GREENSBORO — Irma Friedrich Lyday, 92, died Thursday, February 7, 2013 at Well*Spring
Retirement Community, where she has lived for the past 12 years.
The family will receive visitors from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. Saturday, February 9, 2013 at Forbis & Dick, N. Elm Street. Funeral service will be held at 4 p.m. Sunday, February 10, 2013 at Ebenezer Lutheran Church, 310 South Tremont Drive, with the Rev. Joshua Haugen presiding and the Rev. Dr. Daniel Koenig preaching. Graveside service and burial will be at Pisgah Gardens Cemetery, Brevard, NC, at 1 p.m., Monday, February 10, 2013.
Irma was predeceased by her husband of 50 years, Dr. John Elliott Lyday, and her brother William R. Friedrich, Jr. She is survived by her daughters, Carolyn Belle Lyday (partner Margaret Sanborn), of Langhorne PA, and Nancy Lyday Jones (husband Thomas E. Jones), of Wexford PA, and her granddaughter, Hannah Louise Jones, of Wexford PA; her sister-in-law, Frances W. Friedrich of Cherry Hill, NJ, brother-in-law Robert Lenoir "Jack" Lyday of Bryson City, NC; 15 nieces and nephews, and many grand nieces and nephews.
Irma was born September 3, 1920, in Philadelphia, Pa, daughter of William R. Friedrich and Irma Meyer Friedrich. She attended Greene Street Friends School and graduated from Friends Central School. She always cherished the Quaker values of community, service, stewardship, equality, peace, and contemplative silence she learned there. She grew up enjoying literature, art, and music, frequenting the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Philadelphia Orchestra. She earned a business degree from Pierce College and worked as a reporter for the Philadelphia Bulletin, as a writer of magazine fiction and travel articles, and then as a public relations director for Strawbridge & Clothier, a major fashion department store. During World War II she served as a nurse's aide at the Philadelphia Naval Hospital where her compassion, steadiness, and ability to listen were welcome on the amputee ward.
In 1949 Irma met John Lyday, of Brevard, NC, who was attending the University Of Pennsylvania Medical School. They married June 15, 1950. After John's service as a MASH surgeon in Korea and the completion of his residency, they moved to Greensboro in 1958. Irma immediately immersed herself in community life, becoming an active member of Flower Lovers Garden Club, leading both of her daughters' Girl Scout troops, and training area Girl Scout leaders. She joined Ebenezer Lutheran Church, where over the next 50 years she served as a Sunday School teacher, director of Christian education, a member of church council, the first woman president of the congregation, and an elder. She also became involved in the Guilford County Medical Auxiliary, helping develop its activism in public health issues. She served as local chapter president, then as a regional vice-president of the state organization. As editor of the Tarheel Tandem, the state auxiliary's monthly newspaper, she won a national award for the most improved such publication. An enthusiastic member of Lecture League, she served in various offices over the years, including chaplain and president. In all these endeavors, she was a tireless champion for the empowerment of women, fostering competence, confidence, vision, and leadership.
