Thomas G. Irons

Established in 2016 by Thomas G. Irons, MD, this scholarship was created to support full-time students who are intended nursing majors who have been admitted into ECU’s Honors College. This student must maintain a 3.5 GPA, express interest in pediatrics, and demonstrate a strong service background.

This scholarship honors the memory of Carol Fleming Irons. Born Alice Carol Fleming in Pittsburgh, PA, December 19th, 1947, Carol grew up in Clearwater, Florida. She came to North Carolina to attend Queens College, now Queens University, in 1965, where she met her future husband, Tom Irons, a student at nearby Davidson College. By the summer of 1966, when she was 18 years old and he 19, they were engaged to be married. They married in August of 1967. Tom had by that time decided on medical school and she on nursing, but Queens did not offer a nursing degree. While Tom finished college at Davidson, Carol worked as secretary to the college chaplain who had officiated at their wedding. In 1968 they moved to Chapel Hill where she enrolled in the School of Nursing and he in the School of Medicine.

Carol was an excellent student and was elected to Sigma Theta Tau in 1969. She graduated in 1970 and immediately went to work in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at NC Memorial Hospital. The first of their three children, Thomas Grant Irons Jr, was born in December. For the next two years as Tom completed his medical education she worked part-time in the OB-GYN outpatient clinic and became a certified childbirth instructor.

The new family of three moved to San Francisco in 1972 for Tom’s internship. Although they were to only be there for one year, they grew to love the city and the west coast. Over the years they returned there many times. They returned to Chapel Hill in 1973 where Tom completed residency and she actively pursued her work as a Lamaze childbirth instructor. In October of 1973, their daughter Sarah Louise was born.

In the spring of 1978, Tom accepted a position in private practice in Raleigh, and the family arrived back in North Carolina in July of that year. Carol was happily pregnant with their third child. She continued to teach childbirth classes until and after the birth of James Fleming Irons in January of 1979. While the family very much enjoyed living in the Triangle, Tom was unhappy at work. Carol, who brought him back to center or down to earth countless times, informed him with choice language that it was time for a change, even if it required another move.

In July of 1981 Tom accepted a position in the Department of Pediatrics at the new ECU (now Brody) School of Medicine. The family first moved to New Bern, then in 1983 to Greenville. While Tom occupied himself with his career in academic pediatrics and took ever-increasing leadership responsibility, Carol worked in various outpatient pediatric positions, constantly balancing her professional work with the demands of raising children. While not clear to Tom at the time, it was becoming clear to her that her personal growth was being subsumed by her obligations as a wife and mother.

Sometime in 1992, Carol once again took direct action, this time in the form of a handwritten letter to Tom. She made it explicitly clear that it was time for her to “have a life” outside of her role as wife and parent. It was a pivotal moment in their life together. Carol was soon accepted into the graduate school at East Carolina and Tom redirected his energy toward being a better husband and father.

Carol was happier in the MSN program than she had been in years. She quickly found her academic footing and reinforced her love for teaching. She passed her comprehensive examination with honors and at graduation in 1994 was recognized with the Outstanding Graduate Student Award. She was immediately hired as a clinical instructor in pediatrics and continued in that role until 2001. As a teacher, she set high expectations for her students and insisted that they meet them. She regularly pointed out that mathematical errors in medication administration, even in simulations or in testing situations, could be life-threatening to patients and would not be tolerated. After seven years on the faculty she transitioned to the part-time roles of Staff Educator and Staff Nurse at the Brody School of Medicine before taking the final position of her career as a Clinical Case Manager in the Pitt County Memorial Hospital Pediatric Asthma program. She thrived in this environment, making daily visits to the hospital bedsides and homes of low-income children and families. There was no neighborhood where she was uncomfortable, no home in which she was unwelcome. During this same time, she helped a dear teen family friend through chemo, septic shock, and a colostomy, speaking that teen’s language and providing endless support for her and her family. She was a caregiver in her soul, and an extraordinarily competent one.

After working in the Asthma program for 5 years, Carol retired to spend time with her grandchildren and pursue her love for playing music. She played piano, flute, banjo, and bass recorder. She continued to be passionate about social justice and the health of women and children. She had a marvelous laugh. Everyone who knew her remembers it. She brought a positive spirit and a joyful countenance to whatever she did. She loved children. Once, holding a tiny grandson as she herself recovered from a life-threatening illness, she said “Everybody should have to hold a baby every day. The world would be a better place.” Carol died in May of 2016, but her impact on those who knew and loved her and her legacy as a wife, sister, mother, nurse and friend endures. She was a spectacular woman.