Irene Roberta Price was born on November 28, 1900 and grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina. She entered Trinity College, following in her sister Grace’s footsteps. The Omicron Chapter of Alpha Delta Pi was founded on the Trinity College (now Duke University) campus on June 2, 1911. The Price sisters were members of the chapter.
Irene Price began painting when she was a young woman. A member of the class of 1922, Irene she served as president of Alpha Delta Pi.
During her undergraduate days, as manager of the Alpha Delta Pi tearoom for a fundraiser, she “was a veritable Jack-of-all-trades, and showed her efficient equally in bottle washing and auctioneering.” She was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and she graduated magna cum laude.
A lovely description of Irene Roberta Price
After graduation she taught French at Carolina College. In 1924, she gave up teaching to go to Washington, DC to attend the Corcoran School of Art. She spent four years there and also studied during the summer in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Price returned to North Carolina and opened a studio.
Price exhibited works in local galleries and was very active in the arts community. Portraiture was one of her specialties. She painted a portrait of Dr. W. K. Boyd, President of Trinity College as well as one of Susie Marshall Sharp, the first woman elected chief justice of a state supreme court in the United States when she was elected chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court in 1974.
Dr W. K. Boyd, President of Trinity College, portrait by Irene Price
William Henry Glasson
Price died on July 23, 1971 and is buried in North Carolina.
Photo from Leland Little
