Children’s Hospital, P.O. Box 2469, Knoxville, TN 37901-2469. Services, including interment at East Tennessee State Veterans Cemetery on Gov. John Sevier Hwy., will be announced later. Arrangements by Bridges Funeral Home, 5430 Rutledge Pike, 865-523-4999. www.bridgesfuneralhome.com
October 20 1943 December 26 2021
Nos plus sincères sympathies à la famille et aux amis de Irrene Louise Segroves October 20 1943 December 26 2021..
Décès pour la Ville: Knoxville, Province: T-N