Fountain Hills (Scottsdale), AZ – Dr. George Benton Irons Jr. died Firday, Oct. 20, 2017, following an extended illness.
Dr. Irons, known as “Pete,” was born Oct. 14, 1933, at Covington, VA, the eldest of three sons of the late George and Anna Christie Irons and grew up in the Sinks Grove/Pickaway community of Monroe County. He attended the local schools and graduated from the old Greenbrier Military School at Lewisburg. He was a graduate of West Virginia University and the Medical College of Virginia School of Medicine at Richmond, where he completed residency in general surgery.
Dr. Irons married Sudelle Kiser of Romney, a registered nurse, who survives him in Arizona.
He began private general surgery practice at Huntington, continuing training with emphasis on plastic surgery. At Huntington, he developed the reputation, not only as being extraordinarily skilled, but also for his “bedside manner” with his patients. Dr. Irons and his family moved to Rochester, MN, where he was made Teacher of the Year at Mayo Clinic Medical School; Associate Professor of Plastic Surgery, Chairman of the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery as well as Director of the burn unit at St. Mary’s Hospital. Pete and Sudelle then moved to Scottsdale (Fountain Hills) where he continued his surgical career at the Mayo Clinic of Scottsdale and was there made chief of surgery at the Scottsdale Memorial Hospital and director of Mayo Clinic Ambulatory Surgery Center. He retired at Scottsdale, having received emeritus status, being respected and loved by those who came in contact with him.
Pete liked to hike in the outdoors and also enjoyed rafting and canoeing. He developed an interest in music and would willingly play his Indian flute for his family and friends.
In addition to his wife, survivors include their children, William Andrew Irons, Susan Christie Rohn, and Stesha Irons Kahl; grandchildren, Max and Sam Irons, Jeremy and Jason Rohn, and Ranier and Jack Kahl.
His brother Lewis Christie Irons died accidentally in 1952 at the age of 16.
His surviving brother, Richard Johnson Irons and his wife Elizabeth live in Spokane, WA and Mesa, AZ.
Other survivors are his half-brother, Robert Irons and wife Beckie of Pickaway; his half-sister, Janet Irons Metcalf of Muskegon, MI; his stepsister, Jeanine Caywood Beiber of Lovingston, VA; his stepbrother, John Nelson Caywood of Princeton; and his step-mother, Frances Patton Caywood Irons of Union.
A private celebration of Pete’s life will be held at a later date at the cemetery near his childhood home at New Lebanon.